Messages worth answering
Chemistry is scored from both sides of the conversation. Thoughtful, specific replies move it; a wall of “hey” does not.
Nobody sees your face first.
Chemistry, sped up. In HideShow it is earned in conversation.
Hide the photo. Show the person. Hide the face. Show the words. Hide the looks. Show the mind. Hide the swipe. Show the talk. Hide the surface. Show the story.
HideShow lets people read who you are before they see what you look like. Faces arrive only as a real conversation earns them, enforced on the server, not asked of the app.
Privacy-first dating · Free to join · 50 credits to start · 18+ only
- Blur enforced on the server
- No ads, no trackers
- 18+ only
- Delete everything, any time
- Hide the photo. Show the person.
- Hide the face. Show the words.
- Hide the looks. Show the mind.
- Hide the swipe. Show the talk.
- Hide the surface. Show the story.
How it works
Read first. Seen later.
Three steps, and no way around any of them.
Arrive unseen
Your name, age, city and what you are here for, from the first card. Your photographs are there too: reduced to a handful of pixels before anyone else receives them.
Talk first
Conversation is what moves chemistry, and it takes both of you. One side writing essays to a wall moves nothing.
Be seen when you mean it
Your face sharpens in stages as chemistry grows. Nobody can skip ahead, buy their way past it, or ask you to.
The reveal ladder
Watch a face arrive.
Chemistry is scored from the conversation itself; both sides of it. This is the whole ladder, drawn at the same resolution the server actually sends. There is nothing else behind it.
10px wide
Lena, 29
- Makes photographs
- Interests at 40%
- Links at 80%
Stranger0% chemistry
- A conversation has not started yet.
Try it: drag, or pick a rung
Strangerfrom 0%
A photograph, and almost nothing else.
- Name, age and city
- What they are here for
- Languages, education, children, smoking
A generated portrait of nobody real, paced for a demo: real chemistry is scored from both sides of a real conversation, and climbs as fast as the two of you make it.
What moves chemistry
It is a conversation, not a countdown.
Nothing opens with time alone. These are the things that count.
Voice notes
Your first two voice notes in a conversation earn chemistry of their own. Five to thirty seconds: how you say something is information too.
Puzzles about each other
Ask one question about their own profile: their city, their languages. Twenty seconds to answer. Get it right and you both gain 15 points.
Video, at the top
Calling opens at 100% chemistry and not a point before. Calls are peer-to-peer, and nothing is recorded.
Safety
How it is actually enforced.
Four things that are true of the code, not of the marketing.
Blur is not a filter
Each obscured version is a separate image made on the server, shrunk to a handful of pixels before it is blurred. There is no sharp copy behind a CSS rule for a modified app to remove.
Your location stays yours
Other people see a distance band (under 5 km, under 25) and your city. Never coordinates, never a postcode, and photo GPS data is stripped on upload.
A camera cannot outrun the ladder
Blurring outgoing video would be done by the app, and a modified app would simply not do it. So calls wait for 100% instead of pretending to be safe earlier.
Money buys nothing here
Credits pay for sending things and for being seen by more people. They cannot move chemistry, a reveal level, or what anyone sees of you.
The difference
Built the other way round.
| Most swipe apps | HideShow | |
|---|---|---|
| What decides whether you talk | Your photos | Who you are, in words |
| When your face is shown | Immediately, to everyone | In stages, as chemistry grows |
| How photos are hidden | Usually they are not | Separate low-detail images, made on the server |
| Paying to see more of someone | Often possible | Impossible |
| Location shared | Often precise | City and a distance band |
| Video calls | Any time | Only at 100% chemistry |
| Ads and third-party trackers | Common | None |
Members
Talked first. Met later.
I had a real conversation before I knew what he looked like. By the time his photo cleared I already knew I liked him.
The puzzle thing is genuinely fun. She asked me something about Kraków only someone who lives here would know.
It is the first dating app where I did not feel like a photo being judged in half a second.
These are example quotes, shown until members’ own words replace them.
Leaderboard
Who is doing well here
Members who asked to be listed, ranked on how much they wrote this month to one person, in a 100% conversation where both are photo verified. The top ten are paid in credits every month. Only words count: never likes, stickers or photos.
Pricing
Free to join. Pay for what you send.
No subscription, and nothing that buys chemistry. Credits pay for sending things, and every price is here, before you sign up.
Free
$0
50 credits to start
- A full profile, and Discover
- Up to 100 likes a day
- Matching and reading messages
- Answering video calls
Starter
$20
200 credits
10¢ a credit
Get startedRegular
$50
800 credits
6.3¢ a credit · 37% less
Get startedLarge
$100
2,000 credits
5¢ a credit · 50% less
Get startedWhat credits are spent on
- Two messagesup to 200 characters each
- 1 credit
- A voice note or a photo
- 10 credits
- A puzzlepaid by the one who asks
- 3 credits
- A sticker
- 5 credits
- A minute of videoanswering is free
- 20 credits
- A boostfront of the deck for 3 hours
- 100 credits
Prices shown in US dollars. Checkout shows the price in your own currency. Unused credits are refundable under your local consumer law: see the terms.
Questions
Asked before signing up.
Is HideShow free?
Joining is free, and every new account starts with 50 credits, which is a hundred messages. Sending things costs credits: a credit buys two messages of up to 200 characters each, and answering a video call is always free. Nothing you pay for changes chemistry or what anyone can see of you.
Can someone screenshot my photos?
Before a conversation reaches Close, there is nothing worth capturing: the server sends a separate image shrunk to a few pixels, not a sharp photo hidden behind a blur. Once your photos are clear, someone could screenshot them, as on any app, which is why clarity has to be earned in conversation first.
Can I pay to see someone’s photos sooner?
No. There is no purchase, subscription or boost that moves chemistry or a reveal level. The only way up is a conversation both of you take part in.
Who can see where I am?
People see your city and a distance band such as “under 5 km”. Your exact coordinates and postcode are never sent to anyone, and location data is stripped from photos when you upload them.
When can we video call?
At 100% chemistry. A live camera shows a face more completely than any photograph, so it is the last thing on the ladder. Calls are peer-to-peer and are never recorded.
What if someone makes me uncomfortable?
Block or report them from their profile or the conversation. A reported conversation is kept as evidence while the report is open, even if the other person deletes their account.
Why do you need my date of birth?
HideShow is for adults only, and an account cannot be created without one. Other people see your age, never the date.
Can I take my data with me, or delete it?
Yes, both, from your profile. Download everything held about you as one file, or delete your account: photographs, conversations and profile are erased, not hidden.
Something else? Ask us; no account needed.
Show yourself to someone who read you first.
Free to join, 50 credits to start, and your photographs are obscured from the moment you upload them.
Create your profile