Privacy & SMS Terms
Last updated 2 September 2026 · Chillicothe, Ohio
AfterKeeper answers the after-hours phone for local businesses. A business hires us, points its own no-answer call forwarding at a number we provide, and we take a message from whoever calls and pass it straight to the owner. This page explains what we collect while doing that, how long we keep it, and the terms of the text messages we send.
Plain version: we record and transcribe calls so the business you called can return them accurately. We don't sell anything to anyone, we don't use your call to advertise to you, and we delete the audio after 30 days.
Who is who
The business you called — the HVAC company, funeral home, towing operator or shop whose number you dialed — decides why your call is handled and is the owner of the resulting message. AfterKeeper Answers is the service that business hired to answer it. If you want a call deleted or corrected, either of us can start that; contact details are at the bottom.
What we collect when you call a business we answer for
- Your phone number, as it is passed to us by the phone network. If your caller ID is blocked, we don't receive it, and we'll ask you to type a callback number instead.
- What you say — a recording of the call, and a written transcript of it.
- The details you give us: your name, a callback number, and a short description of what you need.
- Call metadata: the date, time and length of the call, and which business you were calling.
The line tells you it's answered by an assistant before it asks you anything. We don't collect payment card numbers, Social Security numbers, or health information, and the assistant is not designed to ask for them — if you volunteer something like that it ends up in the recording and transcript like anything else you say, so please don't.
What we do with it
- Send the business owner a summary of your call, by text message and/or email, so they can call you back.
- Show the message to that business in their own private call log.
- Keep the recording and transcript briefly so the business can check what was actually said.
- Review calls to fix problems with the service itself — for example, when the assistant mishears something.
We do not sell or rent your information, use it for advertising, use it to build a marketing list, or share it with data brokers.
Where the AI part runs
The assistant that speaks with you uses automated speech recognition provided by our telephone carrier, and a language model that we run on our own hardware to write the summary — not a third-party AI service. Your call content is not sent to an outside AI company for that step, and it is never used to train a public model.
Who else touches it
- The business you called. That's the point.
- Twilio, our telephone provider, which carries the call, holds the recording, and delivers the text message.
- Our email provider, if the business chose email summaries.
- Law enforcement or a court, if we are legally required to.
How long we keep it
| What | Kept for | Then |
|---|---|---|
| Call audio | 30 days | Deleted from our phone provider |
| Transcript and what was said turn by turn | 90 days | Deleted |
| Your name, number and what you needed | 1 year | Removed from the record |
| The fact that a call happened, and when | Kept | Retained without your details, so the business can see how many calls the service handled |
A business that stops using AfterKeeper keeps whatever they've already been sent by text or email; that's their own record, not ours to delete.
Call recording
Calls to a line we answer are recorded, and the recording starts when the call connects — before the assistant speaks. The recording is made by AfterKeeper, the answering service the business you called uses when its own line goes unanswered, rather than by that business itself. The audio is held by Twilio, our telephone provider, and we delete it after 30 days; the written transcript goes at 90 days, on the schedule in the table above.
There is no way to leave a message on this line without the call being recorded. If you would rather not be recorded, you can hang up and reach the business another way — during their business hours, or by email. If you have already left a message and want it removed, ask us using the contact address at the bottom of this page.
SMS / text messaging terms
These terms cover the summary texts we send to business owners who sign up for the service. We do not send marketing texts, and we do not text people who call in.
- What you get: a text summarizing each call our service handles for your business.
- How you opt in: verbally, during the call where you sign up, at the phone number you give us.
- How often: it depends entirely on your own call volume — one text per call handled.
- Cost: we don't charge for the texts. Message and data rates may apply from your carrier.
- To stop: reply STOP to any message. You'll get one confirmation and no further texts. You can switch to email summaries instead by contacting us.
- For help: reply HELP, or email the address below.
- Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.
We don't share your mobile number with third parties for their own marketing, and no mobile information is sold or shared with anyone for marketing purposes.
Your choices
- Ask what we have about you, or ask us to delete it, using the contact below. We'll need enough detail to find the call — roughly when it was, and which business you called.
- Call during business hours instead, if you'd rather not reach an automated line at all.
- Business owners can switch off text summaries, switch to email, or end the service at any time; your forwarding setting is yours and takes five minutes to undo.
Security
Call data is held on systems we control, reachable over encrypted connections, with each business's call log behind its own private link. We're a small operation and we don't pretend to be a bank — but we hold as little as we can for as short as we can, which is the part that actually reduces risk.
Children
This service is for businesses and their customers. It isn't directed at children under 13 and we don't knowingly collect their information.
Changes
If this policy changes we'll update the date at the top. Material changes affecting existing clients will be sent to them directly rather than only posted here.
Contact
AfterKeeper · Chillicothe, Ohio
[email protected]