Community GuidelinesCommunity Guidelines

People decide whether to pull your string from your pictures and how far away you are, so everything behind them has to be true. Give your real first and last name when you sign up, and pick the city you actually live in or near. Other people on the app never see them; only you and our team can.

This means:

• Never pretend to be someone else, and never use another person’s pictures.
• One person, one account. Your phone number is your account, so don’t make a second one with another number.
• Never share your account, sell it or let anyone else use it.
• If we remove your account, don’t come back with a new one.

When you sign up, you confirm that you’re 18 or older. We don’t ask for your birth date, so we count on that promise being true.

This means:

• Don’t sign up if you’re under 18, and never help anyone under 18 get on.
• If someone looks or sounds under 18, report them and pick “May be under 18”.
• Nothing that sexualizes a minor, ever. It can end an account the first time, and we may report it to the authorities.

Other people never see your name, and there are no bios, so your five pictures do the talking. Each one answers its own prompt, and the first, “Just you”, is the one people see on the map. A person on our team looks at every new profile, pictures included, before it goes live, and pictures that break these rules can keep a profile from going live.

You can change any picture from “Your pictures” on the Me tab. The same rules apply to every one.

This means:

• “Just you” shows your face clearly, on your own: no sunglasses, no group shots.
• Pictures of you as you look today, not years ago.
• No nudity, nothing sexual, and nothing violent or gory.
• If a child is in a picture, you’re in it with them.
• No phone numbers, usernames, links or ads in your pictures.
• No hate symbols, and no weapons or drugs on show.

Every person you pull, call or hear from took a chance on a stranger. Treat them the way you’d want to be treated, and when a string loosens, take it as an answer.

This means:

• No insults, threats, bullying or pressure, and no mocking anyone’s looks, voice or body.
• Once a string has loosened or someone has said no, let them be: don’t look for them on other apps, at their work or at their door.

Consent is a clear yes, given freely. It can be taken back at any moment, and someone who is very drunk, high or asleep can’t give it. Sex without consent is a crime.

This means:

• No sexual talk, sounds or requests on the call or in voice notes unless you’ve both clearly said you want that.
• Never ask anyone for nude or sexual pictures.
• Stop the moment someone says no, goes quiet or seems unsure.
• Never pressure anyone to meet, to go somewhere private or to drink.

Who you pull is your choice. How you treat everyone, the people you don’t pull included, is covered by these rules.

This means:

• No slurs, attacks or “jokes” about anyone’s race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, disability, health, sex, gender identity or sexual orientation.
• No hate symbols, and no praise for groups that promote hate or violence.

When a pull is mutual, you have 24 hours for a five-minute voice call. If you both keep the string, you get 7 days of voice notes, each up to 60 seconds. Your number is never shown to the person you talk to.

This means:

• It’s you on the call and in your voice notes, not a friend speaking for you.
• Keep your number, last name, address and workplace to yourself until you’re ready, and never push for someone else’s.
• A voice note can’t be unsent or deleted, and it can still be played after the 7 days end, so only send what you’d be happy for them to keep.
• You can let the string go at any time, even in the middle of a call. Leaving is always fine; being cruel on the way out isn’t.

A call or a voice note is meant for one person: the one on the other end of the string. We don’t record calls.

This means:

• Never record a call, or save, copy or share a voice note, without the other person’s clear consent. In California, recording a private call without everyone’s consent can be a crime.
• Don’t screenshot or save anyone’s pictures to share, post or make fun of.
• Don’t pass on anyone’s name, number, address, workplace or anything else they told you.
• Never share an intimate picture or video of anyone without their consent. If that has happened to you, write to udayan@gethotline.app. We’ll remove it, and close the account that shared it, within 48 hours of your request.

People appear by distance, to the nearest 0.1 mile, worked out from locations rounded to about 200 m. That’s on purpose: nearby should never mean found.

