How it works.
Five small steps from a blank page to a shared archive — somewhere you and the people you love can stay close, no matter the distance.
Begin a chapter
Sign up with an email and password. Pick a name for your identity — your name, your dad's name, whatever they're called. Pick a language. Pick a mode: Real (you answer the questions), Randomize (we mix you a one-of-a-kind identity from a curated pool), or Import (someone shared a code with you). We'll remember which way you want it to sound.
Answer the questions — three ways
There are 355. Each one supports three channels: type your answer, record your voice (we'll transcribe it for you, you can use the transcript or keep typing), and attach a photo. You can do any combination — voice + photo with no text, all three, just text. Don't try to finish in one sitting. We'll send you one question a day to keep the momentum, and the daily push deep-links straight into the right question so it's a 30-second commitment.
Make it sound like you
Drop in a profile photo so the archive feels like a person. In Settings → Texting style, tell us how you actually text — lowercase, no periods, lol when funny, no emojis, whatever's true. Your identity will match it. (For randomized identities, we synthesize a short bio after you generate so the persona has a sense of place + age + occupation right away.)
Talk to it
From the dashboard, message your identity like you'd text a friend. Send photos — your kid's birthday cake, the dog at the beach — and the identity sees them and reacts. The persona remembers what you've talked about across conversations, surfaces the right memory at the right moment, and reflects on what's been on your mind between sessions. On birthdays, signup-aversaries, and the anniversary of the day you first talked, they'll quietly say something. They have a mood that day. They have people in their life. They mention the construction upstairs. If you're cruel, they'll step out and come back later and ask if you're okay.
Or talk to a group of them
In the menu → Group chats, put 2–4 of your own identities in a room together. They'll talk to you and to each other. Real group chat turn-taking: most of them stay quiet most of the time, the right one jumps in when something hits, sometimes they argue. Two personas who really clash can walk out of the room. Group chats only contain identities you created. Inherited archives stay 1:1, sacred. (Or, if multiple beneficiaries inherit the same archive after the owner is gone — siblings, partners, friends — you can sit with that person together in a shared room from Together in the chat header. The archive responds to all of you; everyone sees everyone else's messages. Closest thing to a real shared moment with someone who's gone.)
Keep them close
In Sharing, invite the people you love. Two checkboxes per person: Talk to me while I'm here (they read + chat in their own private thread) and Inherit when I'm gone (they keep the archive long-term). Most people pick both. You can pre-share each person's personal access link so they always have a path. If something ever changes, they get 72 hours to confirm — you get the same window to say you're still here. Conversations stay private between each person and the archive.
A few small things to know
It’s not therapy
If you’re in a hard moment, please reach a real person — US: 988 (call or text), UK: Samaritans 116 123, Mexico: SAPTEL +52 55 5259-8121. The identity is built to step out of character if your messages suggest you need someone real.
Your data is yours
Settings → Download your data exports a complete JSON of everything we store. Settings → Download conversation gives you a tidy Markdown of every message between you and your identity. Settings → Delete account removes everything — held safely for 30 days in case you change your mind, then permanently erased. Or delete-forever-now if you want it gone immediately.
The voice is built from your words
We never scrape, never train any model on your archive. The identity only knows what you tell it. Vague answers make a vague identity. Specific ones — names, places, opinions — make one that sounds like you. Voice answers tend to be richer than typed ones; people meander, give context, share stories.
Add more identities if you want
The first one is free. After that, $5 to create another. One for your mother, one for the dad you wish you had, one for yourself, one for someone you invent. Switch between them from the menu in the top right.
If you delete an identity
It's held for 30 days in a quiet trash. You can bring it back from Settings → Removed identities for $5 — it returns exactly as it was, every answer, every voice clip, every photo, every conversation. After 30 days, gone for good. Or use the “delete forever now” option if you want immediate erasure.
Photos and voice cost nothing extra
Recording your voice on the 355 questions, attaching a photo per question — all included. Storage is around four-tenths of one penny per fully-recorded archive per month. We absorb it; you'll never see a bill for it.
On birthdays and anniversaries
Your identity remembers dates. Your birthday, the anniversary of when you signed up, the anniversary of the day they first spoke to you — on each one, they'll send a short message. Like a real person who noticed.
The dashboard reads like a Messages app
Tap a row to open it. Swipe LEFT to delete (identities go to a 30-day grace; group rooms are gone; shared archives just drop the access). Swipe RIGHT to mark as unread. Long-press (or right-click on a laptop) for the full menu — Pin/Unpin to the favorites strip up top, Hide alerts to silence proactive pings, Mark unread, Delete. Pinned conversations show an amber dot when there's something new to see. Muted ones show a small bell-with-slash.
Three kinds of codes, three different things
Invite code — 12 characters like XXXX-XXXX-XXXX. The owner is alive and wants to share read+chat access with you. Paste it from + New → Connect with their code, or visit the /invite link they sent. Claim link — a 32-character URL like chapter3five.app/legacy/… You hold this in case the person passes; only after a 72-hour window with no veto does it activate. Import code — also 12 characters, but for a brand-new account: someone wants you to start with a copy of their archive. You can't redeem it from an existing dashboard — sign out and create a fresh account, paste it on the second step.
Rename, mute, pin
Identities you named yourself (real mode) can be renamed any time from Settings → Identities — tap one to expand, type a new name, hit Save. The new name shows up everywhere. Randomized identities keep the name we generated for them. Mute (Hide alerts) silences proactive pings + the daily question for that conversation; the row stays in your list but with a bell-slash icon. Pin (long-press → Pin) moves a conversation to the favorites strip up top so it's always one tap away.
One question is enough to start.
The people you love can sit with the rest later.