charper

Everyone here is someone's guest.

charper is a living map of your city's queer life: friends, dates, hookups and who's up for a movie tonight. Everyone on it was vouched in by someone real.

How to get in Why it's different

Invite-only. Opening one city at a time.

The real charper map at night: over the Willamette, into a downtown crowd, tap someone, and their card says who vouched them in. Made-up people, real streets.
The charper map of downtown Portland from above the east bank of the Willamette: the Morrison, Burnside and Steel bridges, the downtown towers, and dozens of little crowds labelled with how many people are there and how many are yours.
Downtown Portland across the Willamette, rendered by the charper map with its buttons hidden. Camera posed for this page; everyone on it is made up. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

One map. Every kind of night.

Most apps make you pick a lane, then a different app for the other lanes. On charper, what you're after is a layer on the same live map, for every queer gender from day one.

  • Friends

    Climbing partners, a sober coffee, someone else who just moved here. Profiles lead with what you share, not your stats.

  • Dates

    Slow or soon. Couples show up linked to each other, so everyone knows who they're talking to.

  • Hookups

    Discreet, direct, on your terms. Filters work both ways: if you filter someone out, you vanish for them too.

  • Open now

    Not a fourth kind: a switch. "Open to meeting now" lights up whichever kinds you picked. Coming: beacons, small same-day plans like "seeing the 7pm movie, 3 spots".

The charper map at 9:30 at night: the Portland Oregon sign glowing in neon above Old Town at the end of the Burnside Bridge, lit windows all around, and a string of people's faces along the streets beyond.
Built Your city, street by street: the Portland Oregon sign at 9:30 pm on the charper map. Coming Beacons are designed and on the way. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Why charper, at a glance.

The complaints people make about dating and cruising apps are remarkably consistent: bots and scams, safety behind a paywall, dead feeds, and location leaks. charper is designed against each one.

 Most appscharper
Who's on itAnyone who can make an account.Only people a member vouched in. A spam or fake account costs someone a real invite.
When someone's awfulBanned accounts can sign up again.Harassers burn their inviter's invites, so people vouch with care.
Signing upMany want your phone number.Email and a passkey. No phone number, ever. Any name you like.
Where you areIn 2024, researchers pinned users of six apps to about 2 metres from distance alone. Those apps have since fixed it.1Fuzzed to a few blocks, faces only where three or more people share an area, and no travel mode.
Your messagesUsually not end-to-end encrypted.End-to-end encrypted. A report shares that message and the four before it, only when you send it.
Safety toolsSome are paid extras. Grindr's Incognito is part of its paid tier.2Blocking, filters, reporting and incognito, free forever. Hosts are the only paid tier.
Your attentionStreaks, "who viewed you", nudges to come back.None of it. charper works when you put the phone down and go out.

What each one is for

  • GrindrA grid of nearby profiles.
  • ScruffA grid of nearby profiles.
  • SniffiesA live map, for gay, bi and curious men.3
  • HingeDating, one profile at a time.
  • BumbleDating, swipe by swipe.
  • Bumble BFFFriends, in its own separate app.4
  • charperFriends, dates, hookups and plans, on one live map, for every queer gender.

Safety is the product, not the fine print.

Each card says where it stands. Built you can see it working in the charper map today. Designed is how charper works, on the way.

Built

Faces need a crowd.

A spot on the map shows faces only when at least three people share it. Fewer than three reads "a few around": no faces, no names, no count.

The charper map over North Tabor by day: a quiet block labelled only 'a few around', with no faces and no count.
Designed

Nobody sees where you actually are.

Your location is rounded on your phone, then blurred to a cell a few blocks wide, differently for each person looking, so nobody can compare notes to find you. No travel mode: you appear where you are, blurred, or not at all. The map already draws people this way.

Built

You can see who vouched for whom.

Every profile says who brought them in. Block sits right next to Message, one tap, no menu.

A profile card on the charper map: Vouched by you, a name, an age and a short bio, who vouched them in, and the buttons Message, Wave, Invite and Block.
Designed

No phone number. Ever.

You sign in with email and a passkey, and recover with printable backup codes. Pseudonyms are welcome.

Designed

An age check without ID.

A quick face age estimate before anything else. charper keeps a yes or a no, and the image is deleted.

Designed

Your messages are yours.

Messages are end-to-end encrypted. If you report one, you choose to share it and the four before it with the safety team, and nothing else.

Designed

Leave in a hurry. Stay discreet.

One gesture swaps to a neutral page. Install it under a name and icon you choose. Notifications say "1 new" and nothing more.

Designed

Safety is never for sale.

Seeing people, messaging, filters, blocking, reporting and incognito are free forever. The one paywall is for people who host events.

The charper map downtown at night: a crowd of faces over the streets, labelled with how many are there and how many are yours.
A downtown crowd at night: faces, and how many of them are yours. Made-up people; map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

How you get in.

  1. Someone on charper vouches you in. Every member has a few invites. There's no public sign-up and no waitlist: that's the point.
  2. A quick age check. No ID needed. We keep a yes or a no.
  3. Pick any name you like. Pronouns, purposes, photos if you want them. Your real name stays yours.

If someone you vouch for causes harm, your invites pause. That's why people vouch with care, and why it stays good.

No streaks. No "who viewed you." charper wins when you leave the house.

Want in? Ask someone on charper.

charper opens one city at a time, through people who already know it. If nobody you know is on it yet, it hasn't reached you. It will, through a friend.

Already a member? Open the map

CHAR-per verb · Polari to seek.

Where the name comes from

Polari was the cant queer people in Britain used to talk safely in public. Charper was its word for seeking. So: bona to vada your dolly eek. Nice to see your pretty face.