Terms of Use
Counsel · Updated October 18, 2026
These terms are the agreement between you and Counsel ("we", "us"). By creating or joining a pairing, you accept them. If you don't, please don't use Counsel.
What Counsel is
Counsel is a communication tool for two partners. For messages to your partner, an AI counselor suggests a rewrite. You review, edit, or replace that suggestion before sending. Shared questions to the AI counselor can be reworded and delivered with a reply to both partners. You can also ask the counselor questions together, or privately.
What Counsel is not
Counsel is not therapy, medical care, or a crisis service. It is not a substitute for a licensed therapist, counselor, physician, or emergency responder, and no licensed professional reviews your conversations. Nothing in the app is medical, psychological, or legal advice.
If you or someone near you is in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services. Do not rely on Counsel in an emergency.
Who can use it
You must be at least 16 years old and legally able to enter this agreement; if you are under the age of majority where you live, you need a parent or guardian's permission. Counsel is intended for two people in a relationship with each other, each taking part willingly.
Your account and your recovery link
Counsel has no usernames or passwords. Your seat in a pairing is held by a secret recovery link. Anyone holding that link can read your entire history, including your Private journal. Keep it safe and never share it — not even with your partner. We cannot restore access to a pairing if you lose your recovery link, and we cannot verify who you are, because the app has no verified identity or password recovery process.
Acceptable use
Don't use Counsel to:
- threaten, harass, stalk, coerce, or abuse another person
- send another person's private information without their consent
- impersonate someone, or join a pairing you weren't invited to
- break the law, or attempt to break, overload, or reverse-engineer the service
- automate access or resell access to the service
The AI may decline to rewrite a message that signals danger. Automated safety checks can make mistakes and cannot identify every harmful situation. We may suspend or remove a pairing that is used to cause harm.
What your partner can see
Messages in the Together journal are visible to both of you, and the sender's original wording is shown to the sender only. Messages in the Private journal are filtered out of your partner's API responses. The service and AI providers still process these messages as described in the Privacy Policy. Understand that the person you pair with will see everything in the shared space, and that either of you can delete shared history.
Counsel Plus subscriptions
Counsel is free to use, including a monthly allowance of AI-reframed messages for your pairing. Counsel Plus removes that monthly quota and enables private AI replies for both partners — one active subscription covers the pairing. Daily fair-use limits still apply.
Monthly and yearly auto-renewing plans may be available in the iPhone app. Apple displays the current price, billing period, and any offer before you confirm a purchase.
Payment is charged to your Apple ID at confirmation of purchase. The subscription renews automatically for the same period and price unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period; your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours of the end of the current period. If a free trial is offered, any unused portion is forfeited when you buy a subscription. You can manage or cancel your subscription in your device's App Store settings at any time; deleting the app does not cancel it. Refunds are handled by Apple under the App Store terms, not by us.
If your subscription lapses, your data stays intact — you simply return to the free monthly allowance and new private AI replies require an active subscription. Existing messages remain available to read.
Your content
Your messages are yours. You grant us only the limited permission needed to run the service: to store your messages, and to send message text and recent context to our AI provider so the counselor can respond. We do not sell your content or use it for advertising. AI provider processing is described in the Privacy Policy. See the Privacy Policy for details.
Deleting your data
You can permanently delete your data at any time from Settings → Delete all data on iPhone, or Settings → Delete my data on the web. This removes your shared conversation, the counselor memory, and your own Private journal. Your partner's Private journal is theirs and is not deleted by your request; the pairing and everything in it is removed once both of you have deleted. Deletion cannot be undone in the app and does not cancel any Apple subscription. A limited subscription record remains without your pairing or seat, as described in the Privacy Policy. See that policy for the scope of deletion.
Availability and changes
Counsel is provided as-is. We may change, suspend, or discontinue features, and the AI model behind the counselor may change. We'll give reasonable notice of material changes to these terms in the app or on this page; continuing to use Counsel after a change means you accept it.
Disclaimers and limits
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Counsel is provided without warranties of any kind, express or implied. AI output can be wrong, incomplete, or poorly judged — you are responsible for what you choose to send, including reviewing messages to your partner before delivery. To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total liability arising from your use of Counsel is limited to the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim. Some jurisdictions do not allow these limits, in which case they apply only as far as the law permits. Nothing here limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited.
Ending this agreement
You may stop using Counsel at any time by deleting your data. We may end this agreement if you materially breach these terms.
Contact
Questions about these terms: adamc@mocalalliance.com