Draft — to be checked by a Greek lawyer before publishing.

Vote rules

Last updated: 28 October 2026

Every part of Low Battery ends with a choice between two options. You decide which one happens next. These rules explain how.

The short version

Voting is free. It always will be, and votes can never be bought.
Vote in the comments of the part’s post, or in its native poll where there is one, on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube.
Votes close at 8:30 am US Eastern time the morning after the part is posted.
The option with the most votes, across all three platforms, is what happens next.
Some choices hide a third option. The first to find it on each platform goes on the Lookouts board. You can’t pay your way onto it.
There’s nothing to win. This isn’t a lottery, a prize draw or a competition.

1. Where to vote

Vote on the part’s official post from our accounts: @lowbattery.show on Instagram and TikTok, and @thelowbatteryshow on YouTube. Each part goes out on all three at the same minute, normally at 7 pm US Eastern time.

If the post has a native poll (a poll built into the platform), the poll is how you vote on that platform for that part. Comments there don’t count as votes.
If it doesn’t, your comment is your vote.

The vote card at the end of each part, and the post’s caption, show the two options.

Votes made anywhere else don’t count: on other accounts’ posts or reposts, in replies to our Stories, in direct messages or emails, or on the vote dial on our website. The dial only remembers your pick in your own browser.

2. What counts as a vote in the comments

Start your comment with one of the two option words on the vote card, for example GO or HIDE. Capitals don’t matter. Emoji, punctuation, spaces and @names before the word are fine (apps put an @name at the start of a reply).
You can put one short lead-in before the word: “I vote” or “I vote for”, “vote” or “vote for”, “my vote”, “my vote is” or “my vote goes to”, “I’m voting” or “I’m voting for”, “voting for”, “I voted” or “I voted for”, “voted” or “voted for”, “I pick”, “I choose”, “I say” or “team”.
Only the first option word counts. Whatever comes after it doesn’t change your vote.
Two-word options are written as two words: GET IN, GO BACK. “GO BACK” counts as GO BACK, never as GO. DON’T also counts without its apostrophe: DONT.
For example, when the options are GO and HIDE:
- These count: “GO”, “hide!”, “🔥 GO”, “GO, obviously!”, “I vote GO”, “I vote for GO”, “My vote is HIDE”, “Vote: hide”, “Team HIDE”, “@lowbattery.show GO”. “GO, don’t hide” counts as GO.
- These don’t: “Let’s go” and “I’d go” (they don’t start with GO), “GOOO” (not the word), “100% GO” (only the lead-ins above), “#TeamGO” (write “Team GO”).
In other parts, “Wake them up” counts as WAKE and “Don’t try it” as DON’T. “Love this show” isn’t a vote for SHOW, because it doesn’t start with it.
We count comments posted directly on the post, and replies to our pinned vote comment (the one that starts “VOTE 🗳️”). Replies to anything else, other people’s comments or our other comments, don’t count, so arguing about an option in a reply won’t be counted as a vote by mistake.
One vote per account, per platform, per part. If you vote more than once, your latest vote before the close counts, so you can change your mind. A later comment that isn’t a vote, like “RECAP” or “love this”, doesn’t cancel or change it.
If you have accounts on different platforms, you can vote once on each.
Comments deleted before the close don’t count. Comments hidden or removed for breaking our rules or the platform’s rules don’t count. A comment edited after the close doesn’t count, because we can’t see what it said at the close.
We don’t guess at misspellings or meanings. If a comment doesn’t start with an option word, it isn’t a vote.

3. How we count

On Instagram and YouTube, we read the comments on our own posts with the official tools the platforms provide to account owners (their apps and APIs). We read only what’s needed to count the vote.
For native polls, we use the poll’s own count at the closing time. If a platform shows only a rounded count, we use the most exact figure it shows, and say so with the result.
We add up every valid vote from all three platforms. Every vote counts the same, whichever platform it’s on.
The option with more votes wins.
We publish the result, with each option’s share and each platform’s count, on our website’s vote record (lowbattery.show/votes), and the next part shows it.

