Terms of Service
The rules for using Seabottles: what you can write, what you can't, and what happens if something is removed.
1. What Seabottles is
Seabottles is a place to write what you really feel and have a stranger, somewhere, read it. You write a message without putting your name on it (we call it a "bottle"), and it is delivered at random to a few people you don't know, who can reply. A reply can turn into a private one-to-one chat. There are no likes, followers, public profiles, photos, videos, or links: only text. Every bottle can be read by anyone. Anonymous does not mean private: each bottle you send — except a letter to your future self — can be read by anyone with an account in the Open Sea, and by anyone on the internet through its own public web page, including bottles in the Sea of Secrets. Your name and email are never shown. Only your replies and your chats are private. By using Seabottles, you accept this (see section 8). By using Seabottles, you agree to these Terms, the Privacy Policy, the Community Guidelines, and “Minors and age verification.”
2. Who we are
Seabottles is operated by Fernando Carlos Debernardi, an individual based in Argentina (see the Legal Notice). Users and authorities can reach us at hola@seabottles.org.
3. You must be 18 or older
Seabottles is only for adults. Before you get in, we ask for your year of birth. We know that alone is not enough, so we act on any sign that an account belongs to someone under 18: anyone with an account can flag it with one tap, the flag limits the account right away, and a person reviews it. If we confirm the account belongs to a minor, we close it and delete its data.
4. Your account
You can start without giving any personal information: your account lives in your browser. To keep it when you change phones, you can link your Google account or add a passkey. Linking is only used to recognize you when you come back; your identity is never shown to anyone in the app. You can close your account and delete your data at any time, from your account settings ("Close my account and delete my data"). This happens immediately and cannot be undone. The Privacy Policy explains what is kept and why.
5. What is not allowed
You may not use Seabottles to post or send:
• anything illegal; • sexual content involving minors, or any attempt to contact, groom, or entice a minor; • sexually explicit content; • intimate images or descriptions of a real person shared without their consent; • harassment, threats, or hate speech; • personal information about anyone else; • spam, scams, or impersonation; • contact details — links, email addresses, phone numbers, or usernames on other apps (the app blocks these automatically); • someone else's writing passed off as your own: song lyrics, poems, passages from books, or any other work you didn't write. Seabottles is not a dating app, and may not be used as one. The Community Guidelines explain these rules in more detail.
6. Moderation
Anything posted on Seabottles may be reviewed by automated systems and by people, before or after it is delivered. This is how it works today:
• Before anything is sent: links, email addresses, phone numbers, and usernames on other apps are blocked in bottles, replies, chat messages, and reviews. The same bottle can't be cast twice from the same account within 30 days, and there is a daily limit on bottles. • Chats, without stopping anything: replies and chat messages also go through our moderation word lists. Nothing is blocked, but if something serious shows up, the person who looks after the sea sees it. • Bottles, without stopping anything: bottles also go through our word lists and, in unclear cases, an AI system classifies the text. Today this doesn't return or delay any bottle: what matches is noted so a person on our team can review it. • When someone reports a bottle: if three different people whose accounts are at least a day old report it within ten minutes, it is hidden while we review it. A single report of serious sexual or violent content from someone with an account hides it right away while we review it (one person can trigger this at most three times in 24 hours). If the review finds nothing wrong, the bottle comes back. • When someone reports a chat: the chat closes for both people. We may remove content, and we may suspend or close accounts. When we act on something of yours, we tell you why in the app, and you can appeal for free with the "Appeal" button. A person reviews every appeal. Anyone with an account can report a bottle, a chat message, or anything else shown in the app. Bottles can also be reported without an account, from their public page, and anyone can write to hola@seabottles.org.
7. Each person is responsible for what they write
Seabottles delivers messages written by other people, at random. We don't write them and we don't adopt them as our own. Whoever sends a bottle is responsible for what they put in it and for the consequences of writing it. That includes aggressive messages, threats, harassment, and hate, and also what someone shares about themselves: a hard time, a loss, a thought of hurting themselves. We moderate, remove content, and suspend accounts when needed, as described in section 6. But we don't read everything before it is delivered, and we are not responsible for what someone else wrote. One more thing, and it's a human point, not a legal one. If you receive a bottle that worries you, report it: we look at every report. If you are the one going through a hard time, "Need to talk?" in the app links to free, confidential helplines. Seabottles is not an emergency or mental health service, and no one on the other side has to reply to you. If you are in immediate danger, call 911 in the United States and Canada, 999 in the UK, 112 in Ireland, or your local emergency number. In the United States and Canada, you can call or text 988 to reach a suicide and crisis line; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans answer for free at 116 123.
