Join a community
Communities are built around topics and interests. Join one, read it, and take part in ordinary group conversation. This is where most meeting happens, before anyone has judged anyone.
In development, not yet publicly launched
Where conversations come before first impressions
SFSocial is a community-first social and dating app for adults. Join communities around what you actually care about, talk in the open, and move into private conversations only when you both agree to it.
Free to use. No ads. No paid features. 18+ only.
- No swiping deck
- Messages need consent
- Dating is optional
How it works
Three steps, and you control every one
Meeting happens in the open first. Everything private is something you opted into.
Ask before you message
You cannot message a stranger out of nowhere. You send a request, and the other person can accept, decline, block or report it. If they decline, you cannot keep asking.
Turn on dating, or don't
Dating stays off until you switch it on. If you do, SFSocial suggests one person at a time based on your intentions, interests and preferences. Skipping someone is private, and they are never told.
What's different
Built on the opposite assumption
Most dating apps ask you to judge strangers on a photograph and a sentence, at speed and in volume. That produces a lot of matches and very little context, and it puts the people most likely to be harassed in the least protected position.
The usual approach
- An endless deck of faces to judge in seconds
- Anyone who matches can start messaging you
- Popularity metrics, view counts and public ranking
- Safety tools bolted on after launch
How SFSocial works
- One person at a time, with real shared context behind it
- Private messages require consent, every time
- No public ranking, no view counts, no popularity score
- Blocking, reporting and rate limits built in from the start
What's inside
A real place to talk, not just a matching queue
Communities and channels
Topic-based communities with their own channels, roles and moderation. Join, talk, and meet people through what you have in common.
Consent-based direct messages
Every private conversation starts with a request the other person can accept, decline, block or report. Declining ends it.
Optional dating and matching
Off until you turn it on. Suggestions are built from your intentions, interests, personality answers and preferences, one person at a time.
Group chats and notifications
Private group conversations with invite links and moderation, plus notifications you control per conversation.
Reactions, mentions and search
Emoji reactions, threaded replies, mentions, pinned messages and full-text search inside any conversation.
Works where you are
Available on Android, the web, Windows and Linux, sharing one account and one conversation history. macOS and iOS are planned.
Safety and privacy
Designed for the person being contacted
Safety features were part of the first design, not a response to something going wrong. The person receiving contact holds the controls.
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Consent is the default
Nobody can open a private conversation with you unless you agree to it. A declined request cannot be resent.
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Block and report from anywhere
Report messages, profiles and requests, with evidence, from the place the problem happened. Blocking hides your profile from that person.
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Your exact location is never shown
Country is public, city is opt-in, and precise coordinates are used only to work out distance. They are never sent to anyone else's device.
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Passing on someone is private
If you skip a suggestion, that person is never notified and cannot find out. From their side it is the same as never being shown.
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Adults only, and no advertising
SFSocial is 18+. We run no advertising, work with no ad network, and do not sell personal data. There is no analytics or tracking in the app.
Current status
SFSocial is still being built
It is not finished and it has not launched publicly. We would rather say that plainly than let you find out afterwards, so here is where things actually stand.
Working today. Communities, group chats, consent-based DMs, matching, reporting and moderation, and notifications on Android and the web.
Handled by email for now. Deleting your account and exporting your data are done by emailing us, not yet with a button in the app.
Not built yet. Verified age checks, end-to-end encrypted messages, and an appear-offline mode. Each one is described honestly in the Privacy Policy.
Who runs it. One person, with a small number of volunteer moderators reviewing reports. Expect fast honesty, not 24-hour support.
Questions
Straight answers
Does it cost anything?
No. SFSocial has no paid features, no subscriptions and no purchases, and we do not process payments at all. If that ever changes we will publish separate terms first.
Do I have to use the dating features?
No. Dating is off until you deliberately turn it on, and SFSocial works perfectly well as a community app without it. Turning it off again hides your dating profile and removes you from other people's suggestions.
Can people see where I live?
Your country is public and your city is shown only if you switch it on. Approximate coordinates are used to calculate distance for matching and are never shown to anyone or sent to another person's device. No exact location is ever displayed.
What happens to my messages if I delete my account?
Your profile and account are removed, but messages you have already sent are kept and the link to your account is taken off them, so they appear from a former member. A conversation belongs to everyone in it, and deleting your side would erase part of someone else's record. If you want the content gone too, delete your messages first or ask us in your deletion email. This is explained in full in the Privacy Policy.
Which devices does it work on?
Android, any modern web browser, Windows and Linux. macOS and iOS are planned but not available yet. Push notifications currently work on Android and the web.
How old do I have to be?
18, or older where the age of majority where you live is higher. We ask for your date of birth at signup. We do not yet verify it against any document, which we consider a real limitation and are working on.
Have a look around
Join a community, read a few conversations, and decide whether it is for you. Nothing is private until you say so.
Open SFSocial