Terms

Terms of Service

Last updated: 2026-09-21

These terms are an agreement between you and HomePhone, operated from Ottawa, Canada. By creating an account or using the service you agree to them. Our Privacy Policy explains what we collect and why.

1. The service

HomePhone is a family phone line for an older person. It screens calls from numbers that are not in their contact list, lets family members listen in, speak privately or step into a call, alerts the family to suspected scams, and lets the protected person ring the whole family at once. Features are described on this site as they work today; we will not describe something as available before it is.

2. Emergency calls — read this

HomePhone does not currently connect calls to 911. The emergency button rings the family and texts anyone who does not answer; it does not contact emergency services. In an emergency, call 911 directly from any phone. Do not wait for the family line.

Like any internet-based phone service, HomePhone depends on power, an internet connection and our phone carrier, and can fail during outages. It must not be anyone’s only way to reach help.

You must register the street address where the protected person lives as the line’s emergency address, and update it if they move. It is the address emergency services receive for calls from the HomePhone number. If you transfer an existing landline to HomePhone, that landline stops working as a telephone when the transfer completes, including for 911; the protected person must have another phone that can call 911.

3. Accounts and households

• You must be 18 or older to create an account or manage a household.
• The person who sets up a household is responsible for it: for the members they invite, for keeping the contact list and emergency address accurate, and for telling the protected person how the line works and getting their agreement before it is used for them.
• Keep your sign-in details private. You are responsible for activity under your account.

4. Call screening, transcription and voicemail

Calls from numbers not in the contact list are transcribed as they happen, on both sides, so family members can follow them and the call can be scored for scam risk. Voicemail is recorded and transcribed. Calls from saved contacts are not transcribed. By using HomePhone you agree to this, and you agree to use it only where it is lawful to do so and to obtain any consent the law requires from the people involved.

Scam detection is a warning system, not a guarantee. It can miss a scam or flag an honest call. Family members remain responsible for their own decisions.

5. Plans and billing

• Family Circle is free. It includes no phone number and no calling.
• The Line: $19 CAD per month, including a protected phone line and up to 1,000 call minutes a month (each person on a call counts separately). If a household regularly goes well past that, we will contact you about a different plan before changing anything.
• Care: $59 CAD per month, including a protected phone line and up to 2,500 call minutes a month (each person on a call counts separately). If a household regularly goes well past that, we will contact you about a different plan before changing anything.

Paid plans are not yet open for ordering; the billing page will say when they are. Once they are: Payments are processed by Stripe and billed monthly in advance until you cancel. You can cancel at any time from the Billing page; your plan continues until the end of the month you have paid for and is not renewed. We do not refund partial months, except where the law requires it. We will give you at least 30 days’ notice by email before any price change, and you can cancel before it takes effect.

Your protected line is a new local phone number that we obtain for your household once payment is confirmed, normally within minutes. The number is provided for use with HomePhone only. When a paid plan ends, its number is returned to our phone carrier and cannot be recovered, so let your contacts know before you cancel.

If you bring your existing number, you authorize us and our phone carrier to transfer it from your current provider using the details and documents you give us. The transfer is completed by the providers involved and can take days to weeks. Keep your current service active until it completes. When a paid plan ends, a number you brought is kept for 30 days so you can move it to another provider; after that it may be released.

6. Acceptable use

Do not use HomePhone to harass anyone, to monitor a person without their knowledge, to make unlawful or fraudulent calls or messages, to send spam, or to interfere with the service. We may suspend a household that does, and will tell you why unless the law or someone’s safety prevents it.

7. Ending the service

You can stop using HomePhone and ask us to delete your household at any time. We may end the service for a household that breaks these terms, or discontinue HomePhone with at least 30 days’ notice and a pro-rated refund of any prepaid month.

8. Limits of our responsibility

We work to keep HomePhone running, but we provide it as it is and cannot promise that every call will connect, every scam will be caught or the service will never be interrupted. To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for indirect or consequential losses, and our total liability to you is limited to the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim. Nothing in these terms removes rights you have under consumer-protection law that cannot be waived.

9. Changes and governing law

If we change these terms, we will post the new version here with a new date, and email account holders about any material change before it takes effect. These terms are governed by the laws of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada that apply there.

10. Contact

Questions about these terms: hello@homephone.app.