Safety Center

The basics

• Stay anonymous until you choose not to be. Your handle is all anyone needs. Hold back your full name, address, workplace, and phone number.
• Never send money or codes. No real connection starts with a request for cash, gift cards, crypto, or a verification code sent to your phone.
• Be careful with photos and links. Anything you send can be saved and shared. Do not open links from someone you just met.
• Trust the uneasy feeling. You never owe anyone a reply. Skip, leave the room, or end the call.

Common scams to watch for

• Moving you off the site fast. Someone who pushes you to another app in the first minute usually wants to get away from reporting tools.
• Sextortion. A person asks for explicit photos or a video call, then threatens to send them to your family or employer unless you pay. Do not pay, stop replying, keep the evidence, and report it.
• The emergency story. A sudden hospital bill, a stuck flight, a frozen bank account. It is always urgent and always needs your money.
• Too good to be true. Investment tips, paid "verification" sites, and prize wins are scams.

Meeting in person

• Meet in a public place the first time, and get there and back on your own.
• Tell a friend who you are meeting, where, and when you expect to be home.
• Video or voice chat first, so you know the person matches who they say they are.
• Keep your drink with you, and leave whenever you want to. You do not need a reason.

Privacy and being out

Not everyone here is out, and that is their call. Never share another person's name, photo, HIV status, or anything else that could identify or out them. Sharing someone's private information gets you banned.

If a chat goes wrong

• Leave. Use Skip in a random chat, Leave in a room, or end the call.
• Report. In a room, use the flag next to the person's handle. In a random or private chat, use the report button. Reports are anonymous: the other person is never told who filed it.
• Save evidence if you were threatened or blackmailed, and consider reporting it to the police.

Protecting minors

Instinct Chat is strictly for adults 18 and older. If someone appears to be under 18, or anyone shares or asks for sexual content involving a minor, leave and report it right away using the "Someone appears underage" reason. In the United States you can also report child exploitation directly to the NCMEC CyberTipline.

What we do

• 18+ entry screen. Everyone certifies their age and accepts the rules before entering, and passes a bot check.
• Automated safety filter. Text messages are checked before delivery. Messages that appear to involve a minor are blocked, and repeated attempts lead to a ban.
• Reports are saved and reviewed. In a room, someone reported by several different people is removed automatically.
• No camera. Instinct Chat never asks for your camera. Chat is text and voice only.
• Limits. Voice calls go directly between the two people and cannot be filtered, so please report anything that happens on a call.

Read the full Community Guidelines, Terms of Service, and Privacy Policy.