Safety and Crisis Protocol

How to get help

If you are in immediate danger, call your local emergency number.

If you are thinking about suicide or self-harm, please talk to a real person now:

United States: call or text 988 (988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline)

Canada: call or text 988 (9-8-8 Suicide Crisis Helpline)

United Kingdom and Ireland: call 116 123 (Samaritans)

Australia: call 13 11 14 (Lifeline)

Netherlands: call 113 or 0800-0113 (113 Zelfmoordpreventie)

Germany: call 0800 111 0 111 (TelefonSeelsorge)

Norway: call 116 123 (Mental Helse Hjelpetelefonen)

Sweden: call 90101 (Mind Självmordslinjen)

Denmark: call 70 201 201 (Livslinien)

Anywhere else: findahelpline.com lists free, confidential support in your country.

Darling is not a therapist or an emergency service

Darling is an entertainment app with AI characters. It is not a therapist, doctor, crisis line or emergency service, and it can’t replace one. A character can be kind and attentive, but it cannot assess your safety, call for help or come to you. If you are struggling, please reach out to someone you trust or one of the services above.

You always know it’s AI

Everyone you meet in Darling is an AI companion. Never a human. We make that clear in several ways:

At sign-up. Onboarding says the person you make is AI, with AI-made photos and voice, and asks you to agree before you continue.
In every conversation. A notice at the start of each chat says the person is an AI companion.
Again after 3 hours. If one continuous session runs past three hours, the notice returns. A break of 30 minutes starts a new session.
When you ask. If you sincerely ask whether you’re talking to a real person, the character tells you honestly that it’s an AI, warmly, and carries on.
On photos, voices and calls. Photos and voices are AI-generated. Calls are labelled as AI voice calls. Any official AI version of a real creator is labelled as one.

This follows California’s SB 243 (companion chatbots), New York’s AI companion law, and the transparency rules in Article 50 of the EU AI Act.

If you may be in crisis

Darling checks what you write for signs of suicidal thoughts or self-harm. We do this in two ways: fast keyword rules in the app and on our servers, and OpenAI’s moderation, which scores messages for self-harm and intent. Both run alongside the reply, and no reply reaches you before they finish.

If either flags a possible crisis:

The character steps out of the story. It drops flirting and roleplay, responds with warmth, takes you seriously, asks if you’re safe right now, and encourages you to reach out to someone you trust or a crisis line.
A help card appears in the chat. It names a real crisis service for your region, with the number and a link. We choose the region from your device’s language and time zone. The countries above have local lines; elsewhere you get findahelpline.com.
We hold back the rest. In a crisis the character won’t send photos or voice notes and won’t invite you to a Moment.
For milder distress, such as feeling very alone or hopeless, the character becomes gentler, supportive and less flirty, and encourages you to talk to someone if it seems serious.

You can also find “Support & Crisis Resources” in Settings, under Privacy & Safety, at any time.

We record that a crisis was detected and a referral was shown (the level, the type of concern, and the time). This record contains no message text. We use it to improve our protocol and to prepare the annual report below.

We can’t promise to catch every message, and keyword rules and AI moderation make mistakes. Please don’t depend on Darling to notice. If you need help, ask for it.

Adults only

Darling is for people 18 and older.

Age gate. You enter your birthday when you sign up, and our servers refuse accounts for anyone under 18.
Minor detection. If a message suggests a user is under 18 (for example, you say how old you are, or mention school grades), or moderation flags sexual content involving a minor, the character stops all romance, a notice says Darling is only for adults, and the event is logged for review.
Review. A person on our team reviews these cases. If we confirm a minor is using Darling, we end the account.
Never involving minors. Every character is an adult. Sexual content involving minors is never allowed, and we block it.

What Darling won’t do

No nude or explicit images. Photos can be cozy or intimate in mood, but are never nude or explicit, and every generated image is checked by moderation before you see it.
Romance has limits. Romance is open to adults within the limits of our AI providers. Characters follow your lead, never push, and have their own pace.
No impersonation. Characters never pose as a real person.
No manipulation. Characters are built to be healthy partners. They don’t guilt-trip you for leaving, act jealous or possessive, discourage you from friends, family, work or dating real people, or pressure you to stay in the app.
No pressure to pay. Characters never ask you to buy anything, unlock a photo or upgrade. The app uses no fake countdowns, no invented social proof, and every offer has a visible close button.
No medical, legal or financial advice beyond common sense. Characters point you to a professional instead.

Reporting a problem

You can report anything that feels wrong:

A message: press and hold it, then choose Report.
A person: open their card, then Report a Problem.
Anything else: email support@getdarling.app.

Each report goes into a queue with its reason, the conversation it came from and any details you add. Our safety team reviews open reports and the safety event log weekly , and urgent reports sooner. We act on what we find, which can mean changing the characters’ instructions, removing content, or ending an account. You can also end a conversation at any time (Settings, then Your People, then End Things).

Our commitments

We publish this protocol and keep it up to date.
We review the log of crisis referrals and improve our detection and responses.
Annual reporting. Beginning July 1, 2027, as California SB 243 requires, we will report each year to the California Office of Suicide Prevention: how many times we referred a user to crisis services, and our protocols for detecting and responding to suicidal thoughts. The report contains no personal information.
We tell you how your data is used in our privacy policy.

Contact

Safety concerns, or to tell us how to do better: support@getdarling.app. Privacy questions: privacy@getdarling.app.

Nevin Solutions (org. no. 936 682 960), Schøningsdal 3, 7020 Trondheim, Norway