FAQ

Yubo is used as a live social discovery app that makes it easy for Gen Z to expand their social circles online with new friends from around the world. While social media platforms have historically focused on enabling users to strengthen existing relationships by staying connected to people in their network, Yubo is focused on helping its users expand their social circles through new friendships with people they would otherwise not cross paths with.

On Yubo, users connect to one another in real-time, while they are active on the platform, giving them the opportunity to interact immediately. By eliminating approval metrics, such as likes and follows, Yubo aims to help its users express themselves authentically and make genuine friendships. 

Yubo works by connecting users with one another in real time through Yubo’s in-app livestream and swipe features. Users can chat, play games, hang out and make new friends based on shared interests. Yubo is all about live interaction, meaning that users can immediately interact with each other and avoid the waiting time for message replies or new posts typically found with traditional messaging platforms. 

The “social discovery” aspect of Yubo provides users with diversity and novelty in their daily lives through friendships with people from different countries, backgrounds, and cultures. Users can also add “tags” to their profile, identifying their interests – such as movies, music, or fashion – and allowing them to search for friends based on those interests.

To talk on Yubo, users have multiple options for starting a conversation: start or join a livestream, or swipe to add someone as a friend and start a chat. 

Yubo users can join an existing livestream at any time and interact in the comments or request to be a streamer. Users can also start their own livestream. Livestreams take some of the awkwardness of forming new friendships out of the equation by offering icebreakers like games and live hangouts, making socializing easy. Yubo also offers a swipe feature to help users find and connect with new friends. Once both users swipe yes, they can begin exchanging messages via chat. 

No, Yubo is not connected to Snapchat. However, Yubo has integrated Snap's Camera Kit tool to provide users with various lenses they can use during livestreams on the app.  

There are currently about 40 lenses available on Yubo for Yubo users across the world, although the number of mobile lenses changes regularly as new lenses are introduced. Yubo users can access all of these lenses, such as the mythical BigMouth or Alien, to personalize their livestreams and add variety and excitement. They also can be used to show support for different causes or communities on the app. For example, for Pride Month, Yubo made a unique custom lens to celebrate the LGTBQIA+ community. 

No, Yubo does not cost money. The top priority of Yubo is to provide its community with the opportunity to socialize and interact with others. The main features of the app are free for all of Yubo’s users. 

Yubo uses a freemium business model that allows users to use the main functionality of the app for free, but that gives users the option to purchase in-app paid features designed to enhance their experience while socializing on Yubo. 

Users can pay for YuBucks, Yubo’s in-app currency, to access paid features such as Boosts, which increase the visibility of livestreams for users who want to meet new friends. They can also purchase Power and Elite Packs, Yubo’s two combo pack offerings, that include a suite of features such as the ability to see which users have viewed your profile among other premium and exclusive features.

Yes! Of course, people still use Yubo every day all around the world. There is no doubt about that. With 60 million users spanning over 140 countries, Yubo brings together Gen Z of diverse backgrounds, cultures, and languages, offering a broader worldview to each user, no matter where they are.

With the goal of making Yubo safe for teenagers and all users across its platform, Yubo puts safety at the core of every decision made for the platform and has come to be recognized by experts as an industry leader in online safety innovation. Yubo is focused on constantly introducing new features and technology to strengthen the platform’s safety framework and create as safe an environment as possible for users.

If you’d like more detailed information about safety on Yubo, visit our Safety Hub and check out our ‘Staying Safe on Yubo’ guides for young people and for adults (parents, carers, and educators).

With the goal of making Yubo safe for teenagers and all users across its platform, the Yubo team has put many safeguards in place to help protect them. This includes the use of both AI algorithms and human moderators that work 24/7 to monitor activity on the platform, 100% user age verification, real-time intervention in live streams and much more. The minimum age on Yubo is 13, and age gates are used to separate Yubo users into different communities to limit interaction between teens and adults – a unique feature among social media platforms today.

