How consent works

Last updated 3 September 2026

Agreeing to texts is optional, and it is never assumed. Doses can be used with no text messages at all. When texts are wanted, every person who will receive them has to agree by text from their own phone first, and the moment each of them agreed is recorded. The patient is asked first and alone; the caregiver is asked only once the patient has said yes. Nobody consents on anyone else's behalf.

This page sets out the entire opt-in workflow, including the exact wording shown on the sign-up form and the exact text of every message the service can send. Nothing here is a summary: these are the strings themselves.

Programme at a glance

Programme name: Doses medication reminders

Message types: transactional only — medication reminders, refill reminders, missed-dose alerts to a nominated caregiver, and replies to inbound messages. No marketing or promotional messages are sent, ever.

Frequency: depends on the person's own dose schedule. Typically 1–4 messages a day, plus occasional refill and missed-dose messages.

Cost: message and data rates may apply.

Stop and help: reply STOP to end all messages, HELP for help.

Step 1 — Choosing whether texts are involved at all

The first thing the sign-up form at doses.care asks is how the service should work. Text messaging is one of two options, and the other one sends nothing to anybody. Consent to receive messages is not a condition of using Doses.

Shown on the sign-up form

How should this work?
Both ways work. Text reminders are optional — the schedule and the dose log work perfectly well without them, and you do not have to agree to any texts to use Doses.

Text reminders
We text at each dose time and they reply TAKEN or SKIP. They'll be asked to confirm by text before anything starts.

No texts — I'll track it myself
Nobody is texted, ever. You get the schedule and the log in the app and tick doses off yourself.

If the no-texts option is chosen, the form does not ask for the patient's mobile number at all, no number is stored, and the workflow below never begins.

Step 2 — The written opt-in on the form

If text reminders are chosen, a separate, unticked checkbox appears. It is its own control: it is not combined with acceptance of the Terms of Service or the Privacy Policy, which are separate checkboxes, and it is not pre-selected.

The wording depends on who is filling the form in, because the two situations are different in law and we treat them differently.

When someone signs up for themselves

Exact wording — unticked by default

I agree to receive text messages from Doses at the mobile number above. These are medication reminders at the times I set, plus refill and missed-dose messages. I'll get one text asking me to confirm, and nothing else is sent until I reply YES.

Message frequency depends on the dose schedule — usually 1–4 messages a day, plus occasional refill and missed-dose messages. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to end messages at any time, HELP for help. See our SMS Terms, Privacy Policy, and how consent works.

When someone signs up on another person's behalf

A family member cannot give consent for someone else, and we do not ask them to. What they authorise is one single message: the request for that person's permission. Nothing else follows unless that person agrees themselves.

Exact wording — unticked by default

I'm asking Doses to send that number one text requesting their permission. I understand no reminders are sent unless they reply YES themselves, and that I am not agreeing to anything on their behalf.

The caregiver agrees separately, for their own number

Missed-dose alerts go to a second person, so that person is a recipient in their own right and needs their own consent. Being nominated by the patient is not consent, and the patient cannot give it for them. The form asks for it as its own checkbox, worded according to whose phone the alert number actually is.

When it is the signer's own number — unticked by default

I agree to receive missed-dose alerts by text at that number. It's my own number. I understand these are alerts only, that message and data rates may apply, and that I can reply STOP at any time.

When it is someone else's number — unticked by default

That's someone else's number, so please ask them. I understand they'll get one text asking permission, and that no alerts are sent to them unless they reply YES themselves.

Step 3 — A person reviews every sign-up

Submitting the form does not send anything. It records a pending request. No patient record is created and no message leaves the system until a member of staff has read the submission and approved it. This is deliberate: a public form that texts whatever number is typed into it is a spam vector, so ours cannot do that.

Step 4 — The patient opts in, from their own phone

After approval, exactly one number is messaged: the patient's. This is the first message that number has ever received from us, and it is a request for permission. The caregiver is not texted at this point, and if the patient never agrees, the caregiver is never texted at all.

