How Sivolo works — from messages to evidence

Export your messages

Sivolo’s built-in Prepare guide walks you through getting a chat out of its app, one step at a time — WhatsApp’s own export, a free app for Android texts, or a Mac for iMessage — or you can simply paste the text in.* For a history that spans several years, you can choose one report for the whole of it, or one per year.

* Note on iMessage: iPhone has no one-tap chat export. Prepare shows two routes — a Mac signed in to the same Apple Account, or iMazing, a paid app from another company — or you can copy and paste messages straight into Sivolo. WhatsApp exports from the app itself; Android texts need the free SMS Backup & Restore app, which Prepare also walks you through.

Add a little context (optional)

Tell Sivolo who is who and what kind of relationship it is, and add any background you want it to know — including journal entries you choose. Context sharpens the analysis but is never required. It is sent with the conversation for that analysis, and saved with the report — encrypted on your device, and in Secure Cloud Backup if it’s on.

Sivolo analyses the conversation

The conversation is assessed against Section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 and the United Kingdom (England and Wales) CPS guidance on controlling or coercive behaviour. Large logs are read in passes, then reconciled into one picture. This runs on Sivolo’s secure backend so you can close the app and come back to a finished result. Your messages are held encrypted while the job runs and deleted when it finishes; the finished result is encrypted so only you can open it, held briefly until you collect it, then deleted from our servers.

Before your first analysis, Sivolo asks your agreement to send the conversation to Anthropic, whose AI model does the analysis — you can withdraw it at any time in Settings. Every account includes one free analysis of a shorter conversation; after that, the app shows you the price before you pay.

Running in the background

A longer analysis keeps running on our secure backend even if you close the app or lose signal. Come back whenever suits you and collect the finished result — it’s sealed so only your device can open it. By default Sivolo sends a brief email headed “Your package has been delivered”, with no links and no details, and you open the app yourself to collect it. It comes from sivolo.app, so turn it off if anyone else can see your inbox. Alerts on your phone stay off unless you turn them on.

Review your results

Findings are grouped into four evidence lenses with the exact messages, timestamps and a plain-English explanation of why each one matters. You can add notes, see surrounding context, and flag anything.

Learn what you’re looking at

A built-in education library explains coercive control, reactive abuse, trauma bonding and recovery in plain language — curated, not generated, so you can trust what you read. A private self-recognition Q&A helps you reflect: your answers are never sent or shared, and stay on your phone only if you choose to save them.

Export and share, safely

Produce a professional PDF report for police, an IDVA or a solicitor. With Sivolo Plus, your Trusted Circle lets you share a report with someone you choose: they open it in their browser with an access code, and you can take access back at any time.

The evidence model

Four lenses on the same conversation

Coercive control is a single pattern, but the law asks several different questions about it. Sivolo answers each one separately so the picture is complete — and so the same message is never double-counted.

Reactive abuse

Were you provoked into a reaction?

Shows the other party’s provocation — a threat, an accusation, a coercive demand — paired side by side with your response. This protects a defensive reply from being read in isolation and misused as “evidence” you were the aggressor.

High-value admissions

What did they admit in their own words?

Surfaces moments where the other party admits intent, awareness or control — “I did it to punish you”, “I knew that would hurt you”, “you’re not allowed to see them.” Direct evidence, in their own hand.

Victim impact

What effect did it have on you?

Identifies fear, compliance, walking-on-eggshells language and normalisation — the cumulative psychological harm that the law treats as the serious effect at the heart of the offence.

Pattern categories

Which recognised patterns appear?

Scores established patterns — monitoring, isolation, degradation, threats, DARVO, coercive ultimatums, manufactured jealousy, love-bombing — by how pervasive each one is across the whole history.

Scoring, in plain English

How a pattern becomes a score

Each pattern category is scored from 0–100 based on how often it appears and how serious each instance is — not a simple count. Two conversations of the same length can score very differently.

Absent — no evidence found
Low (1–39) — one or two minor instances
Medium (40–64) — a repeated pattern
High (65–84) — multiple serious instances
Critical (85–100) — severe and pervasive

An overall risk level reflects the strongest categories — and where several independent patterns each reach High, the sustained, multi-strand nature of the control is itself treated as a serious-harm signal.

