Help & feature guides

Sign up with your email and a password and you can look around straight away — no phone number needed. We send a link to confirm your email; the first time you send a friend request or start a new conversation, the app asks you to tap it if you haven’t already. Can’t find it? Check your junk folder, or resend it from the prompt.

Add your interests, current hobbies and things you'd like to try from one shared catalogue, then your values and life situation (like "new to the area" or your work pattern). The more you add, the better your matches — and you can edit any of it later from your profile.

You're private by default. Only a general area is ever shown — never your exact location — and you choose whether you're discoverable. You can change what you show, or hide yourself, at any time in settings.

GetFriendly matches you on what you genuinely share — interests, hobbies, values, life stage and how close you are — never on appearance. You'll see a small, curated set of compatible people, each with a plain-English reason like "you both want to try archery and you're both new to the area." No mystery percentages, no endless scroll.

Browse compatible people in Discover. Turn on the discoverable toggle to be found, and use the filters (interests, hobbies, age, distance) to focus. Distance is always shown honestly and approximately.

Instead of swiping, you send a short, warm 'say hello' note to open a request — lower pressure and more human. We even suggest conversation starters based on what you share.

When someone says hello, you can accept or decline. Accepting opens an encrypted conversation; declining is quiet and private. Nobody can message you until you've accepted.

Every conversation is end-to-end encrypted — the app's servers only ever hold scrambled text they can't read, and message content never appears in notifications. You'll get a note telling you who messaged, never what they said.

Tap once to let your friends know you're free to meet up. It shows a gentle availability pill on your chats and quietly switches itself off after seven days — no pressure, no streaks.

Pin your closest conversations to the top, and get gentle nudges if you've left someone on read — designed to help real friendships, not to hook you.

From any conversation you can report or block. Blocking is mutual and private. Reports go to our moderation team and your identity as the reporter is always protected.

The Friendly Map shows welcoming local places and real events to meet at. Explore from home, your current location, or a custom area, and use quick-filters that mirror your own interests so the right things surface.

Tap an event for full details, then Get Directions to hand off to Apple or Google Maps. Hosts can drop a pin on the exact spot — a hill, a bench, a corner of the park — so nobody gets lost.

Say "I'm going" and it saves straight to your built-in calendar alongside your plans and anything you host. Events can have capacity limits and an automatic waitlist.

Invite a few friends somewhere — a coffee, a walk, the pub. Pick a place, a time, and who's invited, and everyone can RSVP and see it on their calendar.

With Friendly+ you can share a plan with all your friends at once, host public events, invite up to 100 people, and add co-hosts so a book club or walking group doesn't rest on one person.

Friendly+ is optional and never required — the home area and core browsing stay free. It adds deeper discovery, exploring other towns, public events, co-hosting and members-only extras.

During our launch every Friendly+ feature is free for everyone — no payment details needed. Later it's expected to be £4.99/month or £49.99/year, billed through the App Store. We'll give plenty of notice, nobody is charged automatically, and nothing you've saved is ever lost.

Messages are end-to-end encrypted, so we can't read them. We don't run ads, track you, or sell your data. Your exact location is never shared — only a general area, and only if you choose. More detail on the Privacy & safety page.

You can delete your account and data from inside the app at any time, in settings. For the full picture, see our Privacy Policy.