Crisis protocol

KeyFu is a piano coach, not a counselor. Still, someone may write to it about harming or killing themselves. This page says what happens then. KeyFu is for adults; the coach chat is not suitable for minors. In the app, you find this page under Settings → Support & legal → Crisis protocol.

What triggers it

Our server checks every message you send to the coach for words about suicide and self-harm, in English and German. The check is deliberately broad: “this scale makes me want to die” triggers it too. Song lyrics with these words trigger it too.

When the app cannot send a message, for example when you are offline, it runs the same check on your device. That check sends nothing.

What you get

A fixed message, marked “Automatic message”. It says that what you feel matters and that you deserve support from a person, and it names where to find help:

• your local emergency number, if you are in danger right now;
• in the United States, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988;
• everywhere, the IASP directory at iasp.info, to find a confidential helpline in your country.

Under the message, in most other countries where KeyFu is offered, the app names a national crisis line that is open day and night, and that country’s emergency number, for the country of your App Store account. It says “free” only where the operator or a government page says so, and names a charge where one is known. The numbers work from a phone in that country; abroad, call the local emergency number. Each number comes from the operator’s own page or a government page and is checked at least every three months. Other organizations run these lines. If a number is wrong or does not answer, call your local emergency number, and tell us at [email protected] so we can switch it off. The app reads the country on your device and sends it nowhere.

The message never counts against your coach message allowance, and no AI provider receives your message.

If the check misses a message

No word list catches every way of saying it. A message the check does not recognize goes to the AI provider like any other. The coach’s standing instructions forbid describing any way to harm yourself, and tell it to stop coaching and point you to your local emergency number or a crisis helpline. When its reply points to a helpline, our server adds the same pointer as in the fixed message.

What we keep

We do not store the result of any check with your account. Our server counts only how often it sent the helpline message or added the helpline pointer to a reply, per calendar year and without any account identifier.

How often it happened

We publish that yearly count here each January, first on 1 January 2027 for 2026. The count for 2026 starts on 30 September 2026. It covers players anywhere in the world, and the year follows German time.

The app also shows the helpline message on its own when a message cannot be sent, for example when you are offline. That message never reaches our server, so we cannot count it. The number is therefore a minimum.