HeartRestarted Help

HeartRestarted is a peer support platform for people who have survived a cardiac arrest or ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) treatment, and for the caregivers and family members supporting them. It is not a medical device, and it does not give medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

On the platform you can connect with other survivors and caregivers, share your story in the community feed, join topic circles, message peer connections, write down questions for your care team, and build a personal emergency safety plan.

HeartRestarted does not store health details such as diagnoses, medicines or symptoms. The safety plan, your question list and your daily check-in answer stay on your own device.

Because this is peer support and not clinical care, always talk to your own healthcare provider about medical decisions. If you or someone else is having a medical emergency, call 911. If you are in emotional crisis, you can call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line). These numbers are shown throughout the app.

1. Go to the sign-up page and enter your full name, email address, and a password (at least 6 characters), then confirm the password.
2. Agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, and select Sign Up.
3. You'll be taken to a Check Your Email screen. Open the confirmation email HeartRestarted sends you and click the link inside it.
4. Back in the app, select "I've Verified My Email." If you don't see the email, check your spam folder, confirm you typed your address correctly, or select "Resend Confirmation Email."
5. Once your email is confirmed, you're taken into onboarding to set up your profile.

If you're stuck at this step, you can reach out from the Support page.

After your email is verified, HeartRestarted walks you through a short onboarding flow:

1. A welcome screen introduces the platform.
2. You choose your role or roles, such as survivor, caregiver, or supporter.
3. You're shown a short founder story, which you can skip.
4. Depending on your role, you can answer one optional question, such as roughly how long ago it happened if you're a survivor, or your relationship to the survivor if you're a caregiver. We never ask what happened or for any medical detail.
5. You choose how you like to communicate.

When you finish, you land on your dashboard. You can always update this information later from your profile.

1. Go to the Wellness Buddies (Connections) page.
2. Select "Find Buddies" to browse and send a connection request to someone.
3. If someone sends you a request, it appears under Pending Requests on the same page, where you can Accept or Decline it.
4. Once a request is accepted, that person becomes a buddy and a conversation opens on the Messages page.
5. On the Messages page, select a conversation from the list to open it, type your message, and press Enter or select Send.

If a conversation is empty, HeartRestarted suggests a few icebreaker questions you can send to get started.

Every conversation carries a reminder that this is peer support only, not medical advice, and that you should call 911 or 988 in an emergency.

1. Go to the Community page.
2. To post a quick update, use the composer at the top of the feed.
3. To write a longer post, select "Write a Story," fill in the title and content, and submit it. Stories go through moderation review before they're published to the public feed.
4. To join a smaller group focused on a specific topic, browse Topic Circles, select one, and select Join. You can also create your own circle.
5. If you'd rather post without using your name, turn on anonymous posting in Settings before you share (see the anonymous mode article).

Any post or message can be reported if it seems inappropriate, gives medical advice it shouldn't, contains concerning crisis language, or is otherwise a problem. Look for the report or flag option on the post or message; HeartRestarted's Support page states reports are reviewed by the moderation team, generally within 24 hours.

1. Go to Me.
2. Under Say hello to newcomers, switch on Welcome new members. It shows once you have been a member for 30 days, or if it happened more than about 3 months ago.
3. When someone new shares their first story, you may get an email and a notification. We tell you only whether they are a survivor or a family member and roughly how long ago it happened, never their name.
4. Select Read it and say hello. The story opens with the reply box ready and three openers you can tap, then change in your own words.
5. Your hello is an ordinary public reply, so the community guidelines apply.

To stop, switch it off in Me, or select Stop these invitations in any invitation email. If nobody has said hello within a day, Leo is asked to say hello himself.

1. Go to the Questions for My Care Team page.
2. Type a question and select Add, or pick from the ready-made ideas.
3. Before the visit, select Print to get a copy to bring with you.
4. Remove a question with the bin icon once it has been answered.

The list is saved on your device only. HeartRestarted does not receive or store it, so it will not move to a new phone unless you print it first.

This tool only helps you organize your own questions. It is not medical advice, and any diagnosis or treatment decisions should come from your healthcare provider.

1. Go to the Dashboard.
2. Under "How are you today?", select the face that fits how you feel.
3. The dashboard shows how many days this week you checked in.

Your answer is saved on your device only. HeartRestarted records that a check-in happened, with no answer attached.

The check-in is for your own reflection. It is not medical monitoring, and it doesn't replace advice from your healthcare provider.

