Dating without photos.
Read people in their own words, match on what you actually care about - and reveal photos only after you've both decided you want to.
Free to like, chat, send voice notes and reveal. No ads, ever.
That's a whole person, and not one pixel of face. This is what you'd be deciding on.
You open a dating app, judge two hundred faces in four minutes, match with someone who photographs well, and have the same dead conversation you had last week. Photos aren't the problem because people are shallow. Photos are the problem because they're first - they answer the question before you've asked a better one.
Anyone can find a flattering angle. Almost nobody can fake being interesting for two paragraphs.
Our score is built from what you actually care about - right down to the sub-interests - and it tells you why.
Once you match, talk properly and you both choose to. Then, and only then, you see each other.
A few apps now blur the face and un-blur it as you chat. It sounds like the same idea. It's the opposite of it.
A blur is a photo you uploaded, sitting on a server, waiting. Blurring is something done to a copy - the original is still there to be leaked, subpoenaed, or quietly un-blurred. We never ask for it. There is nothing to leak.
A pixelated one, which is arguably worse - now they're squinting at a silhouette and guessing. The question is still "what do they look like?" We'd rather you were asked a better one.
Some unlock the face at a message count - one of them at fifteen hundred. That isn't anticipation, it's a slot machine with a person in it. Here, reveal is two people agreeing. It can happen on day one or never.
The honest version: "no photos" isn't a trick nobody thought of. Several apps are circling this idea right now, and one launches this year. The difference isn't the concept - it's whether you keep the photo, whether you gamify the reveal, and whether you'll publish a number that can embarrass you. We answer no, no, and yes.
It's all that shows on your card. Make it specific - it earns the tap that reveals the rest of you: your story, your prompts, your voice.
Every card is a person in their own words, with a match score that explains itself: shared interests, shared depth, and whether your intentions actually line up.
Not a blank swipe - like one specific sentence and say why. Your opener arrives with the like. Nobody has to write "hey".
Photos unlock only after you match, have a real conversation, and both tap reveal. Prefer voice? Swap voice notes first - also by mutual consent.
Not a mystery number. It names what you share and flags where you differ.
Thirty seconds, recorded wherever you actually are. No video, no face.
Suggested first lines built from their prompts, their goal, your overlap.
Photos and voice notes both need two yeses. Nothing leaks by accident.
A liveness check confirms a human - without ever publishing a face.
Read profiles in your own language, or leave them exactly as written.
Links are blocked in chat. It's how scams and malware travel.
Install it from the browser on any phone or desktop. No store required.
Send a profile to someone whose judgement you trust - with the other person's consent, and never their private answers.
Swipe on what someone wrote, on how they sound, or on an event you are both going to. Same people, three different first impressions.
Invite each other to bring someone along. Lower pressure, and safer for both of you than meeting a stranger alone.
Even after the reveal, sending a picture needs a fresh yes from both of you. Images only, never video, and either of you can stop it again.
No photos means no catfishing with someone else's face - but it also means text is the whole attack surface. So we treat it that way.
An optional liveness check proves there's a real person behind the words. We store a non-reversible signature, never a photo, and delete the video immediately.
You cannot send a link in chat. Not shortened, not disguised. It removes the single most common malware and scam route in dating apps.
Type an email, a phone number or "let's move to WhatsApp" and we'll stop and ask. Moving off-app early is exactly what scammers push for.
Block specific emails or numbers - or your whole address book - so people you know never see you here.
Reporting is one tap with a clear reason, and blocking is immediate and permanent.
Export everything as a file whenever you like, and delete your account for good. Two-factor sign-in is free.
"A typical dating app" below means the pattern shared by the big photo-first apps. We're not going to put words in a named competitor's mouth - their features change monthly and their prices change by the person. Where we're no better, the row says so.
| Without | A typical dating app | |
|---|---|---|
| What you judge first | A sentence they wrote | A photo, in about half a second |
| Photos | None until you both say yes - there's nothing stored to leak | Up front, permanent, and on their servers forever |
| Why you matched | Named in plain language - what you share, and where you don't | A number with no reasoning, or nothing at all |
| Sending a message | Free. Always. | Free - but the reply, the like-back, or the queue is often the upsell |
| Seeing who likes you | Premium | Premium same |
| Daily likes | Unlimited, free | Capped free, then a timer or a paywall |
| What it costs | From €10.99/mo on 3 months - our longest plan. One price. Everyone. | Roughly US$16-40/mo - but see the footnote, because that's not a real answer1 |
| Does the price depend on you? | No. Same number for a 22-year-old and a 52-year-old | Yes - age, location and how much they think you want it1 |
| Ads | None, ever | Increasingly, yes |
| Links in chat | Blocked at the database - the scam route is simply closed | Allowed. It's the main way scams and malware arrive |
| Ask a friend's opinion | Built in - share a profile to a guest, with their consent | Screenshot it and text it, without anyone's consent |
| Deleting your data | A button. Export too | Usually a form, and a wait |
| A published number they can fail | Yes - 48h reply rate, and we slow growth if it drops | Total signups. A number that can only go up |
1 We can't give you a straight competitor price, and that's the point. The major apps use dynamic pricing: published tiers move with your age, your location and your behaviour, and reporting on the same tier in the same month ranges from about $16 to $40. One tier has been documented swinging roughly $20-$35 for the same person. Treat every number in that column as a range, including ours-versus-theirs.
