How the Ody free trial works

Every Ody plan — Starter, Growth, and Enterprise — starts with a 7-day free trial: you add a card up front, it's verified without being charged, and your first payment happens only when the trial ends.

How it works, step by step

1. During signup, pick a plan on the Choose plan step (each card shows a FREE TRIAL badge) and enter your card in the secure payment form. Nothing is charged at this point — the card is only saved. In the iPhone app, the plan step instead opens the App Store payment sheet: Apple starts a 7-day free trial on your Apple ID, there is no separate card check, and Apple charges the plan when the trial ends unless you cancel in iPhone Settings → Subscriptions (Billing on iOS). In the Android app, the same happens through Google Play's payment sheet, and you cancel in the Play Store (Billing on Android).

2. You're taken to the card verification page, which runs two quick authorization checks on your card — one for the full plan amount and one for $1. Each hold is cancelled the moment it's approved, so you are never charged. See Why you see a card authorization hold.

3. Once your card passes, you see "Your free trial is approved" and you're asked to verify your identity — a one-minute ID and selfie check handled by Stripe. Submitting it unlocks your workspace with full access to your plan's features.

4. In Settings → Billing, your plan shows a Trialing badge and the date your trial ends.

Incoming texts are locked during the trial

To prevent abuse of the service and to protect against fraud, incoming text messages can't be read during the free trial (trials started on or after 30 September 2026). Texts still arrive, the conversation and sender show as usual, and every message and photo is kept in full. The content appears as a blurred bubble labelled Texting isn't included in the free trial and unlocks the moment your paid plan starts. Calling, voicemail, and sending texts work normally.

If you don't want to wait, open any blurred message and press and hold End trial for 3 seconds (owners and admins only). Your card is charged for the first billing period today, your plan becomes active, and all kept texts unlock. Your 12-month commitment is unchanged; only the first charge moves forward. Full details in Why texts are blurred during the free trial.

What happens at the end of the trial

• If you keep your plan: on day 7, your saved card is charged for the first billing period (monthly or annual, whichever you chose) and your subscription becomes active. Incoming texts unlock and nothing else changes in the app.
• If you end the trial early to unlock texting: the charge happens the moment your 3-second hold completes, the plan becomes active right away, and the remaining free days are given up. This can't be undone.
• If you register for business texting (10DLC): submitting Settings → Numbers → Text messaging setup ends the trial the same way: your plan and the one-time $20 setup fee are charged right away, the plan becomes active, and the remaining free days are given up. The form asks you to tick a confirmation first, and a declined card means nothing is submitted. See Register for 10DLC messaging.
• If you cancel first: the trial ends immediately, not on day 7. From the moment you confirm End my trial now in Settings → Billing → Cancel plan, your workspace is locked and your number stops taking calls and texts. You're never charged and trials never owe an early-termination fee, but the free days you had left are forfeited — so if you want to use the whole week, cancel on the last day or use the reminder below. Your data is kept and picking a plan again reopens everything, but not with a second trial — see One free trial per workspace below. Details in Cancel your subscription.
• If you never completed identity verification: Ody closes the trial for you one hour before it would have ended, and your card is not charged. You'll receive an email titled "Your Ody trial has ended — you were not charged". Your account stays; to continue, sign in and pick a plan. Because your card check had already passed, that trial counts as used: your plan starts today and your card is charged for the first period, so finish the identity check right after.

One free trial per workspace

Each workspace gets one free trial. The trial counts as used the moment your card passes the verification page, whatever happens afterwards:

• you cancel the trial from Settings → Billing → Cancel plan;
• you end it early with the End trial hold to unlock texting;
• you delete your account and sign back in during the 30-day grace period;
• identity verification was never finished and Ody closed the trial for you.

In every one of these cases you can still subscribe again — nothing is blocked. The plan picker simply shows You've already used your free trial. Your plan starts today and your card is charged now, the plan cards read billed monthly instead of free for 7 days, and the button says Subscribe & activate (or Continue to checkout) instead of Start my free trial. Your first billing period is charged as soon as the payment is confirmed, your workspace unlocks right away, and there is no card-verification step. You can cancel any time from Settings → Billing as usual.

The only trial that does not count is one that never started: if you left before the card check finished, or your card was declined on the verification page, you can pick a plan again and get your 7 days.

A free trial started inside the iPhone or Android app (through the App Store or Google Play) counts the same way: it is that workspace's one trial, whichever way you pay next.