The pattern categories are drawn from the United Kingdom (England and Wales) Crown Prosecution Service guidance, Controlling or Coercive Behaviour in an Intimate or Family Relationship — the same framework police and prosecutors use to assess these offences in England & Wales — so every result maps to a recognised legal reference point.

Sivolo organises and evidences material against the legal framework. It does not reach legal conclusions or diagnose anyone — that remains for qualified professionals and the courts.

One pattern category opened: Manufactured Jealousy, score 55, Medium, with its CPS guidance reference and the first quoted message

The evidence overview: reactive abuse, admissions, victim impact and pattern categories, each counted

Actual app screens · example data

The output

A report built to be taken seriously

When you’re ready to act, Sivolo produces a professionally formatted PDF designed for police, IDVAs and solicitors — clear enough to read quickly, rigorous enough to stand up to scrutiny.

Cover page, overall risk summary and pattern overview
Full evidence appendices with quoted, time-stamped messages
Each finding mapped to the relevant point of the CPS framework
The analysis settings used, and a history of every change to your notes
A content fingerprint and trusted timestamp on the cover, for evidential credibility

The cover of a Sivolo PDF report: overall critical risk, score 85 out of 100, and the report details

A Sivolo PDF evidence page: quoted, time-stamped messages with an explanation for each instance

Actual PDF report · example data

Wherever you are

On your phone and in your browser

One account, on your phone and in your browser.

web.sivolo.app

The same Sivolo report in a web browser: critical risk, score 85 out of 100, on a larger screen

Actual app screens · example data

iPhone

Native app with Face ID / Touch ID unlock and the full set of privacy safeguards. Coming soon to the App Store.

Android

Native app with fingerprint, face or PIN unlock and the full set of privacy safeguards. Coming soon to Google Play.

Web

With Secure Cloud Backup on, your reports and journal are in any browser at web.sivolo.app — handy for longer exports on a larger screen. Analyses and Sivolo Plus are bought in the phone app, and app lock and Crisis Capture are built for your phone.

Common questions

Coercive control & Sivolo, in plain English

What is coercive control?

Coercive control is a pattern of behaviour used by one person to dominate another, through isolation, monitoring, intimidation, degradation, threats or control of everyday life. Unlike a single incident, it is the repeated, cumulative pattern that causes harm. In England and Wales it is recognised in law as controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship.

Is coercive control a crime in the UK?

Yes. Controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship is a criminal offence under Section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 in England and Wales. The Crown Prosecution Service publishes prosecution guidance, Controlling or Coercive Behaviour in an Intimate or Family Relationship, on how the offence is assessed and prosecuted.

How do I evidence or prove coercive control?

Because coercive control is a pattern rather than a single event, evidence usually means showing repeated behaviour over time, often through message histories, with each example tied to a date and to a recognised category of controlling behaviour. Sivolo analyses a conversation you already have against the CPS framework and organises the findings into a clear, time-stamped report you can share with police, an IDVA or a solicitor.

What is reactive abuse?

Reactive abuse describes a defensive or emotional reaction from someone who is being provoked or controlled, which can then be misrepresented as if they were the aggressor. Sivolo surfaces the other party's provocation alongside the response, so a reaction is not read in isolation.

Is Sivolo private and confidential?

Sivolo is built around your safety and privacy. Your journal, recordings and backup are encrypted on your phone with a key we never receive. A conversation you send for analysis is encrypted in transit, read by our backend and by Anthropic to produce your report, and deleted from our servers when the analysis finishes (our privacy policy has the detail). When a longer analysis runs in the background, your finished result is held only briefly — encrypted so only you can open it — then delivered to your device and deleted from our servers. You stay in control of who sees any report.

Can I use a Sivolo report with the police or a solicitor?

Yes. Sivolo produces a professionally formatted PDF report, with an overall summary, quoted and time-stamped messages, and each finding mapped to the relevant point of the CPS framework, designed to be shared with police, IDVAs and solicitors.

Does Sivolo diagnose abuse or decide guilt?

No. Sivolo organises and evidences material against the legal framework; it does not diagnose anyone or reach legal conclusions. Those judgments remain for qualified professionals and the courts.

Sivolo is not a crisis service. If you are in immediate danger, call your local emergency number — 999 in the UK, 112 across Europe, 911 in the US and Canada. In the UK, the free 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline is 0808 2000 247.

From thousands of messages to evidence you can see