One price. No ads. Nothing important behind the paywall.
Sign up - freeEvery dating app brags about how many people joined. It's the wrong number. A bigger crowd doesn't help you if nobody writes back - it just means more silence, arriving faster.
What share of new members get a real reply within 48 hours. Not downloads. Not swipes. Not "engagement". Did a human actually write back?
If that number falls, we slow growth down until it recovers. At that point more signups would only make it worse - so we open one city at a time and let the rest wait.
It's also why writing a profile here takes a few minutes instead of ten seconds. Effort at the door is exactly what keeps replies on the other side of it. We could make joining faster. It would make Without worse.
Blank-page fear is where most matches quietly die. So when it's time to reach out, our assistant drafts a genuinely personal opener - built from what they actually wrote, the line you liked, and what the two of you share. Not "hey", not a canned pickup line. A real sentence you can send as-is or make your own.
You're always the one who hits send, and you can edit every word. It's there to get you past the hesitation - because a reply can't happen until someone says the first thing.
Nothing here is behind a paywall.
Start reading - freeEvery dating site has this section. A wall of smiling strangers, first name and last initial, married in 2025! You've scrolled past a hundred of them and believed none.
We haven't launched, so we don't have couples yet. When we do, they'll be real people who agreed to be quoted, with a city and a date you could check. Until then this space stays empty.
An empty box is worth more than a stock photo. If we'd fill this with invented quotes, you'd be right to wonder what else we'd invent - the match score, the reply rate, the bit about never selling your data.
We're not going to charge you to send a message. Everything that makes this work - reading, liking, chatting, voice notes, revealing - is free and stays free. Premium only makes you faster.
Prices are shown in your local currency, set per country - not converted at a daily rate. Cancel any time. No ads and no selling your data - that's not a promotion, it's the business model.
Most dating apps earn more the longer you stay single - every incentive points toward keeping you swiping, not toward getting you off the app. We didn't want to build a Netflix for dating, where the goal is a subscription that never ends. So three months is the most you can buy at once: enough focused time to meet someone worth deleting the app for.
Not in effect during the closed test. The clock needs a server to be honest about, so it starts when accounts do - not before.
None of this is a promise that three months finds you someone - no honest service could promise that. What we can promise is the part above the line: we will not quietly bill you forever while you wait. The full reasoning is on the mission page.
Not everyone has money to spend on this, and we would rather not lose those people. Write to hello@without.photos, tell us your situation in your own words, and we will give you three months of Premium at no charge. It is decided case by case, by a person. There is no form and we will not ask you to prove anything.
You do - just not first. Once you've matched and had a genuine back-and-forth, either of you can offer to reveal. When you both agree, photos appear. Nothing is shown without two yeses.
Yes - a handful blur the face and un-blur it as you chat, and at least one launches this year. We'd rather tell you that than pretend we invented the idea. The differences are real though: they still take your photo and store it, we never ask for one; some unlock the reveal at a message count, we make it a mutual decision you can take on day one or never; and none of them publish a number that could embarrass them. The longer answer is here.
Only if you let them, and only a reduced version. A friend asked for advice sees your words - name, age, city, goal, prompts, interests, what you're looking for. They never see your orientation, faith, politics, intimacy answers, lifestyle answers or your voice; those aren't sent by our database at all, so no bug in the app can reveal them. Links die after 7 days, you can switch sharing off entirely in Settings - which also kills links already sent - and you can see how many times you were asked about. Why allow it at all? Because people already screenshot profiles and text them to friends, on every app, with no consent and no expiry. We'd rather it were consensual and revocable than pretend it isn't happening.
Better than a photo-first app, by construction - profiles are real text, so a screen reader reads them properly, and the whole product works without a single image ever being shown. Two honest gaps: voice intros have no transcript yet, and the optional verification check needs sight and movement. Both are written up plainly on our accessibility page.
It's for people who are tired of being decided on in half a second - and who'd rather do the deciding on something more interesting. Plenty of very photogenic people are exhausted by photo-first dating too.
You pick what you care about, from broad topics down to specific sub-interests. We compare that with theirs, weigh how much of their world you share, factor in your dating intentions, and then explain the number in plain language. No black box.
An optional liveness check verifies a real person is behind the profile, without ever publishing their face. Links are blocked in chat, messages are moderated, and reporting takes one tap.
Yes. Liking, chatting, voice notes and photo reveal are free and always will be. Premium adds speed and reach - never the ability to have a conversation.
No. It runs in your browser and installs to your home screen in a tap, on any phone or computer.
Without is in a closed test. Leave your email and we will tell you when it opens - one message, and only if you ask for it.
Want in now rather than later? Ask for an invite code.