If something you write suggests you're in crisis, the app shows a supportive message with hotline numbers — no judgment, no entry blocking, no surveillance. Resources are picked based on your country (10+ supported). Detection happens on your phone only.

If something you write suggests you're in crisis or in danger, the app shows a supportive message with relevant hotline numbers. The check happens entirely on your phone — nothing is sent to a server, nothing is logged, nobody is alerted.

How detection works

The app watches for a small set of phrases when you save an entry:

Crisis phrases: "suicide," "want to die," "kill myself," "end it all," "self-harm," "hurt myself," "no reason to live," "better off dead/without me," "don't want to be here / exist / wake up."
Abuse phrases: "hits me," "hurts me," "beats me," "threatens me," "afraid of him/her/my partner," "controls me," "won't let me leave/go/see."

The check happens on your phone, in plain text that never leaves it. There's no AI scanning. No human review. No log entry. We have no way to know it triggered.

What happens when it triggers

A friendly window appears with:

A short, non-judgmental message (different copy for crisis vs. abuse).
A list of hotlines for your country.
A note pointing to the international directory if you'd rather use that.
A "Continue writing" button that closes the window.

What does not happen:

Your entry isn't blocked. You can still save it. It isn't censored. It isn't flagged on the server.
Your entry isn't reported anywhere. Nobody sees it.
The window doesn't lecture you. It says something kind, then resources, then closes.

Country-specific resources

The app reads your phone's region setting and shows resources for your country. We have specific entries for:

United States
United Kingdom
Canada
Australia
New Zealand
Ireland
South Africa
India
Germany
France

For other countries, we show an international fallback:

findahelpline.com — directory of helplines worldwide
befrienders.org — international crisis centres
hotpeachpages.net — international domestic violence directory

What happens when you tap a resource

Tapping opens the appropriate handler on your phone:

Phone numbers open your phone's dialer
Text shortcodes open your messaging app
Web addresses open your browser

Open Heart never proxies the call. We never see who you contacted.

Why detection runs on your phone

Two reasons:

Privacy. Crisis content is the most sensitive thing you might write. Sending it to a server for "analysis" — even ours — would be the wrong move.
No surveillance. A check that runs locally is a "we're here if you need us" gesture. The same check running on a server, even with the same behavior, is closer to surveillance — and we don't want that to be the model.

Why we don't use AI for this

We considered using a more sophisticated AI to spot subtle cases. We chose simple phrase matching because:

It's something we can show you in plain English. Every phrase we look for is on this page.
It works without an internet connection.
It doesn't pass crisis content through any AI — even our own.

The trade-off: simple matching misses subtle phrasings. We accept that. The point isn't to catch every case — it's to surface help when help is clearly relevant.

Active crisis right now

If you're in immediate danger:

United States: Call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline). Or text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line).
United Kingdom: Call 116 123 (Samaritans).
Canada: Call or text 988.
Australia: Call 13 11 14 (Lifeline).
Other countries: visit findahelpline.com.

Open Heart is not a substitute for emergency services or professional help. It's a journaling app with a kindness gate.

Crisis resources