8. Your content
What you write stays yours. You give us a limited, non-exclusive, revocable license to show and deliver it anonymously within Seabottles and, for Open Sea bottles, on our official channels as described below. The license ends when you permanently delete what you wrote or close your account. If you only move a bottle to Deleted, it's no longer shown, except to anyone who's already started a chat with you about it — they can still read it there. Once you delete it forever from the Deleted tab, it's gone from those chats too. The Open Sea. Every bottle you send — except a letter to your future self — also floats in the Open Sea, where anyone with an account can find and read it (without replying). This includes bottles in the Sea of Secrets. Public bottle pages. Each of these bottles also has its own public web page (seabottles.org/b/…) that anyone can open without an account, and you or anyone who reads it can share its link. It shows the full text, how long ago it set sail, and — only if you chose to show your postmark — your city and country. It never shows your name or email. Within about a minute, the page goes offline if you delete the bottle or close your account, when the bottle sinks, if anyone reports it and it is waiting for review, if it or your account is suspended, or if you haven't sent, opened, replied to, saved, or resonated with a bottle in the last 30 days. This applies to every Open Sea bottle, including those in the Sea of Secrets, and there is no setting to turn it off: it is part of how Seabottles works. By sending a bottle, you accept that it can be read this way. Our official channels. Open Sea bottles can also be shown, always anonymously and without changes to the text, on Seabottles' official channels (our social media and our website). We never use bottles from your shore, your chats, or your replies there. If you delete the bottle or close your account, we stop using it and take it down from our channels as soon as possible. The Sand. The Sand is a place in the app where Open Sea bottles are shown inside small games — for example, with their words scattered for someone else to put back in order. It shows the text without changes and your postmark (city and country), never your name or email. We never choose a bottle from the Sea of Secrets, one that has sunk or been reported, or anything from your shore, your chats, or your replies. You can opt out at any time in My Sea with one tap: from then on, none of your bottles will be chosen, and any that are already in The Sand are removed right away. The Pier. On The Pier, you can watch Open Sea bottles as they set sail. Only their sea and country are shown — never the city, your name, or your email — and the full text appears when someone taps one. As in The Sand, bottles from the Sea of Secrets never appear, and the switch in My Sea keeps yours out. Crossed Paths. On some days, two Open Sea bottles written by different people who don't know each other are shown side by side, because they seem to speak to each other. Each one shows its full text, city, country, and month — never your name or email — and the pair stays visible among past pairs for a few weeks. They are chosen by an AI system and may be reviewed by the Seabottles team before they are shown. As in The Sand, we never choose a bottle from the Sea of Secrets or one that has sunk; we also never choose one that has been reported, or one from someone who has paused their account. You can opt out in My Sea, with its own switch or with The Sand's: from then on, none of your bottles will be chosen, and any pairs that included one of them are taken down right away. When you send a bottle, you confirm that the text is yours or that you have the right to share it. Seabottles does not check who wrote what, and the person who sends someone else's work is responsible for it. Copyright. If you own the rights to a text and find it in a bottle, write to hola@seabottles.org saying which work it is and where you saw it. We remove it and tell the person who sent it why; they can appeal like any other removal. We close the account of anyone who keeps sending other people's work after a removal. The Seabottles name and design belong to the operator of Seabottles.
9. Fair design
We don't use deceptive designs that push you toward choices you don't want.
10. On-screen motion
Seabottles is always moving: floating bottles, waves, fish crossing the water, birds over the map. It is part of what the app is — a sea — and it cannot be turned off in the app. If your device's reduce-motion setting is on, the sea's background motion ignores it. A few things do respect that setting: the treasures that fall when you open a bottle appear already in place; the fishing line in the Open Sea comes down without swinging; the beam of The Lighthouse stays lit without turning; in The Water's Edge, the tide that refills the button for stoking the fire isn't animated, and the button simply becomes ready again; bottles leaving The Pier don't glide away, but hold still and move forward in small jumps; and in Crossed Paths the two bottles don't sway and the currents appear already drawn. If on-screen motion makes you dizzy or nauseous, Seabottles may not be comfortable for you, and we'd rather tell you before you start. We are not responsible for any effect that on-screen motion may have on your health. If you feel unwell while using Seabottles, stop.
11. Payments
There is nothing to buy in Seabottles today. Voluntary contributions ("Keep the Sea Afloat") are made outside the app. They come with no perks, badges, or spot on any list, and they never change who receives your bottles.
12. No warranties; limitation of liability
Seabottles is provided "as is," without any guarantee that it will always be available or free of errors. We are not responsible for what other people write. Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot be excluded by law.
13. Changes
If we change these Terms, we will tell you in the app in advance. If you don't agree, you can close your account. Last updated: October 11, 2026.
14. Governing law and disputes
These Terms are governed by the laws of Argentina. If you are a consumer, you keep the protections of the laws and courts where you live.