As one of the fastest-growing platforms for young people to expand their social circles online, Yubo has a special responsibility to its users. Yubo is committed to protecting, supporting, and educating millions of teens in our worldwide community, so safety is at the center of everything it does. Yubo’s comprehensive Safety Hub includes information about:

• Yubo’s approach to safety (Yubo’s safety team, Safety Board, and partnerships)
• Advice on staying safe online – how to deal with key concerns, such as bullying and unwanted contact from strangers
• An overview of Yubo’s safety tools, which include a reporting feature, real-time alerts, and Muted Words

In order to stay safe on Yubo, the app has many safety features in place to help protect its users across the platform. As a social platform for Gen Z, Yubo puts safety at the core of every decision and is dedicated to providing young people with a space where they can be young and express themselves in as safe an environment as possible. 

Yubo is constantly evolving and upgrading its practices and systems to maintain robust safety measures, which include 100% age verification, real-time audio and video moderation and intervention in livestreams, advanced user reporting, and a combination of AI and human specialists who monitor the app 24/7.

Yubo also has tools in place that allow our users to block those who they don’t want to see or interact with on Yubo, mute any word, abbreviation or emoji that they find personally offensive or triggering, hide their location, and file reports on inappropriate behavior.

What parents should know about Yubo is that Yubo, regarded by experts as a leader in online safety, is a live social discovery app that makes it easy for Gen Z to expand their social circles online with new friends from around the world as safely as possible. Young people love Yubo because it gives them an authentic and engaging way to communicate, connect and make genuine friendships without the pressures of likes and follower counts. 

Yubo reassures parents and caretakers that safety isn’t just a box for the company to tick. As Anne Collier, Founder of Netfamilynews.org and a member of the Yubo Safety Board, says, “Every family has its own way of handling digital safety… it’s just good to know that Yubo has put so many technical safeguards in place and takes a consciously educational approach to keep its millions of young users safe.” For example:

• Yubo provides a number of industry-leading online safety features on the app, including age gates, strict Community Guidelines, many advanced technical tools, and a 24/7 team of safety experts
• Yubo’s independent Safety Board and partnerships with governments, NGOs, charities, and other organizations help improve digital safety and protect users’ wellbeing

The Yubo community is extremely inclusive and Yubo has zero tolerance for online hate. 35 genders and 50 pronouns are available in multiple languages for use in profiles and Yubo has worked with organizations such as Switchboard LGBT+ Helpline and The Trevor Project to run in-app campaigns.

You can find out more about our commitment to user safety in the Safety Hub and in the ‘Staying safe on Yubo’ guide for parents, carers, and educators. You can also find out in this TechCrunch article how Yubo is the first major social media to have verified the age of 100% of its community – helping to ensure that the people chatting with your child are really the age they say they are and are of a similar age.

While parents worrying about teens on social media is only natural, Yubo is committed to protecting, supporting, and educating teenagers within the Yubo community as much as possible. Yubo also provides guidance to parents, caretakers and educators to help them taking an active role in teenagers' learning about potential social media risks and what to do in response. 

If you have specific concerns about your child’s safety on Yubo or other social platforms, please visit Yubo’s Safety Hub. There, you’ll find advice on how to deal with a broad range of issues, including bullying, peer pressure, and sexual exploitation.

To support teenagers in the online community, Yubo offers industry-leading safety tools, including age verification, block, and report features, and real-time alerts and moderation.

The risks of using Yubo are similar to the risks that someone might experience in real life or generally across social media and the internet. These risks could include bullying, hate speech, inappropriate content, scams, or sexual exploitation. It’s important to be aware of these risks and that you understand how to deal with them on websites and apps like Yubo, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat among many others. 

Yubo remains committed to protecting, supporting, and educating its users by providing an extensive range of innovative technical tools (e.g. Age Verification, Muted Words, and real-time alerts) and 24/7 human Safety Specialists. Yubo also works with organizations that focus on bullying, LGBTQIA+ issues, mental health, and sexual exploitation.

