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Create your account, set up your profile, and start discovering people nearby.
6 articlesEdit your profile, manage photos, preferences, and personalization options.
6 articlesAge verification, selfie checks, ID documents, and verification status.
6 articlesGrid and Swipe discovery, likes, matches, visitors, and profile visibility.
6 articlesChat features, reactions, private photo albums, and album sharing.
7 articlesLGBTQ+ venues, creating meetups, map discovery, and safety tips.
7 articlesProfile Boosts, duration options, pricing, and Boost analytics.
5 articlesAppear in other cities, browse remotely, and messaging limits.
5 articlesFree, Plus, and Premium plans, billing, cancellations, and refunds.
6 articlesBlocking, reporting, Stealth Mode, location privacy, and guidelines.
8 articlesLogin problems, notifications, performance, and troubleshooting.
6 articlesSubmit a request for safety concerns, bugs, account help, or payments.
Contact formEverything you need to create your account and start using Flare.
Flare is a social discovery and dating platform designed to help people connect with those nearby, discover LGBTQ+ friendly venues, and create community meetups.
Flare is built with LGBTQ+ communities in mind but is open and inclusive to everyone, including straight users. Our goal is to create a safe, welcoming space for genuine connections.
Flare is available to anyone aged 18 or older. The platform is designed with LGBTQ+ communities in mind, but all sexual orientations and gender identities are welcome.
Age verification is required during signup to ensure the safety of all users.
To create a Flare account:
After creating your account, you can set up your profile by adding:
A complete profile gets significantly more engagement than an empty one.
The onboarding flow includes several steps:
All steps must be completed before you can access the main app.
Tips for a great Flare profile:
Manage your profile, photos, preferences, and personalization.
Go to Profile → Edit Profile to update your name, bio, photos, interests, and all other profile details. Changes save automatically.
In Edit Profile, tap the photo grid to add, rearrange, or remove photos. You can upload up to 6 photos. Your first photo is your main profile image visible in the discovery grid.
Your profile includes your name, age, bio, photos, interests, intentions, and optional details like height, ethnicity, and relationship status. Only information you choose to fill in will be visible to others.
Update your interests, intentions, and discovery preferences in Edit Profile. These help other users find you and help Flare show you relevant profiles.
You can link your Instagram, X (Twitter), Snapchat, TikTok, and Spotify accounts to your Flare profile. These appear as buttons on your profile for others to connect with you outside Flare.
Premium Premium users can customize their app theme colour, app icon, and profile accent colour. Go to Premium → Personalise to access these options.
How Flare verifies your age and identity to keep the community safe.
Flare is an adults-only platform (18+). Age verification helps protect minors and ensures all users meet the minimum age requirement. This is a mandatory step during signup.
Flare uses an AI-powered camera scan to estimate your age. The process runs entirely on your device — no photo is stored or sent to any server.
If the selfie scan estimates your age is between 18 and 24, Flare will ask you to upload a government-issued ID to confirm your age. This is to ensure community safety for users close to the minimum age threshold.
Flare accepts the following documents:
Documents must be in JPEG, PNG, or PDF format, maximum 10MB. Your document is encrypted at rest and deleted after review.
Common issues:
If problems persist, contact support using the form below.
How to find and connect with people on Flare.
The Grid shows nearby profiles in a 3-column layout, sorted by distance. Tap a profile to view it, or long-press for quick actions like messaging or viewing. You can filter by age, distance, online status, and more.
Free users can view a set number of nearby profiles. Additional profiles are available with Plus or Premium subscriptions which provide unlimited discovery.
Profiles with a small crown icon indicate they are beyond your current discovery limit. Upgrade to Plus or Premium to unlock unlimited profile browsing.
Swipe right to like a profile, or left to pass. If both users swipe right on each other, it's a match and you can start chatting immediately.
When you like someone, they receive a notification. Free users can see 1 like — the rest are hidden. Plus and Premium users can see all likes and visitors.
When two users like each other, it becomes a match and chat is unlocked.
The Visitors section in your Activity tab shows who has viewed your profile. Free users see 1 visitor — upgrade to Plus or Premium to see the full list.
Chat features, reactions, and private photo sharing.
You can message anyone nearby for free. Messages are delivered in real time with read receipts. Messaging users in other cities requires a rewarded ad or a Premium subscription.
Tap any profile and select Message or Send request. You can send text messages, photos, and emojis. Messages appear in your Chat tab.
Premium Premium users can edit messages to fix typos and delete messages for everyone. Long-press a message to access these options.
Premium React to messages with emojis by long-pressing any message. This feature is available to Premium subscribers.
Private albums let you share photos that are only visible to people you choose. You control who can see your album and can revoke access at any time.
Only share your private album with people you trust. Album permissions can be set to Everyone, Matches only, or Only me in Privacy Settings.
You receive a notification when someone views your shared private album. This helps you stay informed about who is accessing your private content.
Discover venues, create meetups, and stay safe.
The Flare Map shows LGBTQ+ friendly venues, bars, and clubs near you, along with user-created meetups. It's an interactive way to discover what's happening in your area.
