Terms of Use

Effective date: August 27, 2026

Please read these Terms of Use ("Terms") carefully before using Answering Machine. These Terms are a legal agreement between you (the "Customer," "you," or "your") and Answering Machine, Inc. ("Answering Machine," "we," "us," or "our") governing your access to and use of our website, mobile applications, AI phone receptionist service, and related features (collectively, the "Service").

By creating an account, subscribing to a plan, or otherwise using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms and by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated by reference. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

1. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a binding contract to use the Service. If you are using the Service on behalf of a business or other entity, you represent that you have the authority to bind that entity, and "you" in these Terms refers to both you individually and that entity.

The Service is intended for business use in the United States. It is not directed at, and should not be used by, individuals under 13 years of age.

2. The Service

Answering Machine provides an AI-powered virtual receptionist that answers phone calls forwarded to it by your business, collects information from callers, and provides you with call summaries, recordings, and transcripts. Features, minute allowances, and functionality vary by subscription plan and may change over time as described on our pricing page.

The Service is not for emergencies. Answering Machine is not a substitute for emergency services. Do not rely on the Service to route or respond to 911 calls or other emergencies, and you are responsible for ensuring your own emergency call handling arrangements remain in place independent of the Service.

AI limitations. The Service uses artificial intelligence and automated voice technology. AI-generated responses, summaries, and transcripts may occasionally be inaccurate, incomplete, or fail to capture a caller's intent correctly. You are responsible for reviewing call summaries and following up with callers as needed, and you should not rely solely on the Service for time-sensitive or critical communications.

3. Accounts

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activity under your account. Notify us promptly at hello@getansweringmachine.com if you suspect unauthorized use of your account. You agree to provide accurate and current information when creating your account and setting up your business profile.

4. Subscriptions, Billing, and Cancellation

Free trial. New accounts may start with a free trial period as described at signup. We may require valid payment information to start a trial. If you don't cancel before the trial ends, your paid subscription begins automatically and your payment method will be charged.
Billing. Subscriptions are billed in advance on a recurring basis (monthly or annually, as selected) through our third-party payment processor. By subscribing, you authorize us to charge your payment method on a recurring basis until you cancel.
In-app purchases. If you subscribe through our iOS or Android app, your purchase may instead be processed by Apple or Google as an in-app purchase. In that case, your subscription is also subject to Apple's or Google's respective payment terms, billing cycle, and refund policies, and you'll need to manage or cancel that subscription through your App Store or Google Play account settings rather than through our website.
Included minutes. Each plan includes a set number of answered minutes per billing period, as shown on our pricing page. We do not charge overage fees. Once you have used your plan's included minutes for the period, your AI receptionist stops answering calls until your next billing period begins. You can upgrade to a plan with more minutes at any time; upgrades and downgrades take effect immediately and the current period is prorated and billed at the time of the change.
Cancellation. You may cancel your subscription at any time through your account settings. Cancellation stops future billing, but you'll continue to have access to the Service through the end of your current billing period. We do not provide refunds or credits for partial billing periods, unused minutes, or time already paid for.
Price changes. We may change our prices from time to time. We'll provide advance notice of any price increase affecting your subscription, and the change will take effect at your next renewal.
Failed payments. If a payment fails, we may suspend or limit your access to the Service until payment is resolved.

5. Acceptable Use

You agree not to use the Service to:

violate any applicable law or regulation, including telemarketing, robocall, and consumer protection laws (such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)) or call-recording and wiretapping laws;
send unsolicited or unlawful communications, or use the Service for spam, phishing, or fraud;
harass, threaten, defame, or abuse any person;
impersonate any person or entity or misrepresent your affiliation with any business;
interfere with or disrupt the integrity or performance of the Service, including through reverse engineering, scraping, or introducing malware;
attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Service or its related systems; or
use the Service in any industry or manner where an error or AI-generated response could reasonably be expected to result in death, serious bodily injury, or significant property or environmental damage.

6. Call Recording and Compliance

The Service may record, transcribe, and analyze phone calls handled on your behalf. The default greeting we provide opens each call with a verbal notice that the call may be recorded. You can edit or replace that greeting at any time from your account settings. When you set up your receptionist, you are asked to check a box confirming that you understand calls are recorded and that you are responsible for notifying callers as required by the law that applies to you.

Regardless of whether you use the default greeting, you are solely responsible for complying with all applicable federal and state laws regarding call recording, monitoring, and disclosure — including any state "two-party" or "all-party" consent requirements — with respect to calls handled through the Service. This includes providing any legally required notice or obtaining any legally required consent from your callers before or during a recorded call. You represent that you have all rights and consents necessary to allow us to receive, record, and process the calls you route to the Service.

7. Phone Numbers

To operate the Service, we assign your AI receptionist a phone number that we obtain from our telephony provider. That number belongs to us, not to you. We license it to you for use with the Service while your subscription is active, and you acquire no ownership, property, or other rights in it. The Service is designed for you to keep your own business number and forward calls to the number we assign, and we strongly recommend you do that rather than publishing the assigned number as your primary business number.

We may change, reclaim, suspend, or permanently release the number assigned to you, with or without notice, if you delete your account, if your subscription is canceled, lapses, or goes unpaid, if we suspend or terminate your access, if our telephony provider requires it, or otherwise at our sole discretion. When you delete your account, the number assigned to you is released immediately and permanently. Once a number is released it may be reassigned to another person or business, and we cannot recover it or return it to you.