1. Go to the Safety Plan page and select "Create Safety Plan."
2. Work through the wizard to add your warning signs, immediate actions to take, emergency contacts, and any medical details you want a responder to see.
3. Save the plan. It will display on the Safety Plan page, where you can edit or delete it at any time.
4. From the safety plan card you can export or print it, for example as a wallet card, so it's easy to hand to a responder or keep with you.

The plan is saved on your device only. HeartRestarted does not receive or store it, so print or save a PDF copy to keep it safe.

The Safety Plan page also lists direct emergency numbers: call 911 for a life-threatening emergency, 1-800-222-1222 for Poison Control, or call or text 988 for the Crisis Lifeline. A safety plan is a personal reference document, not a substitute for calling emergency services.

1. Go to Settings and find the Privacy & Data section.
2. Turn on "Anonymous Profile" to hide your real name and use a display name instead.
3. Turn on "Anonymous in Connections" to hide your identity when connecting with new peers.
4. Turn on "Post Anonymously by Default" so your community stories post anonymously unless you choose to reveal your name on a specific post.

These settings control what other members see. They don't remove your information from HeartRestarted's own records, and staff or moderators may still be able to identify reported content when reviewing it.

HeartRestarted is explicit, on the landing page, the community feed, the messaging screen, and the care team questions page, that it is not a medical device and does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

If you or someone else is having a life-threatening emergency, call 911 immediately. Do not rely on the contact form, community posts, or peer messages to reach emergency help; the contact form explicitly states it is not monitored 24/7 and should not be used for urgent situations.

If you are in emotional distress or crisis, you can call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, or text HOME to 741741 to reach the Crisis Text Line. Both are described in the app as available 24/7. These numbers appear on the landing page, the Safety Plan page, the Support page, and inside every messaging conversation.

The Messages page only shows conversations with people you've connected with through an accepted wellness buddy request. If your conversation list is empty, it's because you don't have any accepted connections yet.

1. Go to the Wellness Buddies page and select "Find Buddies" to send connection requests.
2. Check the Pending Requests section for any requests waiting on your response and accept the ones you want to connect with.
3. Once a request is accepted by either side, a conversation for that person appears on the Messages page.

If someone is sending you unwanted or concerning messages, use the flag icon next to their message to report it rather than trying to resolve it yourself.

To reset your password: 1. Go to Settings and find Change Password. 2. Enter your email address and select "Send Reset Link." 3. Check your inbox for the reset email and follow the link to set a new password.

To add two-factor authentication: 1. Go to Settings and find the Two-Factor Authentication section. 2. Select the option to enroll. You'll be shown a QR code and a secret key to add to an authenticator app. 3. Enter the verification code your authenticator app generates to confirm setup. 4. You can turn two-factor authentication back off from the same section, which will show a warning that this makes your account less secure.

HeartRestarted also offers recovery codes in Settings that can be used to get back into your account if you lose access to your authenticator app.

1. Go to Settings.
2. Under Notification Preferences, turn Connection Requests, New Messages, and Community Activity notifications on or off individually.
3. Under Privacy Settings, turn "Show Profile in Suggestions" off if you don't want other members to find you when they're browsing for connections.
4. Select "Save Changes" to apply your updates.
5. Further down the Settings page, the Privacy & Data section lets you control anonymous mode and view an audit log of account activity.

HeartRestarted does not have a payment or subscription system. Signing up only requires your name, email, and a password, and no article of the app asks for payment details or shows pricing.

If you ever see a message somewhere claiming you need to pay for HeartRestarted access, treat it with caution and contact support through the Support page.

1. Go to Settings and find "Export Your Data."
2. Select "Export All Data."
3. A file will download to your device containing your profile, survivor or caregiver profile, messages, connections, recipes, community stories, creative posts, disclaimer acceptances, and what is saved on this device (your safety plan, question list and check-ins).

This gives you a complete personal copy of what HeartRestarted holds for your account, plus what lives only on your device.

1. Go to Settings and find "Delete Account."
2. Read the warning: deleting your account permanently removes your profile, messages, connections and posts, and this cannot be undone.
3. Select "Delete My Account."
4. Type DELETE in the confirmation box exactly as shown, then select "Permanently Delete Account."
5. You'll be signed out automatically once deletion completes.

Deleting your account removes everything HeartRestarted holds about you and clears the safety plan, question list and check-ins saved on the device you used. If deletion fails, the app tells you to contact support instead of trying repeatedly.

Consider using the data export tool first if you want to keep a personal copy of your information, since deletion cannot be reversed.