for parents

the short version — what your kid is on, and why we built it this way.

What truelike actually is

truelike is a small daily thing your kid does with their friend group — usually 3 to 12 people they already know. Every day, one question drops to the whole circle ("best season to be alive?" "what's your coffee order?"). Everyone has about 90 seconds to answer on their own. Once everyone in the circle has answered, the answers reveal together. Then they can react and comment on each other's answers.

That's it. Not a feed. Not a chat app. Not a place to meet new people.

What we designed for, and against

Most social apps optimize for time spent. We didn't want to build that. Here's what we explicitly designed for:

🤝 closer friendships, not more friends

truelike has no follower count, no public profile, no friend suggestions, no "people you may know." The goal is to deepen the friendships your kid already has — not to introduce them to strangers.

⏱️ 90 seconds a day

One prompt. One short answer. Then they're done. There is no infinite scroll. There is no algorithmic feed. The app actively wants your kid to put their phone down once they've answered.

🔒 friends-only, by design

The only way into a circle is by invite code from someone already in it. There are no public profiles, no global discovery, no "for you" page, no DMs to people outside your circle. Strangers cannot find or message your kid.

😊 positive by default

We watched what went wrong with anonymous-polling apps like Gas and TBH. We do not have anonymous polls about people. All answers are attributed. Compliment-style superlatives only — no "rank your friends" mechanics. No public likes, no view counts on personal answers.

📝 we control the prompts

Users don't write prompts — we do. Every prompt in the bank is human-reviewed and approved before any kid sees it. The bank is hand-curated to be silly, warm, and age-appropriate.

What we don't do

No infinite scroll. There is no feed to lose hours to. Once the daily round is answered, there is nothing left to do in the app today.
No ads. We don't sell your kid's attention. The current app is free with no ads; the future Pro tier (if it ever ships) will be a subscription, not ad-supported.
No follower counts, no likes on profiles. No metric on your kid's profile that they can compare against their friends.
No DMs outside circles. If your kid wants to message someone, they need to be in a private circle together first — which requires an invite.
No public profiles. Your kid's name and any photos they answer with are only visible to members of their own circles. There is no profile page strangers can visit.
No location sharing. truelike does not track or share your kid's location.
No tracking pixels for advertising. We use minimal product analytics (PostHog) to understand whether features work; we don't sell or share that data.

Age and safety

truelike is for ages 13 and up. Signup enforces this with a birth-year gate; accounts under 13 are blocked at creation.

If something does go wrong — a member is mean, a photo is inappropriate, anyone is asking your kid for things that aren't OK — there is a "report" option on every answer, comment, and member. Reports go to a human reviewer.

We've written out our complete child-safety standards, including our zero-tolerance policy on CSAE and our reporting workflow. If you're vetting truelike for your kid, that page is the most thorough source.

What I'd ask my own kid

If you want to have a quick conversation with your child about using truelike, here are the questions we'd ask in your shoes:

talking points

Who's in your circle? Are they all people you know in real life?
How did you get invited — who sent you the code?
If someone you didn't know asked to join, what would you do?
If a friend posted something that made you uncomfortable, what would you do?
Have you ever used the "report" or "block" buttons?

If something's wrong

If you, as a parent or guardian, have a concern about truelike — a specific safety issue, a question about data, anything — please reach out. We're a small team and you'll get a human reply.

parent concerns

hello@truelike.com — general parent questions
safety@truelike.com — child-safety reports
privacy@truelike.com — data access / deletion requests

About us

truelike is built by a tiny team. The brand and product decisions are made in consultation with an actual member of the target demographic — a 14-year-old — so the choices reflect what teens actually want, not what adults guess they want. We are not a venture-backed engagement-optimization machine; the constraints we built in (90 seconds, no feed, no strangers, no ads) are deliberate trade-offs that limit how big this can ever get, and that's the point.