# Safety on Rifqa

> How Rifqa keeps dating safe: verified profiles, messages checked before delivery, a private location, block and report, safety check-ins and discreet tools.

- Web page: https://rifqa.fun/safety
- In Arabic: https://rifqa.fun/ar/safety.md

*Safety*

Meeting new people should feel exciting, not risky. Here's what Rifqa does for you from the start, the tools you can switch on, and a few habits for meeting in person.

## Built in from the start

Nothing to set up: these work for everyone, all the time.

- **Verified people meet verified people**: Members who pass a live selfie check, in a pose we choose, see and are seen only by each other. Anyone who skips it is labelled "unverified" and kept apart. Anyone who might be under 18 is checked by a person.
- **Messages are checked first**: Every message is checked for scams, threats and anything else that breaks the rules before it's delivered. If something looks wrong, it waits for a moderator, and only the sender sees it meanwhile.
- **She messages first**: When a woman and a man match, she sends the first message. If she doesn't within 24 hours, the match ends.
- **Your location stays fuzzy**: Other people only see a distance, like "within 10 km", never where you are. Your location is rounded to an area about 2 km across and encrypted before it's stored.
- **No contact details in member rooms**: Links, emails, social handles and phone numbers are blocked in member rooms and message requests, so nobody gets pulled away from Rifqa too soon. In a public chat room, its owner decides (Rifqa's own rooms keep them out).
- **No ads, nothing sold**: Your information is used to run Rifqa, never for advertising, and it's never sold.

## Tools you control

Switch these on in the app whenever you like, and off again.

- **Block and report**: Block anyone, any time. Reports go to our moderators with the evidence, and the person you report is never told who it was.
- **Safety check-in**: Going on a date? Set a time to check in. If you don't confirm you're safe, the contact you chose gets an email.
- **Bring a chaperone**: Invite someone you trust to see your matches, and your messages too if you allow it. They can never write to anyone, and you can remove them at any time.
- **Hide from people you know**: Hide your profile from people whose numbers you know. Only a scrambled code of each number leaves your phone, never the number itself.
- **Blur your photos**: Keep your photos blurred for anyone you haven't matched with, and even after a match until you choose to show them.
- **App lock and a discreet icon**: Lock Rifqa with your phone's face, fingerprint or passcode unlock, and add it to your home screen as "Notes" if you'd rather nobody knew.
- **Incognito mode**: Only the people you've liked can see you.

## Meeting in person

A few habits that make first dates safer, wherever you meet people.

- Meet somewhere public and busy, and make your own way there and back.
- Tell a friend where you're going and who you're meeting, or set a safety check-in.
- Keep chatting on Rifqa until you trust someone: there's no rush to share your number.
- A video call before meeting is a good way to check someone is who they say.
- Keep your drink with you, and stay in control of how you get home.
- If something feels off, leave. You never owe anyone your time.

## Spot a scam

Scammers are after money or personal details. Be careful if someone:

- asks for money, gifts, crypto or help with an "investment", for any reason;
- wants to move to another app straight away;
- won't show their face on a video call, or keeps finding reasons not to meet;
- sends a link, or asks for codes, passwords or documents;
- tells a sad story that ends with a request.

Report them in the app: it helps us remove them for everyone.

> **In an emergency**: Rifqa isn't an emergency service. If you're in danger, call your local emergency number first, then tell us in the app.

## For parents

Rifqa is only for adults. Nobody under 18 may use it, and an account whose owner might be under 18 is kept out of Rifqa until a person has checked.

- Every page of Rifqa carries the RTA (Restricted To Adults) label, which parental-control software and filters recognise and block.
- Every page is also marked as adult content for search engines, so they leave Rifqa out of results when SafeSearch is on.
- On a child's phone or tablet, turn on its parental controls (Screen Time on iPhone and iPad, Family Link on Android), or block rifqa.fun in your router or filter.
- The explicit 18+ areas also need a one-time age check, a live selfie that estimates age, on top of an adult's date of birth.

If you think a child is using Rifqa, email privacy@rifqa.fun: we'll look into it and keep the account out of Rifqa while we check.