Community guidelines

Be real

• Use your own age. Never try to join, find or contact an age group that isn’t yours.
• Use photos of yourself. Your main photo must show your face clearly.
• Have one account, and only use your own.
• Don’t pretend to be someone else, a brand, or Yapp staff.
• Don’t fake a verification, a badge, or anything about who you are.

Respect age groups

Teens and adults are kept apart on purpose.

• Adults must never try to contact, meet or get information from anyone under 18 through Yapp, and must never ask teens to use another app. We ban adults who do, and we may report them to the police.
• If you think someone is in the wrong age group, report them with “Wrong age group”. They will be asked to check their age again.

Be kind

• No bullying or harassment. Don’t insult, mock, embarrass, pile on, or keep contacting someone who hasn’t replied or has asked you to stop.
• No hate. Don’t attack people for their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, caste, disability, serious illness, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation or age.
• No threats. Don’t threaten anyone, even as a joke.
• Ignoring a chat request means no. Don’t make new accounts or use other ways to reach someone who ignored or blocked you.

Keep it safe

Sexual content

For adults (18+) Yapp is for friendship, so nudity and sexually explicit content aren’t allowed anywhere on Yapp, for any age group. That includes profiles, photos, videos, snaps, stories, rooms, events and private chats, even between adults who both want it.

For teens (13-17) Yapp is for friendship, so nudity and sexually explicit content aren’t allowed anywhere on Yapp, for any age group. That includes profiles, photos, videos, snaps, stories and private chats.

• Don’t send, post or ask for nude or sexual images or videos, or sexually explicit messages.
• Teens: it’s against the law to make, ask for or share sexual images of anyone under 18, even of yourself. If someone has an image of you, we’ll help you get it removed (see “If something goes wrong”). You won’t be in trouble with us for asking for help.
• Sending sexual images to someone who didn’t ask for them is harassment and can be a crime.
• Never share intimate images of anyone without their consent, including images made or edited with AI. Never threaten to share them.
• No sex work, escorting or selling sexual content.

Sent messages, media and snaps may be scanned, stored and reviewed by moderators. This includes hash matching against known child sexual abuse material and reported intimate images; known-material hash matches are blocked before delivery. Apparent child sexual exploitation is reported to NCMEC’s CyberTipline as required by law.

A check for possible nudity or sexual content can flag an innocent image. Flagged media may therefore be delivered with “This content may be sensitive” and blurred according to the recipient’s settings, with blurring on for teens by default. Moderators review it, remove content that breaks these rules and act on the accounts involved. A delivered image is not permission to send prohibited content.

Child safety

We have zero tolerance for anything that sexualizes or exploits children. This includes sexual images of anyone under 18 (including drawn or AI-made images), grooming, sexual messages to or about minors, asking a minor for images, sextortion, and child trafficking. We remove it, ban the accounts involved, and report it to NCMEC and the UK’s National Crime Agency. Our Child Safety Standards explain more.

Self-harm, suicide and eating disorders

• You can talk about what you’re going through, and look for support. That’s okay.
• Don’t share content that encourages or shows how to self-harm, attempt suicide, or restrict eating, and don’t pressure anyone to do these things.
• If someone seems to be in danger, report it. We may show them support resources or contact emergency services if a life is at risk.

Violence and dangerous behavior

• No content that promotes, glorifies or organizes violence, terrorism or violent extremism, or supports groups that do.
• No content that shows graphic violence or cruelty to people or animals.
• No dangerous challenges or stunts that could hurt someone.

Things that are against the law or age-restricted

• Don’t buy, sell or arrange drugs, weapons, alcohol, tobacco or vapes, or anything else that’s against the law or age-restricted.
• No gambling and no betting.
• Don’t share or ask for hacked accounts, stolen data or ways to break the law.

Don’t scam or sell

• Don’t ask anyone for money, gift cards, crypto, bank details, passwords or codes.
• Don’t promote businesses, pyramid schemes, investments or giveaways.
• Don’t sell, buy or trade Yapp accounts, gems or items outside Yapp.
• Don’t send spam, chain messages or the same message to lots of people. Flash Requests are the only way to message many people at once.

Respect privacy

• Don’t share anyone’s private information without their permission: their address, phone number, school, location, photos or anything they told you in private.
• Teens: don’t share your own address, phone number or other apps in chat requests. Yapp blocks links, phone numbers and usernames in a teen’s first requests.
• Don’t save, screenshot, record or share someone’s snaps, messages or calls to embarrass, pressure or harm them. Recording a call without permission may also be against the law.
• Don’t track, follow or stalk anyone.

Respect other people’s work

Only post photos, music, videos and other work that you made or have permission to use.

For adults (18+) Meetups and events (adults)

• Meet in public places only. Never pressure anyone to go somewhere private.
• Respect people’s limits and the event’s rules.
• Hosts: describe your event honestly, choose a safe public venue, and follow what you promised. Paid promotion is labeled.

Don’t mess with Yapp

• Don’t use bots, scripts, scrapers or fake accounts.
• Don’t make false reports, or report people to harass them.
• Don’t get around a ban, a block, a limit or an age check.
• Don’t exploit bugs. If you find one, tell us.

What happens if rules are broken

We look at what happened, how serious it was, and whether it happened before. We may:

• remove or blur the content,
• send a warning,
• limit features for a while (for example, sending requests),
• hide the profile from Discover,
• suspend the account, or
• ban the account, and block the device from making new accounts.

For child sexual exploitation, threats to someone’s life, terrorism and sharing intimate images without consent, we ban the account on the first offense and report it to the authorities.

We tell you what we did and which rule it was about, unless that would put someone at risk or break the law. You can appeal from the notice or from Help and contact. A different person reviews your appeal.

The person you report is never told who reported them.

If something goes wrong

• For adults (18+) Block and report from any profile, request, message, snap, story, room post or event. It’s free and they aren’t told.
• For teens (13-17) Block and report from any profile, request, message, snap or story. It’s free and they aren’t told.
• If someone is threatening you or asking for images or money, use “Someone is threatening me” in the chat or Safety Center. Don’t pay and don’t send more.
• To get intimate images removed: under 18, use Take It Down (takeitdown.ncmec.org) in the US or Report Remove (childline.org.uk) in the UK; 18 and over, use StopNCII (stopncii.org). You can also use our Intimate Image Removal form, with or without a Yapp account.
• If you’re in danger right now, call 911 (US) or 999 (UK).

Thanks for helping keep Yapp a good place to make friends.