Rally runs almost entirely through SMS — your regular text messages. An AI handles check-ins, progress tracking, trash talk, and bet settlement via text. There's a minimal app for setup, your profile, and your win/loss record — but the day-to-day experience lives in your messages. No feed to scroll. No notifications to ignore. Just a text that shows up and keeps you honest.

Rally requires proof — photo, app data screenshot, or clock-in/clock-out. Your bet circle gets to vote on whether it counts. Rally starts with friends and family specifically because people don't lie to people who know them. Especially when money or a dare is on the table.

Never directly. For friend bets — money settles between users via Venmo, Cash App, or Zelle. Rally never sees it. For seasonal platform challenges with strangers — entry fees are held by Stripe Connect, a licensed third-party payment infrastructure. Money goes from your card into a Stripe-managed challenge account, not into Rally's bank account. When the challenge ends Stripe distributes the pot to winners automatically. Rally collects a 10% platform fee through Stripe's fee-splitting system. At no point does money pass through Rally's accounts — friend bets or seasonal challenges. Rally is the scoreboard and the commissioner. Stripe is the vault.

The same way your fantasy league does — public record and social consequence. If someone doesn't pay, their profile shows an unpaid debt until it's resolved. Their entire bet circle gets notified. Nobody wants to be the person who stiffed their friends. For most people that's a stronger motivator than any legal enforcement. And honestly — if someone in your inner circle won't pay a $50 bet, you've learned something more valuable than $50.

Yes — one time. When you challenge a friend who isn't on Rally they get a one-challenge free trial via SMS. No app. No subscription. No credit card. They participate fully in that one bet — check-ins, trash talk, proof, settlement — all via text. When the bet ends Rally sends them a conversion pitch. If a second challenge comes in to their number before they subscribe, Rally intercepts it and asks them to subscribe before they can accept. Their phone number is their fingerprint — Rally sees every challenge that comes to that number and enforces the one-trial limit automatically. Every friend bet is a free Rally demo. The trial converts them at exactly the right moment — right after they just experienced the product and either won money or lost a dare.

This is the most honest question you can ask — and the answer is that Rally handles friends and strangers differently by design. Friend bets rely on social accountability — nobody lies to people who know them when money is on the line. Seasonal challenges with strangers use hard API verification: Strava, Apple Watch, or Garmin data that Rally reads directly. No screenshot required — the data confirms it automatically. On the payment side, seasonal challenge entry fees are processed through Stripe Connect — a licensed third-party payment infrastructure — not through Rally's bank account. Money goes into a Stripe-managed challenge account. When the challenge ends Stripe distributes the pot to winners automatically. Rally never holds the money directly. Stripe does. Rally just tells Stripe who won. Friend bets always stay direct pay — Venmo, Cash App, Zelle. Stranger challenges go through Stripe Connect with hard API verification. Two different trust models for two different relationships.

For friend bets — Rally texts the losing party every 48 hours until payment is confirmed. Their record shows UNPAID publicly. Their entire bet circle is notified. Their profile is flagged until resolved. Social consequence is the enforcement mechanism, and it works extremely well inside tight circles. For seasonal platform challenges — the pot was collected at entry so there's nothing to chase. The winner gets paid from the pot regardless of whether the loser shows up. The pot model eliminates the non-payment problem entirely for stranger competitions.