About us
We built the app we wanted to stop needing.
Brad1012 started with a simple, slightly annoyed observation: most dating apps are optimised to be used, not to work. Ours is built to be left.
How it started
The idea arrived at the end of a bad year for dating apps. Between us we had deleted and reinstalled the same three products eleven times, and none of us could explain what any of them were actually optimising for — except more time in the app.
So we wrote down the opposite brief. Reward conversations rather than taps. Verify everyone before a single message can be sent. Make the paid tier about convenience, never about access to other people. Then measure success by how many members leave, happily, and never come back.
That last one is uncomfortable to build a business on, and it is the only metric on the wall.
- 7
- Countries live
- 48
- People on the team
- 24/7
- Human moderation
- 0
- Member records sold
What we hold ourselves to
Leaving is the goal
A product that works empties itself out. We would rather be recommended by someone who deleted their account than retained by someone who is miserable.
Safety is not a feature
Verification, moderation and privacy controls are the floor, not an upsell. None of them sit behind a paywall and none ever will.
Say the honest thing
Plain pricing, plain cancellation, plain data practice. If a sentence needs a footnote to stay true, we rewrite the sentence.
Built with members
Every significant change goes to a member panel before it ships. Several of the features we are proudest of started as complaints.
Where we have got to
2023
Three people and a spreadsheet
The matching model is prototyped on a laptop in a rented office above a bakery.
2024
Private beta
The first 500 members join by invitation. Live selfie verification ships before the first message is ever sent.
2025
Open to everyone
iOS and Android launch in the UK and Ireland. Human moderation moves to a 24-hour rota.
2026
Where we are now
Members across seven countries, a safety team larger than the engineering team, and still no advertising against messages.