Terms
Lotus, the texting service. Effective 8 October 2026.
Lotus is a text-message service operated by Tony Chow, a student at UC Berkeley, as a small pilot. During the pilot you message the Lotus bot on Telegram; later, you text a phone number. Either way a bot named Lotus answers. It asks one short question most days, and when you ask it to, it invites other participants to a small hangout or offers a one-to-one introduction. Lotus is a bot and says so. It is for adults aged 18 and over.
The messaging program
- Program name: Lotus.
- How you opt in: you text the Lotus number first. That first text is your consent to receive replies. Before anything recurring is sent, Lotus explains itself and asks for your first name and birthday (18+ only).
- Message frequency: replies to what you send, plus up to one optional question a day and the invitations or introductions you asked for. Frequency varies with how much you use it.
- Message and data rates may apply. Lotus itself is free during the pilot.
- To stop: text STOP at any time and all messages end. You can text START to resume.
- For help: text HELP, or email [email protected].
- Carriers: T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon and the other participating carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.
What Lotus does and does not do
- Lotus introduces people. It does not vet anyone, predict chemistry, or guarantee that anyone will reply or show up.
- Lotus never writes messages for you to send to other people.
- Who you say you would like to see again stays private unless the other person says the same. Nothing is called a match until two people have actually met.
- Hangouts are in public places, arranged between adults who each chose to come. Use your own judgement about meeting anyone; Lotus is not a party to what happens there.
Your side
- You must be 18 or older and give a real first name and birthday.
- Be decent to the people Lotus introduces you to. Harassment, threats, or using the service to contact someone who has said no ends your access.
- Report anything that worries you by texting REPORT or emailing the address above. A person reads reports.
Accounts and deletion
There is no account to create. Texting STOP ends all messages at once. To have your records deleted, email [email protected] from the number you used, or text DELETE and then confirm by email. See the privacy policy for what is kept.
Service changes
This is a pilot. It may change, pause or end at any time, and these terms may change with it; the effective date above moves when they do.
Contact
Tony Chow · [email protected] · Berkeley, California.