Every rule that limits you

Every rule below limits what you can do. They are all here, on one page, before you sign up, because a rule you find out about afterwards is a rule you did not agree to.

One person a day

You get one recommendation a day. One person.

There is no list, no grid and no second page. When you have dealt with today’s, you are done until tomorrow.

Why. An endless list turns choosing a person into browsing a catalogue, and browsing a catalogue is a thing people do instead of meeting anybody.

There is no like button

There never will be one. You have three things you can do with anybody you are shown: write to them, ignore them, or dismiss them.

Why. A like costs nothing, so it means nothing, and an inbox full of them tells you nothing about who would actually turn up.

Dismissing somebody is permanent, and you can undo all of it at once

Dismiss somebody and you will not be shown them again. There is no undo for one person.

You can reset every dismissal you have ever made, in your settings, in one action.

Why one and not the other. Being able to undo a single dismissal turns it into a decision to agonise over. Being able to start again from nothing is a different thing, and it is yours to do whenever you like.

Nobody is shown to more than 5 people a night

However popular you are, at most 5 people are shown your profile in a night.

Why. Without a limit, a small number of people receive everything and everybody else receives nothing — which is the failure this whole product is arranged around.

You have to open the app to be in the running

If you did not open JOAD today, you are not in tonight’s recommendations.

Why. Being shown somebody who has not opened the app for three weeks wastes your one person for the day.

After 3 showings with nothing happening, we dismiss for both of you — and tell you both

If you are shown somebody 3 times and neither of you does anything, we dismiss it for both of you. You are both told, and it is counted in the measures members see.

Why we tell you. Nothing here reduces anybody’s reach quietly. A platform that thins out who you are shown without saying so is the thing the numbers exist to expose.

You get exactly what you asked for, and we tell you when that is nobody

Your preferences are exact. If you did not choose it, you do not want it, and we do not widen your choices to find you somebody.

If nothing matches, the app says so and shows you the number: zero.

Why. Quietly relaxing what you asked for to keep the screen full is lying to you about who is out there.

One message at a time

You cannot send two messages in a row. After you write, it is their turn.

Why. Because the alternative is somebody sending five messages into silence, and nobody enjoys either end of that.

An opening message nobody answers disappears after 24 hours

If your first message is not answered within 24 hours, it goes.

Why. An unanswered opener sitting there for a fortnight is not hope, it is an unfinished chore.

Conversations last 14 days, and you can extend once by 7

A conversation runs for 14 days from the first message. Either of you can extend it once, by 7 days. That is the whole of it — then it closes.

If you do nothing, it closes and is recorded as having ended with nothing arranged.

Why. Conversations that run for months are conversations instead of meetings.

Everybody proves who they are

Every member does an identity document check and a face check before their profile is shown to anybody. There is no way to skip it and no version of JOAD without it.

Your document is destroyed within 24 hours of the check. We do not keep it.

Why. It is the one thing that makes the rest of this worth doing.

You sign up alone, and you can link with a partner afterwards

There is no couple’s account. Each person signs up on their own, proves who they are on their own, and sets their own preferences.

If you are partnered you can link your two accounts afterwards. Either of you can unlink alone. When that happens both profiles are hidden until each of you has updated your details, and you are both told.

Why. A shared account is two people behind one face, and whoever is on the other end cannot tell which of you they are talking to.

What JOAD is for, and what it is not

JOAD exists to get people meeting each other in person.

It is not built to be entertaining. There is nothing here to scroll, nothing to collect, and no reason to open it twice in a day.

Meeting in person is the number JOAD is judged on, and the number members are shown.