Over-18s only.
Your date of birth is checked when you sign up, by the database and not just the app.
Safety, in full.
Tandem gets people who haven’t met to meet in person. This is everything we do about that, in plain English, and a few things you can do too.
01
Who’s here.
Get verified, if you like.
Opt in to a face check that matches you to your photos, and get a verified badge that shows people you’re the person in your pictures.
02
Where you are.
Your exact location is never saved.
It’s rounded to a 1 km grid the moment it reaches us.
A distance, never a pin.
People only ever see how far away you are, in whole kilometres.
You choose how far to look.
Anywhere from 5 to 150 km, in whole kilometres.
03
Who can reach you.
No messages without two yeses.
Nobody can message you unless you’ve both said yes to the same activity.
Text only in chat.
No photos, videos or files, ever, so nobody can send you a picture you didn’t ask for.
Handles are for matches.
Your Instagram, TikTok, X or Snapchat is only shown to people you’ve matched with.
04
Your photos.
Every photo is scanned first.
Every profile photo is scanned automatically for safety before anyone sees it.
Photos stay off the open internet.
Only members allowed to see your profile can load them, through links that expire after five minutes, and anyone you block can’t load them again.
Photo data is stripped, twice.
Hidden data such as location and camera details comes off every photo: on your phone, and again on our server.
05
If someone’s a pain.
Block anyone in one tap.
They can’t see you, can’t message you, and drop out of your discovery.
Unmatch whenever you like.
End a conversation without blocking anyone.
Report from a profile or a chat.
Reporting blocks them for you straight away, and a real person reads what was reported.
Reports can’t be faked.
The app captures the reported message itself, on the server.
Bad behaviour gets you banned.
Inappropriate messages or content can get an account banned, and so can behaviour that’s reported before or after a meetup.
We work with the police.
We cooperate with law enforcement. When it’s needed, and the law allows, we’ll share what we hold as evidence.
06
Your account.
Spam hits a wall.
There are limits on how fast any account can like, message, report or upload, so spam and mass-messaging don’t get far.
Leave whenever you like.
Delete your account from inside the app, any time. Reports about an account are kept for safety after it’s deleted.
For the curious
How it works underneath.
The same promises, one level down.
Your square, not your spot.
When your phone shares its location, our server snaps it to the 1 km square it falls in and stores only that square. Distances are worked out from those squares and shown in whole kilometres.
Photo links that expire.
Photos sit in private storage, not on a public web address. The app asks for a link that works for five minutes, and only gets one if you’re allowed to see that profile. Block someone and their next request is refused.
Rules enforced by the database.
Who can see or change what is enforced by the database itself, not just by the app, and those access rules are tested automatically every time the code changes.
Belt and braces on photo data.
Your phone removes hidden data such as location and camera details before a photo is uploaded, and our server removes it again in case anything was missed.
Limits on anything that could be abused.
Liking, messaging, reporting and uploading are each limited per account, so no one account can flood the app.
Meeting up
Tips, not rules.
Most of this is common sense. It’s worth saying anyway.
Meet somewhere public.
A pool hall, a court, a café. Somewhere with other people around, especially the first time.
Tell a friend.
Let someone know where you’re going, who you’re meeting, and when you expect to be back.
Your own way home.
Get yourself there and back. You don’t owe anyone a lift, or your address.
Keep the chat in Tandem.
Until you’re comfortable, keep talking in the app, where you can block or report in one tap.
Trust your gut.
If something feels off, leave. You don’t need a reason. Then block or report.
Keep money out of it.
Nobody on Tandem should ask you for money. If someone does, report them.
In an emergency, call 999.
If you’re in danger, call the police first. Then report in the app.