About, Safety, and Technical Transparency

Why we made this

Many people never find relevant studies because trial search tools can be hard to use. HelloTrial lowers that barrier by allowing anyone to start with a simple text conversation.

How we built it

HelloTrial uses a transparent SMS flow:

1. Text HELLO to (902) 705-5989.
2. HelloTrial asks for symptoms, then location.
3. Messages are scrubbed for obvious personally identifiable information patterns.
4. Scrubbed requests are matched against recruiting trial data.
5. HelloTrial sends links and optional follow-up alerts for new matches.

Safety and controls

• HELLO: starts onboarding and asks for symptoms.
• START: starts or re-starts onboarding (recommended after STOP).
• INFO: returns support and usage information.
• HELP: supported keyword; response may be carrier/Twilio-managed depending on configuration.
• STOP: unsubscribes immediately and deletes stored subscriber data.
• Service explicitly states it is not medical advice.
• Emergency guidance is provided: call 911 for emergencies.

Data handling

• Phone number is stored to deliver SMS and support opt-out.
• Scrubbed preference text and embedding are stored for matching.
• No ad-tech integrations or data resale logic in this codebase.

How it is auditable

The full implementation is public and reviewable:

https://github.com/grandSpecial/tri2vec

Key transparency documents in the repo:

• ARCHITECTURE.md
• PRIVACY.md
• SECURITY.md