Question 1

What is Spiral?

Accepted Answer

Spiral is an AI twin of a licensed therapist that you can text any time. It is support between sessions, not therapy. You spend less than 0.5% of your year in a therapist's office. Spiral is built for the other 99.5%.

Question 2

Who is Spiral for?

Accepted Answer

Anyone who wants real support in the gap between appointments. Most people who use Spiral are already in therapy and want somewhere to put the thought that shows up on a Tuesday night. You do not have to be in therapy to subscribe. Spiral can be used to get a feel for a therapist's style before deciding to start seeing them in session or to continue receiving support in that therapist's style after you are no longer attending sessions with them.

Question 3

Am I talking to a real person?

Accepted Answer

No. You are always talking to an AI and never to a human. No human reads your messages in real time. Spiral is built to feel warm and familiar, but it is software.

Question 4

Is Spiral a replacement for therapy?

Accepted Answer

No. It is not designed to be. Nothing replaces the relationship you have with your therapist. Spiral covers the gap between sessions where most of the hard moments actually happen.

Question 5

Does my own therapist have to be on Spiral?

Accepted Answer

No. You can subscribe to any persona in our library, including the two general Spiral personas that are not inspired by any one therapist's style. If your own therapist is not on Spiral, you can refer them any time from your account settings page.

Question 6

How do I talk to Spiral?

Accepted Answer

By text message or in the browser at app.talktospiral.com. Most people use text and we suggest it. Add the number you are given after you subscribe to your contacts and text it the way you text anyone else.

Question 7

When is Spiral available?

Accepted Answer

Every hour of every day. That is the point. Spiral is always there for you when you need support between sessions.

Question 8

Does Spiral remember what I tell it?

Accepted Answer

Yes. It keeps track of what you are working through and what matters to you, so you are not starting over every time you open a conversation.

Question 9

What is a persona?

Accepted Answer

A persona is an AI shaped by a licensed therapist's approach, style and way of talking. It is not that therapist and it does not speak for them. It reflects how they work.

Question 10

Is the therapist texting me back?

Accepted Answer

No. You are talking to an AI persona inspired by the therapist's style. The therapist behind it does not reply to your texts and has no ability to.

Question 11

Can my therapist see my conversations?

Accepted Answer

Not your actual messages. If you want your therapist to know what you have been talking about, you can turn on a setting in your dashboard that lets them receive on demand summaries of your recent conversations. This setting is off by default and you can turn it off again at any time.

Question 12

Why would I want my therapist to see a summary?

Accepted Answer

The feature is designed so you do not spend the first twenty minutes of a session bringing your therapist up to speed. The summary gives you and your therapist more time to work on solutions together.

Question 13

What is the therapist's role?

Accepted Answer

Partner therapists shape their persona and help keep it true to their standards. Part of that is reviewing samples of conversations for quality and safety. Those samples are de-identified before a therapist ever sees them, meaning names, places, dates and other details that could point back to you are removed, so no therapist can tell who a conversation belongs to. They are not providing you with care through Spiral and they are not watching your individual use of it.

Question 14

Are my conversations private?

Accepted Answer

Yes. No human reads your messages as they happen and nobody at Spiral browses conversations. Your therapist never sees your individual messages. If you turn on summaries, they see a summary of themes and nothing more. When partner therapists review conversations for quality, they see de-identified samples with names, places, dates and other identifying details removed, so no reviewer can tell who a conversation belongs to. The one exception is safety: if a message trips our self harm or suicide detection, a member of our team later checks that the right resources were sent.

Question 15

How do you protect my data?

Accepted Answer

We never sell your personal data and we never share your identity. Conversations are stored encrypted at rest, behind database level access controls that mean only you can reach yours. Ordinary text messages are not end to end encrypted while they travel, the same as any other SMS on your phone.

Question 16

What do you do with my conversations?

Accepted Answer

Three things. We use them to write your replies, to remember what matters to you and in fully de-identified form to improve the system. De-identified means the information that could point back to you is removed first. Your identity is never attached to training data.

Question 17

Can my employer see any of this?

Accepted Answer

No. Spiral is a personal subscription. It is not a workplace program or an employee benefit. Your employer has no access to your account, your conversations or even the knowledge of whether you have an account.

Question 18

What happens if I am in crisis?

