Asto Shield is for secure communication: it keeps your real number protected and makes sure only the people you have added and approved in the app can contact you. Great for dating or any other secure communication need.
Who sends the texts
Asto Shield is an Asto product (goasto.com/shield) of Nerd Systems LLC, the company behind Asto. Every text comes from the Asto Shield phone number a member showed the person. Asto Shield relays a private two-way conversation between a member who uses the Asto Shield iPhone app and a person the member added, so neither sees the other's real number. When the member writes in the app, the text reaches the person from the Asto Shield number; the person's texts to that number reach the member in the app.
Asto Shield never sends the first text
A person gets texts only after a member added them in the app and showed them the Asto Shield number, and they texted that number first. Their first text gets one reply with a link to their own join page (if they text again before joining, the same reply with a new link, at most once every 10 minutes). Nothing else is sent to them, and none of their texts reach the member, until they open the link and join, and texts come to them only if they tick the text box below. The member gets no texts from this service: everything reaches them in the app. The one-time code a member asks for when they confirm their own number is sent by Twilio Verify from Twilio's own numbers, never from an Asto Shield number.
Every text Asto Shield sends
- The reply to a person's first text (if they text again before joining, the same reply with a new link, at most once every 10 minutes):
Asto Shield by Nerd Systems: [member's name]'s private line. Join: https://shield.goasto.com/i/[one-use code] Msg&data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out, HELP for help.
- After they join, if they ticked the text box, one confirmation:
Asto Shield by Nerd Systems: Connected to [member's name]. Text or call this number. Msg frequency varies. Msg&data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out, HELP for help.
- The texts the member writes, each with the member's name and Asto Shield in front, for example:
[member's name] via Asto Shield: Thanks for texting! Yes, the bike is still for sale. Can you come see it Saturday at 10?
- If their credit runs out while they text the member, a reminder (at most 3 in 30 days):
Asto Shield: Your credit with [member's name] ran out. Get more: https://shield.goasto.com/t/[their link] Reply STOP to opt out.
- To a number the member has not added, or has removed or blocked, that texts an Asto Shield number: this notice, once per number, and nothing after:
Asto Shield: Unauthorized Contact, Please only contact someone who has approved you to talk. If you are receiving this message, you have been blocked and will not be able to contact the person anymore
- The replies to STOP, START and HELP:
STOP: Asto Shield: You're opted out and won't get more texts. Reply START to opt back in.
START: Asto Shield: You're opted back in and can get texts through Asto Shield again. Msg&data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out, HELP for help.
HELP: Asto Shield: help at https://shield.nerdsystems.com/support. Msg&data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out.
There are no marketing or promotional texts.
How a person agrees
On their join page (shield.goasto.com/i/…) they see these three boxes, unticked, each its own box. The first two (final sale, and the Terms and Privacy Policy) are needed to join. The third, the text consent, is optional and not a condition of purchase: a person who leaves it unticked joins for calls only and gets no texts from Asto Shield at all, not the confirmation, the member's texts or credit reminders.
Their consent is stored with the time, their IP address, their browser and the exact wording shown. They then pay for a pack, or pass a card check if the member covers them.
After they press the button, they see this page, and, if they ticked the text box, the confirmation text above reaches them at once:
How often, and cost
Message frequency varies with the conversation. Msg & data rates may apply. Carriers are not liable for any delayed or undelivered messages.
STOP, START and HELP
Reply STOP to any text to opt out; you get one confirmation and no more texts. Reply START to opt back in. Reply HELP for help, or email ben@nerdsystems.com.