There are a number of industry-leading safety measures put in place by the Yubo team on the app. These include, but are not limited to:

• A minimum age of 13 to use Yubo and age gates that separate users into communities based on age to limit interaction between teens and adults. 
• Comprehensive age verification system created in partnership with the digital identity provider Yoti to help ensure that users are the age they say before they can access the app. 
• Real-time audio and video moderation for livestreams.
• Profile photo checks using facial recognition technology and using Google image search to minimize fake accounts.
• Disabled location for all users under age 18. These users do not have the possibility to activate their location in their settings manually.
• Proactive intervention by 24/7 safety specialists and advanced AI algorithms that monitor activity in livestreams and send real-time alerts if there is a violation of Yubo’s Community Guidelines.
• Pop-up alerts for users to help them reconsider sharing personal information in private chat (e.g. if they type their address or phone number).
• Yubo’s Muted Words feature, which allows users to block words, abbreviations, and emojis that they find offensive, harmful, or personally triggering.
• Advanced reporting capabilities for users that allows them to add up to 4 pieces of evidence (screenshots or video records) to their report to provide Safety Specialists with useful context. 

These are just some of the ways we protect, support, and educate teenagers in the Yubo app. As Travis Bright, Product Director at Thorn and a member of the Yubo Safety Board, says, “Protecting young people in their digital spaces requires innovative technology solutions and dedicated human moderators. Yubo is leading the way in both areas.”

Parents, caretakers, and educators can protect their children online by having regular conversations about what they do in their digital spaces and educating them on online safety. Parents know their children best, so just like other aspects of their lives, it is important to have these open discussions to let them know that they have support. A few questions you can begin by asking include:

• What are your favorite apps/platforms and why do you like them? 
• Do you ever worry about anything that happens online or in an app?
• Where would you go for help if something goes wrong?
• Do you know how to identify risky or harmful online behaviors or interactions? 

Yubo is also here to help protect its young users by providing industry-leading online safety features, 24/7 safety experts, and many other safeguards to help make their time on Yubo as positive as possible.

You can find more information in Yubo’s ‘Staying safe on Yubo’ guide for parents, carers, and educators, and Safety Hub. If you’re a parent or carer and would like to report any inappropriate behavior or content on the Yubo platform, go to the Help Center and select ‘Contact Us’.

No, Yubo is not a dating app. Yubo is an app to help Gen Z expand their social circles online with new friends all around the world. Yubo’s live social discovery format is designed to aid the formation of new friendships with people from different countries, backgrounds, and cultures, and is not designed for dating. 

For example, Yubo is not built to help its users interact with others based on their exact location or for in-person meeting or interactions. In fact, most users are connecting from different parts of their country or from across the globe and location is actually disabled by default for all users under the age of 18.

Yubo is instead a social media platform where young people are empowered to show up as their true selves and connect as authentically as they would offline, without the pressure of likes, shares, and follows.

No, Yubo is not Teenage Tinder. None of its algorithms were developed to encourage dating. Yubo is a live social discovery platform, with a mission to make it easy for Gen Z to expand their online social circle with new friends from all over the world.

Unlike other platforms, Yubo does not encourage its users to meet in real life: for example, profiles are not presented by geolocation, but by language. While Yubo does have a swipe feature on the app, the swipe has become widely used across many apps of all categories. Today, you can use it to find a job, travel, or even adopt a puppy. With Gen Z having mastered the swipe, Yubo has integrated it as a simple and familiar way for users to show their mutual agreement to join a discussion or a group of people.

No, Yubo is not a dating app for kids. Yubo is a live social discovery app that connects its 60 million users to one another in real time while they are active on the platform, giving them the opportunity to interact immediately with others. 

Yubo has very clear Community Guidelines and does not allow kids on the app. All of Yubo’s users must be at least 13 years old to register. To ensure this is the case, Yubo has recently implemented comprehensive age verification for all users on the platform.

• Age Verification: Upon registering for Yubo, every user is prompted to take a real-time photo of themselves within the app. An age estimation technology will then estimate the users’ ages and confirm whether it matches the age provided at sign-up. It lets users feel confident that they are interacting with people who are the age they say they are. It also simplifies age verification for users who don’t have a valid form of identification, which is most commonly true for users who are 16 and under.

Yubo is not built for dating to happen on the platform. It is important to note that Yubo is not a dating app and none of its algorithms were developed to meet this need – it’s a live social discovery platform whose mission is to make it easy for Gen Z to expand their social circles online and make new friends through shared interests. It’s about creating authentic friendships without the pressures of likes, shares, and follows.  

To limit contact in the real world, Yubo put in place an extra layer of security for its teen users. On Yubo, location is disabled by default for all users under the age of 18. These users do not have the possibility to manually activate their location in their settings, only adult users over 18 have access to this option. If an adult user chooses to disable their location, only their country will be visible to other users.