Flare uses a multi-phase classification system to identify genuinely LGBTQ+ venues. Venues are verified through name matching, review analysis, and website content. Only confirmed LGBTQ+ venues appear on the map.
Tap the + button on the Map tab to create a meetup. Add a name, description, location, and tags. Free users can create 1 meetup per day; Plus and Premium users get unlimited meetups.
Note: Meetups are user-generated. Flare does not organize or verify events.
As the host, you can edit your meetup details or end it early from the meetup detail screen. Once ended, the meetup is removed from the map.
Meetups automatically expire after a set duration. The host sets the end time when creating the meetup. Expired meetups are removed from the map.
If a meetup seems unsafe or violates community guidelines, tap the Report button on the meetup card. Our moderation team reviews all reports.
Always meet in public places, tell someone where you're going, trust your instincts, and don't share personal information too early. Visit our Safety Center in the app for more tips.
Get seen by more people with profile Boosts.
Boost temporarily increases your profile's visibility in discovery. While active, your profile appears more frequently in the Grid and in the 🔥 Boosted Profiles section.
When your Boost is active, your profile appears higher in the discovery feed and in a special horizontal "Boosted Profiles" section visible to nearby users. Premium users receive a slight ranking advantage over other boosted profiles.
Purchase Boosts in packs: 1 for £1.99, 3 for £4.99, or 10 for £12.99.
Boosted profiles appear in a dedicated 🔥 Boosted Profiles horizontal scroll section in the Grid, positioned after several rows of nearby profiles. Each boosted card displays a ⚡ Boosted badge.
When your Boost ends, Flare shows a summary of your Boost performance including:
This helps you understand the impact of your Boost and decide when to boost again.
Connect with people in other cities before you arrive.
Premium Travel Mode lets you set a destination city so your profile appears there with a ✈ Traveling or ✈ Arriving soon badge. Locals in that city can see you and start chatting before you arrive.
Go to Privacy & Safety → Travel Mode and toggle it on. Select your destination city from the list. You can switch between "Traveling" and "Arriving soon" badges.
Passport Pass lets you browse profiles in any city worldwide using the Grid location picker. All users can preview profiles in other cities for free.
Free users can browse profiles in other cities but cannot message them directly. Options to message include:
Plans, pricing, billing, and account management.
Flare offers three plans:
See the full comparison table in the app at Profile → Premium → Plans. Key differences:
Manage your subscription from Profile → Premium. You can upgrade, downgrade, or view your current plan status at any time.
You can cancel your subscription at any time. Your premium features will remain active until the end of your current billing period. No further charges will be made after cancellation.
Refund eligibility depends on your platform (App Store, Google Play, or web). Generally, refunds may be available within 14 days if you haven't used premium features. Contact support for assistance.
Premium (£8/month) is the complete Flare experience. It includes everything in Plus, plus Stealth Mode, Incognito browsing, Passport Pass, Travel Mode, read receipts, message editing/reactions, ad-free browsing, priority placement, and profile personalisation.
Tools and guidelines to keep you safe on Flare.
To block a user, visit their profile and tap Block. Blocked users cannot see your profile, message you, or interact with you in any way. Manage blocked users in Privacy Settings → Blocked Users.
Tap the Report button on any profile or message. Select a reason and submit. Our moderation team reviews all reports and takes action within 24 hours. Reports are confidential.
Flare prohibits harassment, hate speech, explicit content in public profiles, spam, underage users, and any illegal activity. Violations result in warnings, restrictions, or permanent bans including device bans.
Flare never shows your exact location. Other users only see approximate distance (e.g. "350 m away"). You can toggle distance visibility in Privacy Settings.
Go to Profile → Notifications to control which notifications you receive: messages, likes, visitors, albums, meetups, and marketing notifications.
Premium Stealth Mode hides your profile from the Grid, Swipe, Map, and search. You can still browse and chat — but nobody can discover you. Enable it in Privacy Settings → Safety Center.
Premium Incognito browsing lets you view profiles without appearing in their Visitors list. The other person won't know you viewed their profile.
Troubleshooting common problems and contacting support.
If you can't log in, try: resetting your password, clearing your browser cache, checking your internet connection, or signing in with a different method (email, Google, Apple). If the issue persists, contact support.
Ensure your document is in JPEG, PNG, or PDF format and under 10MB. Try refreshing the page or signing out and back in. If you see "Not authenticated", sign out completely and sign in again before uploading.
Check your notification settings in Profile → Notifications. Ensure notifications are enabled in your browser or device settings. Push notifications will be available in the mobile app version.
If Flare is running slowly, try clearing your browser cache, disabling browser extensions, ensuring you have a stable internet connection, or using the latest version of Chrome, Safari, or Firefox.
Flare is a web app that updates automatically. Simply refresh the page to get the latest version. When native iOS and Android apps launch, updates will be available through the App Store and Google Play.
Use the Contact Support form below, or email us directly. We typically respond within 24 hours.