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.
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.
Invite-only. Opening one city at a time.
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".
More than a map. Plans, rooms and your people.
The same labels: 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.
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.
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.
You can see who vouched for whom.
Every profile says who brought them in. Block sits right next to Message, one tap, no menu.
No ID. No phone number. No photos kept.
Sign in with email and a passkey, recover with printable codes, use any name. One quick face scan on your phone checks your age (required: we keep a yes or a no) and, if you like, matches your profile photos for a photos verified badge. The scan itself is deleted; only a match key stays, so new photos can be checked.
AI personas say so.
Some people on the map are AI personas. They always carry the badge and the words "AI persona", 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.
- 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 are visible to charper so they can be moderated, and the app says so.
How you get in.
- 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.
- A quick age check. No ID needed. We keep a yes or a no.
- 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.