Aroha: Swipeless Real Dating

Aroha is swipeless dating app built around real plans. No endless swiping, no AI matchmaking and no hidden algorithm deciding who you see: Discover shows people near you who fit your filters, most recently active first. You decide who to meet, and the date is already half-planned before you say hi.

Aroha is a Māori word for love, care and respect. It's the standard we build to, for how the app treats you and how people treat each other on it.

START WITH THE DATE
Post a real date plan: like coffee on Thursday morning, drinks after work, a walk on Sunday. Pick the place, the time and who pays. People near you say hi to the plan, not just your profile, so when you both want the same date, you're already halfway there.
Browse date plans near you and say hi to the ones you'd actually turn up for. No opening lines to agonise over, and no "we should hang out sometime" that never happens. Date plans are free for everyone.

SAFETY TOOLS, BUILT IN
Safety mode gives you safety tools for a first date, and they're free.
• Your safety circle: invite up to two trusted friends with your own QR code or link. They read how it works and opt in themselves. Aroha never texts a number you typed for someone else.
• Check-ins on your schedule: during the date, Aroha checks in on you. Answer "still out" and it waits. Miss a check-in and your safety circle gets a text with who you're with and where.
• One-tap SOS: your circle gets a text with your last known location and a link to a page showing where you were.
• Photo verification: an optional selfie check that matches you to your main profile photo.
Safety mode keeps your circle informed; it doesn't contact emergency services, and it needs your phone to have battery and signal. In an emergency, call 911. Always meet in a public place and tell someone your plans.

DATING WITHOUT THE SWIPE
Discover is a grid of real people near you, not a swipe deck. Tap a profile, read it, then say hi or pass. Every profile is someone you could meet this week, not a pen pal.

FILTERS FOR WHAT ACTUALLY MATTERS
Filter by distance, age, height, interests, languages, education, religion, politics, kids, drinking, smoking and more. Then choose which details show on each card, so you see what matters to you first.

FAIR PRICING, NO PAY-TO-WIN
Aroha is free to use. Seeing who said hi to you is free, and there are no boosts, no super-likes and no paying to cut the line, so nobody can buy their way to the top. To keep things focused on people you'd actually meet, the free plan holds 4 conversations at once. Premium raises that to 6, adds a second date plan and removes ads. Nothing else is behind a paywall.

HOW IT WORKS
1. Post a date plan, or browse plans and people near you.
2. Say hi. When they say hi back, you can chat.
3. Turn on date mode before you go, so your safety circle hears about it if you miss a check-in.
4. Meet in person. That's the whole point of a swipeless dating app.

WHO IT'S FOR
Aroha is a dating app for people who want to meet in person: singles who are tired of swiping, women who want safety tools built into the app, and anyone who would rather plan a first date than chat for weeks.

Find a date your way. Post a plan, say hi, meet in person, and bring your safety circle along. Aroha: swipeless dating, with safety tools for real first dates.

Recent changes:
Photos are now checked before they appear, sign-up messages are clearer when a phone number or password isn't accepted, and bug fixes.