An AI friend in iMessage that publishes a crisis protocol because California now requires one
Ember is an AI agent you reach on iMessage. To start, tap one link. It messages you first rather than waiting to be asked.
Ember is an AI friend for adults, in the Messages app, in private beta. What makes it worth a second read is not the product, it is the document.
It publishes a Safety & Crisis Protocol, dated and stated to be published in accordance with California Senate Bill 243. That makes it the first listing here carrying a document because a law required it rather than because a lawyer suggested it. The protocol says an automated classifier screens inbound messages for expressions of crisis or suicidal ideation, and that on a positive detection the reply leads with 988, the Crisis Text Line and 911 before any AI-generated response. It then says the classifier is not perfect, that it may miss distress and flag things that are not a crisis, and that Ember cannot call for help, cannot reach a person and cannot intervene. It also discloses that certain safety signals are routed to trained members of the team for review, which means a person may read the thread.
There is no privacy policy at any path we could find, so the training question, the retention question and the question about who carries the messages are all unanswered. A companion product with a legally mandated crisis document and no privacy policy is an odd shape, and it is the shape as published.
The number is not a number. It changes on every page load, so there is nothing stable to record and nothing stable to save in your contacts.
| Channels | iMessage |
|---|---|
| How you start | Tap one link |
| Who starts it | Messages you first |
| Is there an app | No app Nothing to install at any point |
| Categories | Social and introductions,Personal assistants |
| Can do | Persistent memory |
| Connects to | None named publicly |
| Pricing | Free during the private beta. No paid tier is described. |
| Number type | Not stated on its own pages |
| Contact number | None published |
| Documentation | None linked |
| First message, pre-written | None published |
| Runs on | Not disclosed |
| Browses with | Not disclosed |
| Number carrier | No number to look up |
| Status | Beta |
| Trains on your conversations | No policy published |
|---|---|
| Data of people who never signed up | No policy published |
| What it holds when you connect an account | Nothing Connects no third-party account |
| If you cancel | No policy published |
| Model providers named | No policy published |
| Jurisdiction | No policy published |
| Security document | None published |
| Asks before acting | Nothing published |
| Prompt injection | Not mentioned anywhere public |
| Bug bounty | None published |
| A user in crisis | A published protocol. A Safety & Crisis Protocol page, stated to be published in accordance with California Senate Bill 243, last updated 16 July 2026; names 988 and the Crisis Text Line. |
| Availability | Not stated |
Ember’s own pages answer 2 of the 9 questions this site asks of every listing. Not answered: has a privacy policy, says whether it trains on you, addresses people who never signed up, says what happens if you cancel, names who carries the messages, names its model providers, says where to report a bug. Fewer than most of its kind: 11th of 14 social and introductions.
Nothing published that a reader can check, looked for on 2026-09-10.
| Company | Heart & SOUL Technologies, Inc. |
|---|---|
| Founders | Not published |
| Based in | Not published |
| Funding | Not published |
| Investors | Not published |
| Traction | Not published |
From Ember’s own pages at heyember.io, last read 2026-09-10.
Our research
Our research · 2026-09-06
Ember is pitched as a companion, the friend in iMessage who never leaves you on read. What people mostly do with it is narrower: screenshot a confusing message from a date or a friend, send it over, and ask what it means and what to say back.
Ember