It’s particularly important for young people to protect their privacy on Yubo and other social apps. This includes being careful about sharing personal information (e.g. phone number, home address, location) when interacting online. 

While Yubo adheres completely to GDPR laws, which include the deletion of user data after a period of time to protect privacy, other users can take screenshots of video or chats or record footage – which means anything posted online can live on forever.

Yubo provides various tools to help our users protect their privacy, including pop-up alerts that warn users when they might be sending personally sensitive information, the ‘Hide My City’ setting and accessible reporting and blocking. Yubo’s Privacy Policy explains how the company uses the data provided by all users when they create a profile on the Yubo app. 

Privacy is very important to Yubo, as well as helping to safeguard the safety and personal data of our users. Yubo provides a range of tools to help members of its community have control over their Yubo profiles (e.g. ‘Hide My City’ and ‘Block User’). Yubo also sends pop-up alerts reminding users to think twice before sharing personal information, such as where they live, in private chats and livestreams.

To hide your location on Yubo, simply tap the gear icon at the top right of your Yubo profile and select ‘Safety and Privacy’. In the ‘Location’ tab, you can turn off your location to keep your city private. Your country location, which is based on the geolocation on your phone, will still be visible to other users.

As a parent, it is a good idea to help your teen set up their privacy settings, as well as to have regular conversations about anything that concerns them about the social media platforms they use. 

You can find details of the safety tools available on Yubo in this guide for parents, carers, and educators. Additionally, Yubo’s Privacy Policy explains how the app uses personal data.

The features and settings that can help protect your privacy and safety on Yubo include:

• Hide My City: Tap the gear icon at the top right of your Yubo profile and select ‘Safety and Privacy’. In the Location tab, you can turn off your location to keep your city private. Your country location, which is based on the geolocation on your phone, will still be visible to other users.

• Block User: Go to the profile photo of the person you want to block, tap the shield icon with the question mark in the top right and select ‘Block’. All of the content you shared with that user will be removed and they will no longer be able to find your profile or watch your Lives.

• Pop-up Alerts: If you type in a phrase, such as ‘I live in London’ in private chat, this triggers a pop-up alert that gives you the opportunity to change your mind about posting and sharing this and other personally identifiable information.

Location is also disabled by default for all users under the age of 18. These users do not have the possibility to manually activate their location in their settings, only adult users over 18 have access to this option. If an adult user chooses to disable their location, only their country will be visible to other users. 

Yubo also takes the privacy and security of its users and their data very seriously and does not share or sell any data with third parties.

Yes, there is a minimum age limit for Yubo. The minimum age limit for Yubo is 13. Any children below the age of 13 should not download the app and will not be able to use the app due to our age verification system.

Yubo uses age gates to separate users into communities based on age to limit interaction between teens and adults. To help ensure that only users of the appropriate age can enter Yubo, the app’s teams have implemented a comprehensive age verification system, making Yubo the first major social platform to verify the age of 100% of its users. The system requires users to take a real-time photo in the app, which is then analyzed and matched to the age they provide upon sign-up. If the ages match, then they can access the app. However, if they don’t, the user will be required to complete extra verification steps. 

Find out more in Yubo’s Safety Hub.

Yubo is mainly for users ages 13 to 25, with 99% of Yubo users falling within this age range. Yubo allows users to connect and interact authentically with other people around the world and gives the younger generations a space to socialize with others beyond their own in-real-life social circles through livestreaming, playing games, chatting, and hanging out. 

Yes, Yubo can be used by 13-year-olds. However, Yubo does not allow anyone who is under 13 to use the app.

Kids do not use Yubo. Young people under 13 years old are not authorized on the app. By introducing its latest age verification system, Yubo verifies the age of all users on the app before they are allowed to enter the app. This helps Yubo to prevent users who are under the age of 13 from accessing the app.

On Yubo, 99% of users are between 13 and 25 years old. To be precise, approximately 76% of Yubo’s users are between 16 and 21. Yubo is an app for young people and not for kids. 

Yubo is a space where teens and young adults can socialize as they would in real life. Yubo caters to this need for authenticity by allowing users to interact with like-minded people of the same age group.

