SMS and Messaging

1. Read this first: TAGO does not send text messages today#

TAGO currently sends no SMS text messages at all. There is no text-messaging provider connected to our systems, and no TAGO system sends a text to you or to anyone you name.

That matters for two reasons:

• The messaging features you see in the app are your own phone's. When you tap "text my trusted contacts", or the text or call button for a Companion or a Caregiver, your own Messages app or dialler opens with the text pre-filled and you send it yourself. TAGO records only that you were handed a pre-filled composer — not the content, and not whether you sent it. The emergency button dials 911 from your phone; it does not summon help from TAGO.
• This document is forward-looking on purpose. The consent, frequency, opt-out and help terms below are the terms that govern any text message TAGO sends, and they take effect the moment TAGO enables text messaging. We are publishing them now, before the first message, rather than after.

What TAGO does send today: push notifications to your device, and email. See Terms of Service §14 and our Privacy Policy.

Before any SMS program goes live, two things must be true. As of August 14, 2026, one of them now is:

• ✅ The consent language in §4 appears on the screen where you enter your mobile number. It is an explicit, unticked checkbox — you tick it or you do not, and either way you can continue. Consent is recorded against the number you gave and the exact wording you were shown. This is a change from the earlier version of this page, which correctly said the screen did not exist.
• ❌ A messaging provider is still not connected. No text is sent by TAGO today, to anyone, for any reason.

So the box is real and your answer is recorded, but nothing acts on it yet. The first message cannot be sent until a provider is connected, and consent gathered before then is what will authorise it. A carrier reviewer reading this page today should read it as a consent mechanism that is live, in front of a messaging program that is not.

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2. Program description#

TAGO is a cost-sharing carpool platform. Drivers are private individuals already making a trip; riders contribute toward the cost of that trip. TAGO is not a taxi service, not a transportation carrier, and not a transportation network company, and TAGO takes no commission.

If and when TAGO enables text messaging, the program is transactional only:

• One-time passcodes for account and phone-number verification
• Account security alerts
• Trip status notifications (for example, your driver is arriving, a trip was cancelled, a safety prompt on a live trip)

We will not send marketing or promotional text messages under this program. Marketing consent, where we have it, is for email and push notifications and is managed separately in the app (Profile → Settings → Notifications).

One correction to our previous version of this page. It described TAGO as "a carpooling service for verified university students." We do not verify student status. A .edu badge on a profile means only that the email address on that account ends in .edu; we do not confirm enrolment, and a .edu address is not an access requirement. We also do not verify identity or age. Terms of Service §0 and §5 set out exactly what we do and do not check.

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3. Who this applies to#

Anyone who gives TAGO a mobile number in the TAGO app. You must be 18 or older to use TAGO (Terms §3). You confirm that you are the subscriber or the customary authorised user of the number you give us. If you change or give up that number, update it in the app so we do not message the next person who gets it.

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4. How you opt in — and the exact language shown#

You opt in by ticking a checkbox beneath the mobile-number field in the TAGO app. The box is unticked by default — you tick it yourself or you leave it alone, and either way you can continue. Consent to receive SMS is not a condition of using TAGO and not a condition of any purchase.

The checkbox agrees to SMS and to nothing else. It is not combined with accepting our Terms of Service or Privacy Policy; those are linked beside it so you can read them, and ticking the box does not accept them.

The consent disclosure shown at the point of phone entry reads, verbatim:

I agree to receive SMS text messages from TAGO at the number provided, including one-time passcodes (account verification), account security alerts, and ride status notifications. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out or HELP for help. Consent is not a condition of purchase.

(Preserve the paragraph above character-for-character. Carrier and messaging-provider review depends on these exact words. It is stored in exactly one place in the app — SmsConsentCheckbox.disclosure — and a test asserts each required element is still present. If you change it, bump SmsConsentCheckbox.languageVersion in the same edit, because every stored consent record names the version it was given against.)

This wording changed on August 14, 2026. The previous version opened "By tapping 'Continue'", because consent used to be implied by advancing past the screen. It is an explicit tick now, and the words had to describe what you actually do.

Where it appears: the phone-number step of account setup in the TAGO iOS app, and the phone field in Profile → Edit Profile, so changing your number lets you change your answer with it.

The actual screen, captured from the TAGO iOS app on August 14, 2026 — the mobile-number field and the consent disclosure together, with the box in its default state:

Three things in that image are deliberate. The box is unticked — that is its default for every user; we do not pre-tick it. The Continue button is inactive because no number has been typed yet, not because of the checkbox — ticking it is never required to continue. And the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service links sit outside the checkbox sentence, because ticking the box agrees to SMS and does not accept those documents.

What we record. When you tick or untick the box we store the number as saved, the action, the date, and which version of the wording above you were shown. The record is append-only: withdrawing consent adds a new entry rather than erasing the old one, so the history stays honest. If you delete your TAGO account, these records are deleted with it.

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5. Message frequency and cost#

Message frequency varies based on your activity — for example, a passcode each time you sign in, plus trip updates while you are on a trip.

Message and data rates may apply, depending on your mobile carrier and plan. TAGO does not charge you for text messages; your carrier may.

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6. How to stop (STOP) and how to get help (HELP)#

Reply STOP to any TAGO message to cancel. After you send STOP, we will send one confirmation message and then stop sending SMS messages to that number.

Reply HELP for help, or email [email protected].

You can also remove or change your mobile number in the app, and you can turn SMS alerts off in Profile → Settings → Notifications (SMS alerts are off by default).

Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

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7. Privacy and data sharing#

Mobile information will not be shared with third parties/affiliates for marketing/promotional purposes. All the above categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.

(Preserve the paragraph above character-for-character — carrier-mandated language.)

For everything else about what we collect and who receives it, see our Privacy Policy at www.tagorides.com/privacy and our Terms of Service at www.tagorides.com/terms. In particular: we do not sell personal information and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising, and any advertising we run is selected from what is on the page, never from a profile of you.

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8. Messages between users inside the app#

Separate from SMS: TAGO has in-app messaging for coordinating a Trip. Those messages are stored on our systems, are not read by any AI or automated moderation system, are visible to TAGO staff when we investigate a safety report, and are retained. Use them to coordinate trips — not to advertise, harass, or solicit. Terms §10.4(f) and §14.3, and Privacy Policy §4.5.

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9. Notice about numbers you give us for other people#

TAGO lets you store trusted contacts, Caregivers, and Companions, which means giving us another person's name and phone number. TAGO never contacts them — we send them no text, call, or email. Get that person's permission before you enter their details. If you are one of those people and want your details removed, email [email protected]; you do not need a TAGO account to ask.

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10. Changes#

We will update this document when the program changes, and we will change the "Last updated" date. When TAGO connects a messaging provider and text messaging goes live, §1 will be updated to say so before the first message is sent — not after.