4. When votes close

Votes close at 8:30 am US Eastern time (New York time) on the morning after the part is posted. That’s 12:30 UTC while US daylight saving time is in effect, and 13:30 UTC the rest of the year.
We go by the time the platform records for each comment, and by a poll’s own count at the closing time.
Votes made after the close don’t count, even if the post still accepts comments or the poll stays open.
So each vote is open for about thirteen and a half hours: from posting at 7 pm to the close at 8:30 am.

5. Ties

If both options end with exactly the same number of votes, the phone decides: the option that costs less battery wins. If both cost the same, the option shown first on the vote card wins.

6. Keeping it fair

Votes can’t be bought, and nothing we sell affects them. Passes, memberships, named passengers and supporter credits come with no votes, no extra weight and no head start.
Early access never includes the vote. Supporters with early access never see a part’s vote question or options before the part is public.
Members see a lost branch only after its vote has closed.
Brands that pay for a placement have no say over votes, options or the story.
We don’t vote. Our own accounts and the people who make the series don’t vote, and can’t go on the Lookouts board.
No fake votes. We don’t count votes we reasonably believe come from bots, from fake or bought accounts, or from organised attempts to flood a vote with fake votes. If we exclude a large number of votes, we say so with the result.
We never change a valid result.

7. If something goes wrong

If a platform has an outage, or its tools fail and we can’t count its votes reliably, we decide using the votes we can count, and say so with the result.
If a platform’s count shows clear signs of manipulation that we can’t filter out, we may leave that platform out of the count, and we say so with the result.
If we find a counting mistake after the next part is out, the part stays as it is, but we publish the corrected numbers.
If a vote can’t be run fairly at all, we explain what happened and how the next part was decided.

8. What a vote decides

The vote decides what you do in the next part. It doesn’t change history: the big events, like the iceberg and the sinking, still happen as recorded. History pushes back.
We write how the winning choice plays out.

9. The hidden third option and the Lookouts board

Some choices hide a clever third option that we’ve already written. We never reveal it before someone finds it.
To find it, describe it in a comment on the part’s official post before the vote closes. You don’t need our exact words, just the same idea. We decide in good faith whether a comment matches.
The Lookouts board: the first account on each platform to post a matching idea goes on the Lookouts board on our website for that part. The board is named after the lookouts in Titanic’s crow’s nest. We go by the platform’s timestamps. Later comments repeating the idea don’t count.
Thanks: the next part’s caption thanks the Lookouts, in the story’s world. Lookouts are always listed separately from paid supporters.
What it means for the story: a found option earns a place on the board and a thank-you, never a branch. It’s a reward for sharp thinking, not a third ballot: the story always follows the counted vote between the two options, and we always publish the count.
It can’t be bought. Nothing we sell affects who’s on the board.
Your handle on our website: being on the board means your public handle and your idea are shown on our website. If you’d rather not be listed, or want to be removed later, tell us and we’ll take you off.
We won’t list handles that are offensive or that impersonate someone.
A third option posted after the close, or on a post that isn’t ours, doesn’t count. We still enjoy reading it.

10. Not a lottery or a competition

Voting and the Lookouts board are free. There’s nothing to buy to take part, and no purchase helps.
There are no prizes. A place on the Lookouts board is a public thank-you with no money value.
Chance plays no part: votes are counted, and Lookouts are the first to find the idea.
If we ever run a giveaway, it will have its own written rules, be free to enter, and won’t be linked to buying anything or to these votes.

11. The platforms

Voting and the Lookouts board are run by us. They’re not sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Instagram, TikTok or YouTube. By taking part, you release those platforms from any responsibility for them. The platforms’ own rules and terms still apply when you use them.

12. Your data

To count votes, we read the public comments on our own posts, with each comment’s account name and time. We use them only to count votes, keep the vote fair, find third options and moderate our comments. We delete them within 30 days after the vote closes and keep only the totals. Our Privacy policy (lowbattery.show/privacy) has the details.

13. Changes to these rules

We may update these rules. Changes apply from the next vote, never to a vote that’s already open.

Questions: hello@lowbattery.show