Yes, you can use Yubo at age 18. Yubo uses age gates to separate users into communities based on age to limit interaction between teens and adults. 

Find out more in the Safety Hub.

Yes, adults can use Yubo. Typically, adults ages 18-25 use Yubo to connect and interact with new people from all over the world. However, Yubo uses age gates to separate users into communities based on age to limit interaction between teens and adults.

Yes, Yubo has separate communities for teenagers (ages 13 to 17) and adults (ages 18 and above). Yubo uses age gates to separate users into communities based on age to limit interaction between teens and adults.

Yes, there are extensive safety features to make the Yubo app as safe as possible for teens. Yubo puts safety at the core of every decision made for the platform and has come to be recognized by experts as an industry leader in online safety innovation. At Yubo, a core belief is a responsibility to protect the safety and privacy of young users through a wide range of features, including:

• Strict Community Guidelines that explain what is allowed and what is not allowed on Yubo (for example, Yubo does not tolerate violence, bullying, and nude photos or videos) – every new user must accept these guidelines when they sign up.
• Comprehensive age verification in order to complete the sign-up process. This helps to prevent bots, fake profiles, and bad actors who might misrepresent their age for ill intent from joining the platform.
• Custom privacy settings, such as allowing users to hide their city location.
• Face recognition algorithms and Google image search to check the authenticity of users’ profile pictures.
• Real-time alerts and intervention if Community Guidelines are being broken in a Livestream (e.g if someone poses in their underwear).
• The ‘Muted Words’ feature enables Yubo users to block any word, abbreviation, or emoji they find offensive, harmful, or personally triggering from comments or content in the app.
• Pop-up alerts if someone is about to share personal information in private chat (if they type e.g. “I live in London”) to make them think twice before sharing it.
• Advanced reporting capabilities for users that allows them to add up to 4 pieces of evidence (screenshots or video records) to their report to provide Safety Specialists with useful context (either in the app or via Yubo’s Help Center).

Yubo also works closely with NGOs and law enforcement authorities on digital safety issues and has an independent Safety Board made up of international experts.

Certain types of photos and videos are not allowed on Yubo in order to adhere to Yubo’s Community Guidelines and to make the app as positive and as safe a place as possible. Content that violates these guidelines includes displaying nudity, underwear, toplessness, and swimsuits (unless you are at the beach or a swimming pool), promotion of drug use, and promotion of violence (e.g. violent acts and weapons), as well as gory, graphic, pornographic or sexually explicit or suggestive content. Sharing photos and videos of another Yubo user without consent is also prohibited. 

While this may seem strict, it’s an important step taken to protect the Yubo community and help maintain a positive digital space. If a Yubo user uploads an image as their profile picture that isn’t allowed, or posts other inappropriate photos or videos on Yubo from their device, the media will be removed.

If your profile photo or video has been deleted by Yubo’s system, please don’t try to upload it again. If Yubo has to remove too many profile photos or videos in a row, you run the risk of being suspended from uploading new content on your profile for up to a month, or having your account blocked, depending on the type of content.

Yubo’s Community Guidelines contain detailed advice about what’s allowed on Yubo and what’s not.

Yubo only allows shirtless photos or videos that are taken in a context where shirtlessness is appropriate, for example when you’re at the beach or at a swimming pool. If you want to have a shirtless image as your profile photo or post one somewhere else in the Yubo app, check that it doesn’t break the Community Guidelines. If it does, your photo or video will be removed and you will receive a message explaining why.

Visit the Safety Hub to find out more about the various safety features on Yubo and how Yubo helps young people to stay in control on social media.

Yes, users can take a screenshot on Yubo, but users should only do so if they have received consent from the other users involved. Interacting on Yubo through livestreams or chats is the perfect way to socialize with new people and make new friends. However, users should be aware that anyone can take screenshots or record a Live at any time. Users should ensure they they are not displaying any personal information (such as their address or phone number) or doing or saying something that they wouldn’t want others to see if a recording was taking place. Screenshots and screenrecordings are not inherently bad, as they can be a way to document a memory or a specially funny or meaningful moment. However, it is important to make sure that users are receiving permission from everyone participating.