Sealed age groups
13 to 15, 16 to 17, 18 to 22. You are only ever matched inside your own group. An adult never reaches a child on YAP, because there is no path for one to take.
text only, no photos, no video
Someone your age is talking about that too.
YAP puts one person in your own age group in front of you, anywhere in the world. You talk in words. Nobody sees your face. Guard reads every message before it lands.
YAP is being built in the open and is not open yet. Take a place in line and we email you once, the day it opens.
the way in
Tap a topic. Talk to one person who picked it too.
30 topics, and every one of them is a door. No profiles to scroll through, no search, no hall of 4,000 people. One topic, then one person your own age, or a room of 4 to 8 if a blank chat feels like too much.
- music
- football
- anime
- faith
- exams
- family
- heartbreak
- coding
- food
- languages
- home
- films
- books
- drawing
- maths
- cricket
- K-pop
- gaming
- cooking
- cats
- running
- chess
- poetry
- science
- revision
- sleep
- basketball
- guitar
- moving country
- being new
why this does not exist yet
Everywhere a 14-year-old could go is broken the same way.
Not because nobody tried. Because they let adults and children into the same room, then tried to police it afterwards.
- OmeglePut children into private video calls with adults. Shut down in 2023 after a lawsuit from an abuse survivor.
- WizzPulled from the app stores once it had become a sextortion pipeline.
- YuboThe biggest teen app in the world gave up on under-18s and now checks ID.
- DiscordA hall of 4,000 people. You say something and nobody answers you.
- InstagramYou are ranked on your face, by people who already know you.
The safe option is a class project a teacher sets. It does nothing for a Tuesday night.
how YAP is built
Three things, and not one of them is a promise.
Each one is in the shape of the thing, not in a policy document. That is deliberate, so it cannot be traded away later for growth.
No photo of anyone
There is no upload of any kind on YAP. Nobody is ranked on their face, and there is no picture of a child here to screenshot, trade or threaten someone with.
Guard reads first
Guard reads every message before it is delivered. Contact fishing, sexual content, threats and slurs stop there, rather than being reported after the harm.
Also absent, on purpose: video calls, voice calls, location, photo uploads, passwords, ads, streaks, and anything at all for sale to a young person.
who you are here
A drawn face, a first name, and one line about you.
Your avatar comes from a drawn set, wide enough that anybody can find themselves in it. Your line is the sentence or two you write about yourself, offered after your first conversation.
That is the entire profile. There is nothing here to score, and nothing to measure yourself against.
Two ways to talk.
a yap
One conversation with one person, on a topic you both chose. For when there is nobody, this is the whole point of YAP.
a room
4 to 8 people on one topic. Far easier than a blank private chat if you are shy, and safer because everyone can read it.
And a keep. If a yap went well, you both agree to keep each other, and tomorrow you can find them again. Both sides have to say yes, and a no is never reported back.
the moment YAP exists for
Somebody answers, from a place you have never been.
Not a notification. A real person your own age, who picked the same topic, writing back in their own words.
Amara 14, Manila
that song is huge here too, everyone plays it on the jeepney
That is 8,140 km from you.
first in line
Take a place, and we tell you the day YAP opens.
One email, from us, once. Then you pick your topics and start talking. Nothing is paid by a young person on YAP, ever.
- Your year of birth picks your age group, and it is sealed.
- No photo of you will exist on YAP, because there is nowhere to put one.
- Guard reads every message before it is delivered.
- You can leave and have everything deleted, in one tap.
for schools and universities
A Class YAP is $79 for the school year.
Your class gets a closed space and real conversation with peers abroad in their own age group. You enrol the roster yourself. You can read every message your students send and receive.
Inside it you can form a group of 4 to 8 for a project. You name it, and the brief is the first message. Half the group can be your students and half a partner class in another country.
Class YAP goes on sale when YAP opens, and nothing is charged today. You can reserve one for your class now.
What a school gets, in full- Up to 35 students, one school year, one payment of $79.
- Groups of 4 to 8 for a project, included, not sold separately.
- A group is always inside one age group. A university group is 18 to 22.
- Nobody joins by knowing a password. You add students from your roster, then lock it.
- No photos, no video, no voice and no uploads, on either side.
- Guard reads every message before it is delivered.
- A full readable transcript of every group and class space, searchable.
- Students are told that their teacher can read the class space.
- An enrolled student is real age assurance, which a self-declared birthday is not.
Somebody you know has nobody to talk to tonight.
Put this address in front of them. They can take a place in line tonight, and talking on YAP is free for every young person, with no ads.