Terms of Service

These documents take effect when Phonebox launches. They are reviewed by the owner before publication.

Phonebox is operated by Steelworks Software LLC, a limited liability company registered in Delaware, United States. These terms cover the Phonebox website, console, API, CLI, SDK and MCP server. If you use Phonebox for an organization, you must have authority to act for it.

Your account and keys

Provide accurate account information, protect your credentials, and revoke any API key you believe is compromised. You are responsible for everything done through your projects, including the actions of the agents, applications and people that use your keys.

Acceptable use

Use Phonebox only for lawful purposes, and only with apps, accounts and content you are authorized to use. You may not use Phonebox for:

• unlawful activity;
• fraud, spam or deceptive automation;
• creating accounts at scale against a service's terms;
• circumventing the security measures or rate limits of third-party services, for example through credential stuffing or CAPTCHA farms;
• distributing or running malware;
• harassing or abusing anyone;
• content that exploits minors;
• reselling phones as a competing service.

We may suspend phones used in violation of this section, and we may freeze the project they belong to while we look into it.

Your content and your phones

You keep your rights in the apps, files and data you put on your phones. You authorize us, and the service providers described in our Privacy Policy, to process that content in order to run your phones and operate Phonebox. You are responsible for having the rights and permissions needed to use the apps and accounts your agents operate, including following those apps' own terms.

A parked phone keeps its apps, files and signed-in accounts. Saved phones are kept while you're subscribed; after a plan ends, a saved phone that goes unused is deleted as described under When a plan ends, below. Deleting a phone is permanent, so keep your own copies of anything you need.

Usage and payment

Phonebox runs on prepaid credit. Usage is billed from your project's credit at the rate on our pricing page, currently $0.06 per phone-minute. It is measured per second while a phone is starting or running, with a one-minute minimum per session. Parked phones cost nothing, and a session that fails before its phone is ever ready is not charged.

Every project has a monthly spending limit that you can change. A new session doesn't start if it would take the project past that limit.

Our payment provider acts as merchant of record and handles checkout, subscription billing, applicable taxes, receipts and refunds under its own checkout terms. Credits can only be used for Phonebox and can't be transferred to another customer. To request a refund or dispute a charge, email us with your project ID and order reference. Nothing in these terms limits refund rights you have under applicable law. A refund removes the matching credits, and if the remaining balance no longer covers the time reserved by running phones, we freeze the project and park its phones.

Plans and subscriptions

New accounts get credit through a plan: Starter or Pro, at the prices on our pricing page, currently $20 a month for Starter and $99 a month for Pro. When a plan starts and each time it renews, it adds credit equal to its price. Credit you paid for doesn't expire, including after a plan ends. Accounts that used Phonebox before plans were introduced keep their balance, their limits and their ability to buy credit, and a plan they take only raises their limits.

The free week

A new account can start Starter with a free week: 7 days with $5 of trial credit and Starter's limits. The free week is only for new accounts, one per person; an account that used Phonebox before plans, or that has had a plan before, is charged when it subscribes. A card is required to start the free week, and nothing is charged during the week. Unless you cancel, we charge the Starter price, currently $20, on day 7, and Starter begins with its first month of credit. Our payment provider, Polar, emails you a reminder 3 days before the first charge. You can also start Starter early, or choose Pro, which ends the free week and charges that plan's price at once.

Trial credit is removed the moment you cancel during the free week, or when the week ends unpaid, for example because the charge fails. If you subscribe to Starter or Pro, any trial credit left carries into that plan. Before trial credit is removed, your running phones are parked, and credit you paid for is never taken. Running out of trial credit never charges you by itself. Pro has no free week of its own.

Renewal, upgrades and downgrades

A plan renews automatically every month at its current price until you cancel, and each renewal adds the plan's credit. If we change a plan's price, we'll tell you before the new price applies to your plan. Moving up from Starter to Pro takes effect at once: we charge the prorated difference for the rest of the current month immediately and add that amount as credit. We set up Pro's capacity within 24 hours of the start of Pro; until then, your project can run up to 5 phones at once, and everything else in Pro applies at once. Moving down takes effect at the end of the current month. Moving down never deletes anything at once: phones, saved phones and team members over the lower plan's limits stay, but you can't add more until you're within them, and recordings older than its retention are removed by the normal cleanup.

Cancellation

You can cancel a plan at any time in the console. Cancelling during the free week ends it immediately: your running phones are parked, the remaining trial credit is removed, and you aren't charged. Cancelling a paid plan stops its next renewal, and the plan and its limits last until the end of the month you paid for. Credit you paid for stays in your project after you cancel. We don't refund part of a month when you cancel or move down: the plan runs to the end of the month you paid for.

If a renewal payment fails, your project has the limits of a project without a plan until the payment goes through, and we email you to update your card. Your credit stays. A saved phone is deleted only as described under When a plan ends, after 30 days unused, counted at the earliest from the day the payment failed.

Top-ups

While your project has an active Starter or Pro plan, you can buy extra credit at any time, from $20 to $1,000 at a time, and it doesn't expire. Accounts that used Phonebox before plans were introduced can top up the same way, with or without a plan. Top-ups aren't available during the free week, where you can start Starter early instead, or for a newer project whose plan has ended, where you can subscribe again. Top-ups are never automatic.

When a plan ends

When a plan ends, your project keeps its credit, which you can still spend, under the smaller limits in our plans documentation: for example, one phone running at a time, no saved phones beyond three and no new recordings. Saved phones over that limit aren't deleted for being over it. A saved phone that isn't used for 30 days, counted from the later of its last use and the day the plan ended, is deleted, and we email you a warning a week before. Subscribing again brings back the plan's limits but not another free week. Accounts that used Phonebox before plans were introduced keep their earlier limits and saved phones when a plan they took ends.

Phones and availability

Phonebox phones are virtual Android devices running in cloud data centers. Some apps behave differently on them than on a handset, and some may not run at all. Your agent decides what to do on a phone, and you are responsible for the actions it takes there.

Capacity is limited, so a request to start a phone can be refused when none is available. We don't offer an uptime commitment unless we agree to one in writing.

Changes and suspension

We may change Phonebox or these terms. Material changes will be published on this page with an updated date, and they won't change charges for usage that has already happened. We may also suspend access to deal with abuse, compromised credentials, payment reversals or a service incident.

Support and account closure

Email team@phonebox.dev for support, billing questions, account closure or data requests. Include your project ID, and never send passwords, card details or API keys. We may need to confirm your authority before we change an account or share its records. Some financial and security records are kept after an account is closed, as described in our Privacy Policy.