Faces need a crowd.
In the prototype map, with made-up people: a spot shows faces only when at least three people share it. Fewer than three reads "a few around": no faces, no names, no count.
You get in as someone's guest.
charper is a living map of your city's queer life: friends, dates, hookups and plans for tonight. Built New members join through someone's invite link, and Built the AI personas on the map always wear their label.
Built works today, in the members' prototype map (with made-up people) or its invite links. Designed is how charper works, on the way.
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.
- FriendsDesigned
Climbing partners, a sober coffee, someone else who just moved here. Profiles lead with what you share, not your stats.
- DatesDesigned
Slow or soon. Couples show up linked to each other, so everyone knows who they're talking to.
- HookupsDesigned
Discreet, direct, on your terms. Filters work both ways: if you filter someone out, you vanish for them too.
- Open nowBuilt
In the prototype map, "Open to meeting now" is a switch, not a fourth kind: it lights up whichever kinds you picked.
More than a map. Plans, rooms and your people.
Designed is how charper works, on the way. Exploring is an idea we're working out, not a promise.
- Designed
Events, hosted
One-off or every week. Hosts approve RSVPs, keep a door list and add co-hosts. Hosting is charper's only paid tier.
- Designed
Community listings, free
Recovery meetings, testing and PrEP clinics, peer support, mutual aid, know-your-rights nights. Free to list, reviewed by a person, never boosted.
- Designed
Sober and clear-headed
Any event can carry the sober tag, and it filters like everything else.
- Designed
Beacons
"Seeing the 7pm movie, 3 spots." Up to eight people, gone within a day, free for everyone.
- Designed
Group chats that tidy up
Every event and beacon gets a chat; event chats close 48 hours after the night ends. Private groups are invite-only. Group chats are visible to charper so they can be moderated.
- Designed
Video rooms
Rooms for events and groups. They open only once moderation can keep up and a host pilots one, and they're visible to charper, not end-to-end encrypted.
- Designed
Friends endorse you
Friends write you a public endorsement; you choose which ones show. Never a count, never a score.
- Exploring
Your best photos, picked
Tools that suggest which of your photos and clips show you best. You always choose; nothing is posted for you.
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, and each line says whether it's built yet.
TopicMost appscharper
Who's on itAnyone who can make an account.Built You get in by a member's invite link; each member has five. Designed A fake account costs someone a real invite.
When someone's awfulBanned accounts can sign up again.Designed If someone you vouched for is banned, your invites are paused, so people vouch with care.
Signing upMany want your phone number.Built Sign in with Google today; charper never asks for a phone number. Designed Passkeys and email, printable backup codes, 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.1Built On the prototype map, faces show only where three or more people share a spot. Designed Your location blurred to a few blocks on your phone, and no travel mode.
Your messagesVaries by app.Designed Person-to-person messages aren't open yet. When they are: end-to-end encrypted, and 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.2Designed Blocking, filters, reporting and incognito, free forever. Hosts are the only paid tier.
Your attentionStreaks, "who viewed you", nudges to come back.Designed None of it. charper works when you put the phone down and go out.
What each one is for
Safety is the product, not the fine print.
Each card says where it stands. Built works today, in the members' prototype map (with made-up people) or its invite links. Designed is how charper works, on the way.
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.
Invite-only, and quiet about it.
Built New members join through someone's invite link. Designed Who vouched someone in shows only to the person who did and to their friends, so strangers can't map who invited whom. AI personas say "AI persona · made by charper" instead. Block is a step away on every card and in every chat.
No ID. No phone number.
Built Today you sign in with Google, and charper never asks for a phone number. Designed Then: passkey and email sign-in, printable backup codes, any name you like. A face scan on your phone checks your age and keeps only a yes. Photos verified is a separate, optional scan: if you turn it on, charper keeps a face template (numbers, not a picture) until you remove the badge. Nothing is computed for anyone else's face in your photos.
AI personas say so.
Built Every AI persona on the map wears a robot badge and the words "AI persona". Designed Chat with them is switched off for now; when it opens, they never claim to be human and stop when you say no.
After you meet, a quiet word.
"Matched their photos?" "Felt safe?" Optional, private, and seen only by safety. Never shown on anyone's profile.
"I'm worried about them."
A separate way to look out for someone. They get an anonymous card of support resources, never a "you were reported".
No surprise nudes.
Explicit images from people you haven't matched with arrive blurred. Tap to see, or don't.
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.
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.
Designed
Your messages are yours. Not ours.
Person-to-person messages aren't open yet. This is how they'll work.
- End-to-end encrypted, one to one. Our servers hold scrambled text they can't read.
- Report only what you choose. That message and the four before it, sent with your consent, and sealed so nothing can be cherry-picked.
- Plain about the rest. Group and event chats, and chats with AI personas, are visible to charper so they can be moderated, and the app says so.
How you get in.
- BuiltSomeone on charper sends you an invite link. Every member has five. There's no public sign-up and no waitlist: that's the point.
- DesignedA quick age check. No ID needed. We keep a yes or a no.
- DesignedPick any name you like. Pronouns, purposes, photos if you want them. Your real name stays yours.
Designed If someone you vouch for is banned, your invites are paused. That's why people vouch with care, and why it stays good.
Designed
No streaks. No "who viewed you." charper wins when you leave the house.
Want in? Ask someone on charper.
charper is opening 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.