One free trial per person, too

The trial is also one per person, not just one per workspace. Every Ody workspace verifies the owner's government ID and mobile number, so creating a second workspace with a different email address — or on a different platform, say once on the iPhone app and once on the web — is recognised as the same person. When that happens:

• the second workspace is not blocked — you can keep it, and you can run more than one business on Ody;
• but it doesn't get a second free week: the plan starts today and your card is charged for the first period, exactly like subscribing again on a workspace whose trial is used;
• if we only notice after the second trial has started, we may end that trial early and begin the paid plan; you'll see the invoice in Settings → Billing and can cancel from there as usual.

If you need several workspaces for a genuine reason (an agency managing clients, two unrelated businesses), that's fine — subscribe and, if the second workspace was charged in error, contact support through the help widget and we'll review it.

This applies per workspace. Creating a new workspace is a new signup with its own trial.

Get a reminder before your first charge

You don't have to decide on day one. In Settings → Billing → Cancel plan, the first screen on a trial offers a reminder instead of a cancellation:

• Remind me 2 days before my first charge — when two or more days of trial remain; the email is sent 48 hours before the trial ends.
• Remind me 1 day before my first charge — when fewer than two days remain; sent 24 hours before.
• Send me the reminder now — when the trial ends within the next day.

The email goes once to the workspace owner. It shows the plan, the amount and the exact date of the first charge, suggests a few things worth trying before you decide — Astra the AI receptionist, texting from your business number, call recording and summaries, inviting your team, a phone menu, integrations — and states plainly that cancelling ends your access immediately. If you want to keep your plan there is nothing to do; if not, cancel from Settings → Billing (ideally on the last day, since cancelling takes effect right away).

Reminder emails during the trial

If your card passed but the identity check is still pending, we send a short series of reminders over the 7 days (the first about an hour after your trial starts). They stop the moment you submit your ID. If you'd rather not receive them, use the Email preferences link at the bottom of any of them — but note that an unverified trial will still close without a charge, as described above.

Emails if you never start a trial

If you created an account but did not pick a plan, or a trial signup closed before it started, we send a handful of short emails over the following weeks with links to get set up, and later a longer series that walks through one Ody feature at a time (calling, texting, voicemail transcripts, Astra the AI receptionist, phone menus, analytics, integrations, the API). They stop the moment you start a trial, and every one has an Unsubscribe link at the bottom.

Before you start

• The trial requires a real, reusable card. Prepaid or single-use cards fail the verification step, and a declined card cancels the trial signup so you can start over with a different card.
• If you close the card-verification page without finishing it, the trial has not started yet. We email you about an hour later, and again 12 hours later, with a link to finish the card check. If it is still unfinished after 24 hours the pending signup closes on its own, nothing is charged, and you get a short note saying so. Pick a plan again when you come back.
• Identity verification is required to use the workspace and to keep the trial. "In review" counts as done — you don't need to wait for Stripe's result.

Troubleshooting

• My card was declined at verification — the page shows the exact reason from your bank (for example, insufficient funds). Try another card, or contact your bank and pick a plan again.
• The page says my card is "still being saved" — that's not a decline; cards can take a minute to attach after checkout. Use the Check again button.
• I got "Your Ody trial has ended — you were not charged" but I wanted to keep going — the trial closed because identity verification wasn't completed in time. Nothing was billed. Sign in and choose a plan: your subscription starts today (the free trial was already used) and you complete the identity check right after payment.
• I created a second workspace with another email and the plan started right away instead of a free trial — the free trial is one per person as well as one per workspace (see above). Your ID and phone verification identify you across accounts. The new workspace works normally; only the free week isn't repeated. If you believe this is a mistake, contact support through the help widget.
• I picked a plan again and it says I've already used my free trial — that's expected after a cancelled, ended, or closed trial. Your plan starts today and your card is charged for the first period; everything else about your plan is the same. See One free trial per workspace.
• I went back to the card verification page by mistake — if your trial is already active, the page simply sends you back into the app. Nothing is re-authorized and your trial is unaffected.
• I got "Your Ody trial never started (no charge)" — this note is sent only when a pending signup sat unfinished for the full 24 hours after you picked a plan and the card check was never completed. Nothing was billed. If you have since finished the card check and see a Trialing badge in Settings → Billing, your trial is active and you can ignore the note. (Before 22 September 2026 the same email could go out by mistake to people who picked a plan again while finishing signup; that has been fixed, and those trials were never affected.)

Related articles

• Verify your identity
• Why you see a card authorization hold
• Ody plans and pricing
• Cancel your subscription
• Why texts are blurred during the free trial
• Register for 10DLC messaging