Why we make everybody prove they are real

The short version

We give you a random pose. You take a live selfie doing it. We check it against your profile photos. Then we delete the selfie. That is the whole thing, and it takes under a minute.

We do run an automatic check first, but only on the picture itself — is it sharp enough, is it bright enough, is it plausibly a photo taken just now. It can reject something unusable immediately. It cannot approve anyone. Software that guesses whether two faces match is exactly the thing that lets fake profiles through when it is wrong, so we do not let it make that decision.

Why a random pose?

Because anyone can download someone else’s photo. What they cannot do is produce a brand-new photo of that person holding up two fingers with their left hand on their head, generated the moment you asked for it. Randomising the challenge is what turns “upload a selfie” into actual proof.

Who sees my verification selfie?

No other member. Ever. It is stored in a separate area that the app’s security rules make unreadable to every normal account, including yours once submitted.

Once you are approved, the selfie is deleted. We keep the verdict, the date, and a one-way fingerprint of the image used to catch people re-using the same photo across multiple fake accounts. We do not keep the photo itself.

What happens to my profile photos?

Those are the ones other members see, so they stick around until you delete them. Two things happen automatically when you upload:

• We strip the hidden data. Photos from a phone often carry the exact GPS coordinates of where they were taken. That is a genuine danger in an app like this, so we remove all of it before the file is ever stored.
• We make small versions. Browsing loads compressed thumbnails, not full-size originals — faster on mobile data, and cheaper for us, which is part of how this stays free.

Verified does not mean visible

This is the part people assume works the other way round, so it is worth being plain about: verifying and being seen are two different things. Everybody verifies. Nobody is obliged to put their face in front of the whole country.

There are three settings, and you can change yours at any time:

• Everyone can see them. Anyone verified who comes across your profile. Most people choose this, and you will get noticed more.
• Only people I match with. Your photos stay hidden while people browse, and unlock for someone the moment you both like each other.
• Nobody, unless I send them. Never shown on your profile at all. You can still send a photo inside a conversation — and those are destroyed the moment they are opened.

We built this because the honest version of “photo verification is mandatory” costs us exactly the people who need this app most. If you are married, or if you are a gay man in a country where the law still criminalises same-sex acts, a face in a swipeable deck is not a small thing. Asking those people to choose between proving they are real and being recognised was asking them to leave.

One honest limit: tightening the setting immediately breaks every photo link we have ever handed out, so old links stop working, but it cannot un-see a picture somebody already saved. No app can, and we would rather tell you that than imply otherwise.

What if I fail, or I am not comfortable doing it?

A decision usually comes the same day. If we cannot make you out, we will ask you to try again with better light or a clearer pose — nobody is banned for a failed attempt.

If you are not willing to take a live selfie at all, then honestly, this app will not work for you, and we would rather say that plainly now than after you have filled in a whole profile. It is the one thing we will not bend on, because the moment we do, this place becomes every other app.

Will I have to do it again?

Sometimes. If you change your main profile photo, if enough people report your account, or occasionally as a random spot-check. It is the same quick process.