This means:

• Never fake your location, or use apps, scripts or extra accounts to narrow down where someone is.
• Never follow anyone, wait for them, or turn up where you think they live or work.
• Don’t use Hotline to keep tabs on a partner, an ex or anyone else.

A person on our team looks at every new profile before it goes live. That look is not a background check. Hotline does not conduct criminal background screenings or criminal background checks of its members, so take the care you would with any stranger.

Read our Dating safety advice before you meet anyone.

This means:

• Meet in a busy public place, and get there and back on your own.
• Tell a friend or family member where you’re going and when you’ll be back.
• Remember that pictures can be borrowed and profiles can be false. Anyone who can steal an identity can make a convincing profile.
• Leave whenever something feels wrong. You don’t owe anyone an explanation.
• Want a break from being seen? Turn off “Visible nearby” on the Me tab to leave everyone’s nearby list.

Nobody pulls a string to hear a pitch. Keep business, causes and side hustles somewhere else.

This means:

• No ads, sales pitches, links or promo codes, in your pictures, on the call or in voice notes.
• No recruiting for jobs, schemes, events or other apps, and no asking for follows.
• No offering or asking for sex, company or attention in exchange for money or gifts.
• An account is for one person, never for a business or a brand.

Scams often start warm and fast, then turn into a favor: a ticket, a bill, an emergency, an investment that can’t lose. Someone you just met has no reason to ask you for money.

This means:

• Never ask anyone for money, gifts, gift cards, crypto, bank details or loans, for any reason.
• However good the story, keep your money, gift cards and crypto away from anyone you know only through Hotline.
• No investment tips, trading groups or “opportunities”.
• If someone asks you for money, stop talking to them and report them.

This means:

• No drugs, weapons or anything else that’s against the law, whether you’re offering it or looking for it.
• No trafficking or exploitation of anyone, in any form.
• No threats of violence, and no planning or encouraging harm to anyone.

If you or someone else is in danger right now, call 911. If someone hurt you, scared you or pushed past your no, it’s not your fault, whatever happened before.

Where to turn:

• If someone you met assaulted or threatened you, you can report it to the police, and to us with “I felt unsafe” or at udayan@gethotline.app.
• For support after sexual assault, or abuse by a partner: the National Domestic Violence Hotline, 1-800-799-7233 (thehotline.org), or RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline, 1-800-656-4673 (rainn.org).
• If you’re thinking about hurting yourself, or worried about someone who is: call or text 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (988lifeline.org).

It’s fine to say you’re going through a hard time. It’s never fine to push someone toward hurting themselves, or to make self-harm, suicide or disordered eating look good.

Tap “Block or report” on someone’s profile (the flag), on the match and chat screens, or “Block or report instead” when you let a string go. Blocking is silent: they aren’t told, you won’t see each other on Hotline again, and any string between you loosens. A block can’t be undone in the app.

Reporting also blocks them, and only our team sees the report. A person on our team reviews every report within 24 hours. The app only sends the reason you pick, so if there’s more we should know, write to udayan@gethotline.app.

When you report, you pick one:

• Fake photos or spam
• Inappropriate photos
• Rude or harassing
• I felt unsafe
• May be under 18
• Something else

Only report what really happened. Making up a report to punish someone is against these rules.

Reports stay on record after the accounts involved are deleted. If someone deletes their account after being reported, we keep their phone number, so we can recognize them if they come back.

We look at what happened, how serious it was and whether it has happened before. Threats, violence and anything that sexualizes a minor can end an account the first time.

What we can do:

• Remove a picture.
• Keep a new profile from going live.
• End your strings.
• Remove your account.
• Work with the police when someone may be in danger or the law requires it.

If we remove an account for a scam, we may let the people who swapped voice notes with it know, without telling them anything else about that account.

These rules also reach beyond the app, when what you do involves someone you met here. To ask us to look at a decision again, write to udayan@gethotline.app. Do it within 30 days, and a person on our team looks at it again and answers within 14 days.