Accepted Answer

Spiral is not a crisis service and it cannot call for help on your behalf. It watches for language about self harm and suicide. When a message seems related to self harm or suicide, Spiral immediately replies with crisis resources, including the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, then our team later reviews the flag to confirm the right resources were sent. Detection is not guaranteed to catch everything, so please do not rely on it. If you are in danger right now, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.

Question 19

Is Spiral HIPAA compliant?

Accepted Answer

Spiral is not a HIPAA covered entity. We are a wellness tool and not a healthcare provider, so your conversations are not protected health information under HIPAA. We hold ourselves to security practices drawn from healthcare standards anyway. You can find more information in our privacy policy.

Question 20

Can I delete everything?

Accepted Answer

Yes, any time, from settings or by emailing admin@talktospiral.com. Your account, history and stored memories are permanently deleted within 30 days. There are two exceptions. One is records the law requires us to keep, such as billing. The other is data already de-identified and aggregated, which can no longer be traced back to you.

Question 21

What does Spiral cost?

Accepted Answer

Five tiers. Free, Steady at $30 a month, Grounded at $50 a month, Rooted at $100 a month and Anchored at $150 a month. Rooted and Anchored include proactive check ins. Paying annually saves 20%.

Question 22

Is there a free option?

Accepted Answer

Yes and it needs no card. The free tier gives you 50 messages in your first 7 days, then 10 free messages every month after that for as long as you like.

Question 23

Do you accept insurance?

Accepted Answer

We do not accept insurance. Spiral is a wellness subscription you pay for directly, the same way you would any other app. There is nothing to file and no claims to chase. You can start on the free tier with no card at all. Paid plans are a flat monthly price you can cancel any time.

Question 24

How do I cancel?

Accepted Answer

You can cancel any time from settings or the Stripe customer portal. No contract and no cancellation fee. You keep your paid features until the end of the period you have already paid for, then the account returns to free.

Question 25

Can I switch plans?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Upgrades apply immediately and are prorated. Downgrades take effect at your next billing date.

Question 26

What happens when I reach my message limit?

Accepted Answer

Spiral tells you and texts a link to upgrade. That message does not count against your subscription's messaging limit.

Question 27

What counts as a message?

Accepted Answer

A message is a text you send to Spiral. The reply you get back is free and does not count. If you send 50 messages and get 50 replies, that is still only 50 messages against your allowance, not 100. Messages you send after reaching your limit do not count either. Neither do the proactive check ins Spiral sends you on the Rooted and Anchored tiers.

Question 28

How do I pay?

Accepted Answer

You pay during sign up using any major credit or debit card, handled by Stripe. We never see or store your card number.

Question 29

What payment methods do you accept?

Accepted Answer

All major credit and debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Amex and Discover) through Stripe.

Question 30

How do I start texting?

Accepted Answer

You receive your Spiral number once your account is set up and you have chosen your plan. During setup you verify your phone number and agree to receive texts, then Spiral sends you a welcome text from your number. Save it to your contacts and text it any time.

Question 31

I have an account but texting is off. How do I turn it on?

Accepted Answer

Text START to your Spiral number or turn text messages on in Settings under Messaging preferences. Either one turns texting back on for your existing account. If you text anything else while texting is off, Spiral will not reply, so START is the word to use.

Question 32

How do I stop?

Accepted Answer

Text STOP to your Spiral number and texts stop right away. You get one confirmation and nothing further. CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE, QUIT and END do the same thing. Texting STOP only turns off text messages. Your account and your subscription stay exactly as they are, so to cancel a subscription use Settings. Text START whenever you want texts back.

Question 33

Does texting cost anything?

Accepted Answer

Spiral does not charge anything extra per text message beyond your subscription price. Your carrier's ordinary rates apply, which for most plans means nothing extra.

Question 34

How do I get help with Spiral or my account?

Accepted Answer

Text HELP to your Spiral number for service information, email admin@talktospiral.com or visit talktospiral.com/faq.

Question 35

Will Spiral message me first?

Accepted Answer

Only on Rooted and Anchored. These messages are check ins based on your recent conversations. You can turn proactive messages off in settings whenever you like.

Frequently Asked Questions

General

Personas and therapists

Privacy and safety

Pricing

Text messaging

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