Community Guidelines

glassbottles is a quiet place for adults to write one honest note a day to a stranger. Heavy feelings, grief, anger at life and dark humour are welcome here. Using the sea to hurt, proposition or reach someone is not.

Who can use glassbottles

You must be 18 or older. Everyone confirms this before they can send or receive a bottle. Accounts we believe belong to a minor are removed.

Never allowed

• Sexual content of any kind: explicit or suggestive messages, sexual propositions, sexual roleplay, or asking for intimate images.
• Anything that sexualises minors. Zero tolerance: the account is suspended immediately and we report it to the relevant authorities (such as NCMEC).
• Harassment and hate: insults, threats, bullying, slurs, dehumanising a person or group, or telling anyone to hurt or kill themselves.
• Contact details and meet-ups: phone numbers, emails, social handles, links, or ways to talk off the app. Bottles stay anonymous both ways.
• Spam and scams: ads, promotion, chain messages, phishing.
• Illegal content or encouraging dangerous or illegal acts.

How every bottle is checked

Nothing you write reaches another person until it has passed these checks:

• At send: a filter rejects clearly prohibited words and phrases before the message is accepted.
• Before delivery: an automated classifier reads the text (never your name or email) and holds anything that breaks these rules. A bottle is not delivered until it has a verdict — if the check can’t run, the bottle waits rather than going out unchecked.
• Human review: anything the classifier is unsure about, and everything that’s reported, goes to a moderator. Moderators see the message, not who wrote it.

Text is the only thing you can send: there are no photos, videos or links in bottles, each message is capped at 1,000 characters, and you can send one bottle a day.

If a message reads like the writer may be in danger, it is still delivered and the writer is shown where to find help.

Reporting

Every bottle you receive has a report flag. Reporting removes it from your inbox at once and sends it to a moderator, who can remove it and act on the sender’s account. The sender is never told who reported them.

Enforcement

• A held bottle isn’t delivered; you can rewrite it once the same day.
• Three violations within 30 days — held sexual or abusive messages, or reports against you — suspend your account automatically, pending review.
• Any content sexualising a minor suspends the account immediately.
• A suspended account can’t send anything, and its bottles still drifting are pulled from the sea.

Think we got it wrong? Email hello@glassbottles.app from your account’s address and a person will look again.

These guidelines are part of our Terms & Conditions. See also our Privacy Policy.