Verification without outing you
Nearby only stays men-free if someone checks that a real person is behind every profile. This page explains how we do that without putting you on camera for anyone but us, and exactly what happens to what you send.
What you send
The check is one selfie and a short video clip, taken on your own phone. There is no video call with anyone. Do it somewhere you will not be walked in on. A closed door and decent light are enough.
What other members see
Only what you choose to publish: your dating photos, your bio and a verified badge. They never see your verification selfie or clip. If you give us a phone number, it is never shown on your profile.
What the check proves
The check confirms a real person who matches their private verification face. It does not try to guess gender from a face. It is not an ID check. Government ID is never required. It does not prove your legal name, address or anything else about you.
A person on our team reviews your first check. You see the result in the app, with a notification if you have them turned on. Later re-checks can finish on their own when they clearly match the face from your first check.
Short hair, wigs, makeup and HRT
All welcome. Nobody is turned down for how they present. If a re-check fails after a big change in how you look, retry in good light or leave it for a person to review. Men posing as women are caught by the check itself, by reports and by bans, not by a machine judging faces.
What we delete and what we keep
The selfie and clip from each attempt are deleted once the check is decided. We keep one private verification face so later re-checks have something to match against. It never appears on your profile and no other member ever sees it.
Government ID is optional and never needed to use Bind. If you choose to add it, the images stay private, are never shown to members, and you can delete them yourself from your profile. Retention periods are in the privacy policy.
If you need to stay discreet
- Do the check when you have a private room and a few minutes.
- Leave your face out of your public photos if you want to.
- Install Bind with a discreet home-screen icon if people look at your phone.
- Share less on your profile until you trust someone.
- If your city is not open yet, verify now so you can browse the day it opens.