Hookups in Colombo, minus the fake profiles

What counts as Colombo here

When you sign up you pick your district and, if you like, your nearest town. Colombo district covers Colombo, Dehiwala, Mount Lavinia, Moratuwa, Kotte, Maharagama, Homagama, Kolonnawa and everywhere in between — Nugegoda, Rajagiriya and Battaramulla included.

Matching is by distance, not by district line, so the boundary on a map does not decide who you see. At the default reach of 25 km, someone in central Colombo also sees the near side of Gampaha — Wattala, Kelaniya, Kadawatha and Ja-Ela. Negombo is a little further out; widen your reach if you want it. You can set anywhere from 5 to 200 km, and the other person’s setting counts too: you only see each other if you are within both of your limits.

Staying discreet in a city where everyone knows someone

Colombo is big, but the circles are small. The person three swipes down might work in your building or know your cousin. So:

• Nobody sees where you are. Your location is snapped to a grid about 3 km across before it leaves your phone. In a city this dense that is a lot of people, and all anyone sees is a rough band like “about 6 km away”.
• Your photos can stay hidden. You can show them to everyone, only to people you match with, or to nobody unless you send one in a chat. Verification is still required either way — it just is not the same thing as being seen.
• Incognito lets you look without being listed. You will not appear in anyone’s deck. People see you only once you have liked them.
• You can hide from a district. Hiding from Colombo itself would hide you from most of the people you want to meet. It is more useful the other way round: if your family is back in Kandy or Galle, hide from that district and nobody registered there will see you, however wide their reach.

Meeting for the first time

The general advice is on the safety page. For Colombo in particular:

• Meet somewhere public and busy the first time — a café, a hotel lobby, Galle Face Green in the evening. Not a house, not a room, not a lift from someone you have just met.
• Get there under your own steam. A PickMe or Uber ride is logged, lets you leave when you want, and means nobody learns where you live.
• Traffic makes everyone late. Agree a plan for “I am running behind” inside the app chat rather than swapping numbers early to sort it out.
• Tell a friend where you are going and when you expect to be done.

Not in Colombo?

The app covers all 25 districts, from Jaffna to Matara. Everything above works the same wherever you are — Colombo just has more going on. See how it works for the full picture.