Last updated 18 September 2026

Messaging

Rhythm asks one question a day. You choose whether that question waits for you in the app, or arrives with one short text reminder telling you it is there. This page describes exactly what Rhythm will send to a mobile number, how you agree to it, and how to make it stop. It is written plainly because the answer should be plain.

Where things stand

Rhythm’s text number is +1 425 696 4763. It is registered with the carriers, and it is the only number Rhythm ever texts from. Nothing is sent to a number that has not asked for it, by one of the two routes below. The app-only option remains the default for every new account and still sends nothing at all.

Two ways to get your question

In the app. The question waits on your Circle page at rhythmlives.com. Nothing is sent to your phone. This is how every new account starts, and it does not need a mobile number at all.

In the app, with a text reminder. One short text a day at most, saying something is waiting, with a link. You answer on the site.

Text reminders are off until you turn them on. You do it once, from your Circle page, and you can turn them off again on your Settings page whenever you like — or by replying STOP to any message, which works from anywhere and cannot be undone from the website.

There is no option to hold the whole conversation by text. It is built, and it is not being offered; if that ever changes, this page will describe it before it is switched on.

How you opt in

There is one way in, and it starts with you: an account on the website, and your own mobile number given on your Settings page. Texting Rhythm does not sign you up. A number Rhythm has never heard from gets one line pointing at the website, and nothing else is ever sent to it.

On the website

You create an account at rhythmlives.com and sign in, and answer a few questions there — including your age, because Rhythm is 18 and over. That alone sends nothing to your phone: a new account gets its question in the app.

On your Circle page, under “Complete your profile”, you press Set it up beside “Get a text when something is waiting”. That opens Text reminders on your Settings page. What happens next depends on what you are holding.

On a phone. One button opens your own messages app with Rhythm’s number and one line already written. You press send. That message, from your phone, is the consent — nothing has been sent to you at that point, and Rhythm does not know your number until it arrives:

LINK 7F3A2B

On a computer, which has no messages app to open, you type your own mobile number into a form instead and Rhythm texts you a six-digit code:

Rhythm: reply with 481920 to link this number. It expires in 15 minutes. Reply STOP to end.

You reply to that text with the code, from the same phone. There is nothing to type on the website — the reply is what links the number, and the page says so while it waits. Nothing else is sent until you do, so a mistyped number receives that one message and never hears from Rhythm again.

Either way, beneath the button it says, word for word: “By linking your number you agree to receive texts from Rhythm: a verification code if you type your number in here, then one short text a day at most — your question, or a line saying somebody in your circle started or answered a question with you in it. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to end or HELP for help. See Privacy and Terms.”

And either way, that is the end of it:

Rhythm: your number is linked. That is everything.

Rhythm asks you nothing by text. Everything it needs, it asked on the website.

If you text the number without an account

Nothing happens, and nothing is stored. Whatever you send, you get this once:

Rhythm: sign up at rhythmlives.com first, then add your number there and this thread starts. Reply HELP for help, STOP to end.

Nobody else can add your number. Numbers are never bought, uploaded, imported from contacts, or collected from anywhere but that form on your own account. Agreeing to texts is not a condition of buying anything — Rhythm sells nothing.

What we send

It depends on the option you chose. Everything below arrives in your own timezone. Your question is created at the morning hour you set and waits for you in the app from then; the text that tells you about it comes later in the day.

In the app: nothing. No texts at all.

Text reminder: one text a day, never more, and never to a number that has replied STOP. The first one you ever get also ends with “Reply STOP to end, HELP for help.” After that it is one of two things. Usually this, in the late afternoon:

Rhythm: today's question is ready. rhythmlives.com/today

Or, if somebody in your circle has started a question with you in it that day, or answered one, it is that instead — sent when it happens, and it uses up the day’s one text, so the reminder above is not also sent:

Rhythm: Maria started a question for the two of you. rhythmlives.com/app

Rhythm: Maria answered today’s question for the two of you. rhythmlives.com/app

Rhythm: Maria answered. Both answers are open. rhythmlives.com/app

That text carries their first name and nothing else — not the question, not a word either of you has written. If two people start one on the same day, you still get one text. Nobody is ever told whether you received it, or whether you have a mobile number at all.

The third option is not being offered, so nothing is described for it here. When it is, this page will describe it before it is switched on.

How to stop

Reply STOP to any text. It works from any point in the conversation, whichever option you chose. Rhythm sends one confirmation and then nothing:

Rhythm: you are opted out. No more messages. Reply START to opt back in.

After that Rhythm stays silent, even if you text it again, until you reply START. UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END and QUIT do the same as STOP. A stopped number cannot be switched back to a text option from the site; only a text from that phone can opt it back in.

Reply HELP at any time and Rhythm sends:

Rhythm sends one question a day. Reply however you like, or ignore it. PAUSE to stop for a week, STOP to end. rhythmlives.com

Reply PAUSE for a week off without ending anything; RESUME brings it back sooner. Reply SKIP to pass on today’s question.

You can also turn reminders off on your Settings page at any time, and nothing more is sent — your number stays linked so turning them back on is one press rather than the whole thing again. Deleting your account entirely is a button on your Settings page, under “Leaving Rhythm”; it waits seven days and you can call it off during them. You can also write to [email protected] and it will be done by hand.

Costs

Rhythm does not charge for messages. Message and data rates may apply — your carrier’s standard rates. Message frequency: at most one message a day once reminders are on — the day’s question, or a line saying somebody in your circle started or answered a question with you in it. None at all when reminders are off. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

Your answers

What you reply is private. It is never posted anywhere and never sold, and it is used to understand who you might genuinely get on with and for nothing else. There is one exception and it is worth knowing: when a feature called the exchange is switched on, a friend whose life is converging with yours may be shown one short piece of something you wrote — at most a dozen words, exactly as you wrote them — at the same moment as a piece of theirs is shown to you. Nothing longer, nothing to anyone else, and it is off today. There is a second exception, and it is the centre of Rhythm: every morning Rhythm puts a question to you and one friend, and somebody in your circle may also put one to the two of you, and what you write in answer to that question — a separate question, not the one for you alone — is shown to that one person whole, once you have both answered. The exchange has nothing to do with text messages: nothing about it is ever sent to a mobile number. The paired question has one. If you have chosen the reminder option and somebody in your circle starts a question for the two of you, or answers one, Rhythm may send you a single message saying so — their first name, or just “somebody in your circle” where the name would push it to a second segment — with a link to the site. It never carries the question, and it never carries an answer. Privacy describes both in full. See also Terms.

Who we are

Rhythm is run by one person in Washington state. Questions about messaging: [email protected].