About olow

Why does olow exist?

Sharing STI testing status with a partner today usually means a screenshot, a verbal claim, or a vague "I got tested recently." None of those are verifiable, and all of them are easy to fake or stretch. The result is a system that depends on trust at exactly the moment trust is hardest to establish.

We built olow to make verification effortless, private, and impossible to spoof. The badge is clinician-verified, tied to a real lab record, and tamper-evident. The user controls every share. The conversation moves from trust me to here's the receipt.

How is the test panel decided?

One panel. No tiers. The olow panel covers eight STIs across thirteen assays — every credential we issue is backed by the same testing, regardless of where you got tested or what you paid:

We don't sell budget panels and we don't sell upsell panels. A $98 credential and a $249 credential mean the same thing — that's what makes “verified” mean something.

Does olow test for HSV-2 or herpes?

No, by design. The FDA has specifically warned against routine HSV-2 screening in people without symptoms because the available antibody tests have a high enough false-positive rate that a positive result is more often wrong than right in the general population. A "verified" status that's frequently wrong isn't a useful signal — it would just generate anxiety and unnecessary follow-up. We chose to leave HSV-2 off the panel rather than build a credential around an unreliable test.

If you have symptoms or a known exposure, that's a doctor visit, not a screening question.

How often do I need to test?

The honest answer: more often than most people do.

When you sign up, a short health quiz routes you to one of three retest schedules: monthly, bimonthly, or quarterly. The schedule reflects your actual exposure profile — partner volume, relationship structure, protection consistency. Higher-risk profiles get tighter cadences. There's no "annual" or "every 6 months" option, by design — the maximum interval is quarterly.

Why no longer intervals? Because a 6-month-old or year-old test result has stopped being a meaningful signal to a partner about current status. Every active olow badge means tested in the last 90 days, regardless of self-reported risk. That's the brand promise.

Your badge automatically expires when your retest window closes. To reactivate it, get tested again. We send reminders before the window closes so you stay current.

How does olow handle privacy?

Sharing is patient-directed: you decide who sees your badge, with what level of detail, for how long. Every share is single-use or time-limited. Recipients see only what you choose to surface — the panel results, the test date, the issuing provider. You can revoke any active link at any time, and the recipient's next click returns nothing.

Your badge is tied to your account, not your real name. Verification flows are cryptographically anchored — every credential is hashed at issuance and written to a tamper-evident ledger, so altering a result is detectable in milliseconds. We never sell health data, and we never share it without your explicit, per-recipient consent. For full detail, see our privacy policy and health data notice.

How is olow different from getting tested at my doctor?

Your doctor tests you. That part is identical. The labs olow uses are CLIA-certified, the same standard your primary care doctor uses.

What's different is what happens with the result. At a doctor's office, the result lives in your electronic health record, gets summarized in a patient portal, and stays there. If a partner asks for proof, you're showing them a screenshot, reading them a portal page over the phone, or just telling them.

olow turns that result into a verified, shareable credential. Your test happens at a partner clinic (or via at-home kit), the lab signs the result, and olow issues a tamper-evident badge tied to the original lab record. You share the badge with whoever you want, with whatever level of detail you want, for as long as you want. You revoke it anytime. The credential is the entire point — your doctor's office isn't built to give you that, and your patient portal can't.

olow's job is the credential layer. Where you test is up to you — at a partner clinic, with our at-home kit, or somewhere else entirely. The credential layer works either way.

Why do badges expire?

A verified badge is only useful if it reflects currenttesting. A badge that says "tested clear two years ago" tells a partner almost nothing about today.

olow badges automatically transition to retest-due once the recommended testing interval passes. Users select their schedule — monthly (30 days), bimonthly (60 days), or quarterly (90 days) — based on a CDC-aligned quiz that considers their actual exposure risk. The badge stays trustworthy because it stays current.

How does olow make money?

Four revenue lines, none of them based on selling user data:

• Premium memberships. $4.99/month or $39/year for individuals who want extras like vanity URLs, view tracking on shared links, and custom expiration dates.
• Clinic partnerships. Listing fees and per-booking fees from clinics that join our directory and use our patient-engagement tooling.
• At-home test kit revenue share with lab partners (eventual integration).
• API access for dating apps, telehealth platforms, and other consumers of verified status. Sandbox is free; paid tiers run from $499/month (Starter) to custom enterprise pricing.

Where does olow operate?

olow is based in Parker, Colorado. We're launching with a Colorado-first clinic network: Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, and Aurora. Direct verification with national labs (Quest, LabCorp) is on our roadmap; we're expanding the partner-clinic network market by market.

Who is olow for?

olow is built for adults having sex — and we wrote the platform around that fact. Whoever you sleep with, however many, in whatever configuration: the panel is the same and the credential means the same thing. ENM, poly, queer, casual, partnered, dating, between relationships — these aren't edge cases to us, they're the actual user base. Verified status shouldn't depend on what your relationship looks like. Our privacy model, retest reminders, and sharing controls work identically for everyone.

How do I get in touch?