Numbers we assign are not provisioned for emergency calling and cannot be used to reach 911 or other emergency services (see Section 2).

You are solely responsible for any consequences of losing a number assigned to you, including where you have advertised, printed, listed, or otherwise held that number out as your business number. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we have no liability for any loss, cost, or damages arising from the assignment, change, reclamation, release, reassignment, or unavailability of any number we provide — including lost or missed calls, lost business or revenue, or the cost of updating your listings, advertising, signage, or other materials.

8. Your Content and Data

"Customer Content" means information you or your callers submit to the Service, including your business website content, custom instructions and greetings, and caller-provided information (such as names, phone numbers, and call recordings/transcripts).

You retain ownership of your Customer Content. You grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive license to host, use, reproduce, and process Customer Content solely to provide, maintain, and improve the Service. You are responsible for the accuracy and legality of the Customer Content you submit, including having the right to submit your business website content and any caller information for processing through the Service.

9. Intellectual Property

The Service, including its software, design, trademarks, and all related intellectual property (excluding Customer Content), is owned by Answering Machine or our licensors. These Terms do not grant you any rights to our intellectual property except the limited right to use the Service as permitted here.

10. Third-Party Services

The Service relies on third-party providers — for example, telephony and voice infrastructure, AI/language-model providers, payment processing (including Stripe and, for in-app purchases, Apple and Google), cloud hosting, and app-store distribution (Apple App Store / Google Play) — to operate. Your use of the Service is also subject to the applicable terms of those providers (such as app store terms). We are not responsible for the acts or omissions of third-party providers, though we select and monitor them as part of operating the Service.

11. Termination

You may stop using the Service and cancel your subscription at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service if you violate these Terms, if required by law, or if we discontinue the Service, with notice where reasonably practicable. Sections of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination (including Sections 6–9, 12–15, and 17) will survive.

12. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR THAT AI-GENERATED CONTENT WILL BE ACCURATE OR COMPLETE.

13. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, ANSWERING MACHINE AND ITS OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AFFILIATES WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, OR BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM AROSE.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations of liability, so some of the above limitations may not apply to you.

14. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Answering Machine and its officers, employees, and affiliates from any claims, damages, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of your use of the Service, your Customer Content, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of any law or third-party right — including any claim arising from your failure to comply with call recording, telemarketing, or consumer protection laws applicable to your calls.

15. Dispute Resolution and Arbitration

Please read this section carefully — it affects your legal rights.

Agreement to Arbitrate. You and Answering Machine agree that any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service (a "Dispute") will be resolved by binding arbitration on an individual basis, rather than in court — except that either party may bring an individual claim in small claims court, and either party may seek injunctive or other equitable relief in court to protect its intellectual property or to prevent unauthorized access to or misuse of the Service.

Class Action Waiver. You and Answering Machine agree that each may bring Disputes against the other only in an individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class, collective, or representative proceeding. Unless both parties agree otherwise in writing, the arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims and may not preside over any class, collective, or representative proceeding.

Mass Filing / Batch Arbitration Procedures. If 25 or more similar arbitration demands, presented by or with the assistance of the same law firm(s) or coordinated group of representatives, are filed against Answering Machine within a 60-day period, raising substantially similar claims (a "Mass Filing"), the parties agree that: (a) the arbitration provider's mass-arbitration or batch procedures then in effect will govern the administration of those claims, including how they are organized into batches, staffing of arbitrators, and the sequencing of filing and administrative fees; (b) a limited number of claims from each batch will proceed first as bellwether cases, with the results reasonably informing resolution of the remaining claims in that batch; and (c) the parties will cooperate in good faith to implement these batch procedures efficiently. To the extent this paragraph conflicts with the arbitration provider's mass-filing or batch rules, those provider rules will control.

Arbitration Provider and Procedures. Arbitration will be administered by JAMS under its then-current Streamlined or Comprehensive Arbitration Rules (as applicable) and, where relevant, its Mass Arbitration Procedures. The arbitration will take place in Delaware, or, at either party's election, by video conference or telephone. The arbitrator's decision will be final and binding, subject only to a limited right of judicial review under the Federal Arbitration Act.

30-Day Opt-Out. You may opt out of this arbitration agreement by emailing hello@getansweringmachine.com within 30 days of first agreeing to these Terms, with your name, account email, and a clear statement that you decline to be bound by this arbitration agreement. If you opt out, Disputes between you and us will be resolved in court as described below, but the Class Action Waiver above still applies to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Governing Law. These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. Any Dispute that is not subject to arbitration under this Section (for example, small claims matters, requests for injunctive relief, or claims by someone who has opted out) will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Delaware, and you consent to personal jurisdiction and venue there.

16. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we'll notify you by email or through the Service before the changes take effect. Continued use of the Service after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

17. General

Entire agreement. These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, are the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Service.
Severability. If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in full effect.
No waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of our right to do so later.
Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our written consent. We may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
Force majeure. We are not liable for delays or failures caused by circumstances beyond our reasonable control.

18. Contact Us

Questions about these Terms? Contact us at hello@getansweringmachine.com.