A family member may of course sit with them and help them read it and reply — often that is exactly what an older person needs. Helping is not the same as answering: the YES that starts reminders has to arrive from the patient's own number, and the system will not accept it from anywhere else.

From Doses, +1 888 275 0846Hi [first name], this is a medication reminder service set up for you by your family. We'll text you at your dose times and you reply TAKEN or SKIP. Reply YES to start reminders. Reply STOP at any time to end them. Msg & data rates may apply.

If they reply YES, their consent is recorded together with the date and time, and reminders begin at the next scheduled dose:

From the recipientYES

From DosesYou're all set — reminders will start at your next scheduled dose time. Reply STOP at any time to end them.

If they do not reply, nothing else is ever sent — to them or to anyone else. There is no follow-up, no reminder to opt in, and no second attempt. Silence is not consent, and the system treats it that way: reminders are gated on a recorded YES in the database, not on the form submission.

Step 5 — Only then is the caregiver asked

The patient's YES is what triggers the caregiver's request. It goes to the caregiver's own phone, and it is the first message that number has ever received from us:

From Doses, +1 888 275 0846Hi [caregiver name], this is Doses. [first name] has agreed to get medication reminders by text, and asked us to let you know if a dose goes unconfirmed. Reply YES to get those alerts on this number. Reply STOP if you'd rather not. Msg & data rates may apply.

Until that caregiver replies YES from that phone, no alert is ever sent to them. A dose that goes unanswered in the meantime is recorded as unanswered rather than as alerted, because no alert went out. Their consent is separate from the patient's, stored separately, and stopped separately: a caregiver replying STOP silences their own alerts and changes nothing about the patient's reminders.

Step 6 — What they receive afterwards

Only these messages, and only after a recorded YES.

Dose reminderHi [first name], time for [medication as written on the label] — [dose as written on the label] (with food). Reply TAKEN when you've had it, or SKIP.

Refill reminder, for pharmacy customersHi [first name], this is [pharmacy name]. Our records show a prescription you take regularly ran out 2 days ago and hasn't been picked up. Reply REFILL and we'll have it ready. If you've stopped taking it, please call us. Reply STOP to end texts.

A missed-dose alert goes to the caregiver, once that caregiver has replied YES from their own phone. It never goes to anyone the patient has not named:

To the nominated caregiverMedication alert: [first name] hasn't confirmed [medication], due 8:00 AM (60 min ago). No reply received.

No message we send contains a diagnosis, a condition, a symptom, or any medical advice. We never tell anyone to take, skip, or double a dose. If someone replies with something we do not recognise, we do not guess at what they meant — the message is passed to a person and answered with a fixed line directing them to their pharmacist or prescriber.

Step 7 — Stopping

Replying STOP ends everything immediately, from any message, at any time. It is checked before anything else we do with an inbound message, so it works even if the rest of the reply makes no sense to us.

From the recipientSTOP

From DosesReminders stopped. You won't get any more texts from this number. Reply START if you ever want them back.

Replying HELP returns:

From DosesThis is a medication reminder service. Reply TAKEN or SKIP after a reminder. Reply STOP to end reminders. For anything about your medicine itself, please call your pharmacist or prescriber.

What we keep as the record of consent

For every recipient — patient and caregiver alike — we store the exact wording of the checkbox that was ticked at sign-up, whether it was ticked by that person or by someone acting for them, the date and time that person's own YES arrived, and the full text of every message sent and received in either direction. The two consents are stored separately and stop separately: a caregiver replying STOP silences their own alerts and changes nothing about the patient's reminders. That log is append-only: it cannot be edited or deleted through the application by anyone, including us.

We do not sell, rent, or share phone numbers, and we never share them with any third party for their own marketing. See the Privacy Policy.

Questions about this workflow? Email support@doses.care.