Built to protect you.
By design.
Every decision we've made about how Linen works. the mechanic, the data, the verification. was made with one question in mind: would a woman feel safe here?
The blind mechanic
is a safety feature.
On most dating apps, your face is the first thing a stranger evaluates. Linen removes that dynamic entirely. Not with filters or blurring, but structurally. The mechanic itself makes it impossible.
You choose one photo from four. No context, no names, no bios attached. Attraction matters. But it's only one part of a two-step decision made completely blind.
In a completely separate round, you choose one story from four. no photos attached. You're choosing based on who someone is, not what they look like. The pools never overlap.
The photo pool and story pool are always shuffled independently at the database level. It's architecturally impossible to correlate a face to a story before you've matched. This isn't a UI choice. it's enforced in the code.
You never find out that someone picked you unless you picked them first. No one-sided reveals. No “so-and-so liked you” notifications. The reveal is always simultaneous. And always mutual.
“You only appear to people who could potentially match with you. You are never searchable. You have no public profile.”
There is no browse mode. No grid of faces for strangers to scroll through. Your name is hidden until you both choose to share it. You exist in Linen only inside a matching pool. And only for people whose preferences align with yours.
Every verified profile
is a confirmed person.
Catfishing is one of the most common reasons women leave dating apps. We've built verification deeper than any app we know of. Not a one-time badge, but an ongoing guarantee that every photo is the person who verified.
Every verified user submits a government-issued ID through our verification partner. Their face is confirmed against the document, and a selfie is captured as their permanent anchor. We store one thing on our servers: verified or not. We never store the ID document. Your government ID never touches our infrastructure.
This is where most apps stop. We don't. Every time a verified user uploads a new photo or swaps an existing one, we run a face comparison between the new photo and their original verification selfie. The threshold is 80 out of 100. Photos that don't match are rejected automatically before they ever reach the pool. The user is told why. There is no workaround.
The verified badge only displays when: (1) identity has been confirmed against a government ID, (2) a verification selfie exists as an anchor, and (3) every active photo on the profile has passed face matching against that anchor. If any photo fails . or is replaced with one that fails. the badge disappears until every photo passes again.
Why people verify
A 10% algorithmic boost means verified profiles surface more often. Not as a reward for paying, but as a signal to the system that this person is who they say they are.
Full and Founding tier users can filter their rounds to verified-only. Unverified profiles become invisible to the most engaged, highest-trust segment of the pool.
Your location is
never shared.
We use your location for one thing: to show you people nearby. We don't share it, display it, or use it for anything else. Here's exactly how it works.
Your location is converted to a generalised area code. a geohash. before it’s ever stored. Raw latitude and longitude never touch our database. No one, including us, can pinpoint where you live or work from the data we hold.
No neighbourhood label. No distance marker. No map. Other users never see anything about where you are. There is no "2 miles away" on Linen. Your location data never leaves our servers in a form that identifies you geographically.
Location history is retained for 90 days and then automatically deleted. We don't build a permanent record of where you've been.
We don't track you continuously. Location is checked periodically while you're actively using the app. Linen does not run location in the background when you're not in the app.
No one can pay
for more matches.
On most dating apps, the people you see most frequently paid for that visibility. On Linen, money can't do that.
“Tokens are earned through genuine engagement. They cannot be purchased. Ever.”
Tokens unlock small advantages. early access to seasonal questions, temporary priority placement. But you can only earn them by doing things that prove you're a real, engaged person: getting a match, answering new questions, referring a friend, keeping your photos fresh. There is no “buy tokens” button anywhere in Linen. A wealthy user and a broke user appear in the pool at the same frequency. Money does not buy attention here.
The pool is actively
kept healthy.
A dating app's pool quality directly affects your safety and experience. We actively manage it. Not with algorithms alone, but with deliberate structural choices.
When one gender exceeds 60% of the active pool, new signups from that group are queued. Not rejected. The pool rebalances before they're let in. Non-binary users are exempt from throttling entirely.
Every photo in the pool expires automatically. Users are notified at 14 days remaining. This keeps the pool current and prevents years-old photos from misrepresenting who someone is today.
Users who haven't been active in 30 days are automatically removed from matching pools. You won't be matched with someone who abandoned their account months ago.
You can always
leave with dignity.
Ghosting is one of the most demoralising parts of online dating. Linen removes the need for it. by making the kind alternative easy, immediate, and completely normal.
At any point in a conversation, you can exit gracefully. You select a pre-written message, warm, honest, respectful. And it sends. The conversation closes for both of you. No explanation required. Nobody gets left on read.
A discreet button is always visible in every chat. One tap, immediate close. No confirmation required. Designed for moments when you just need out.
After a conversation ends, you can rate it privately. great, good, okay, poor, or ghosted. These ratings are completely hidden from the other person. They help Linen understand what good conversations look like, and flag patterns of bad behavior over time.
If you rate a conversation as “ghosted,” an automatic report is created and flagged for review. Patterns of ghosting are taken seriously. Linen tracks this. And acts on it.
“Patterns of bad behavior quietly reduce visibility in the pool.”
The pool improves itself. Private ratings after every conversation quietly shape who surfaces more. Ghosting costs visibility. Genuine engagement earns it. Over time, the profiles you see in your rounds are the ones who've shown up well for others.
Four layers of
protection.
When something doesn't feel right, Linen gives you multiple ways to protect yourself. before, during, and after a match. Every layer acts instantly, and none of them notify the other person.
When you report someone, they are immediately and permanently removed from your pool, your matches, and your notifications. You don't need to wait for a review. The system protects you on the same tap. Admin review proceeds independently.
In any chat, you can block the other person. The match closes immediately. They can never message you, match with you, or appear in your rounds again. They are not notified. Blocking is separate from reporting. if you have a safety concern, report first.
If you recognise someone in your rounds. a coworker, an ex, a neighbour. long-press their card and tap “I know this person.” They're immediately and mutually removed from both your pools. No notification. No trace. You're both simply invisible to each other from that point forward.
Patterns of ghosting. letting conversations expire without responding, or abandoning chats without a graceful exit. quietly reduce your visibility in the pool. Users who consistently show up well surface more. Users who don't, fade. This is never punitive. it's structural. Good behaviour is rewarded with presence.
“None of these actions notify the other person. Protection is silent, immediate, and permanent.”
Reports are reviewed
by a person.
When you report someone, a member of the Linen team reviews it. not an algorithm. Here's exactly what happens.
Tap the report icon in any chat. Choose a category: fake profile, inappropriate content, harassment, scam, or other. Add details if you want to. up to 500 characters. Your report is confidential. The other person is never told you reported them. The moment you submit, they are permanently removed from your pool, your matches, and your notifications. You don't need to wait for a review to be safe.
A member of the Linen team reviews the report, the conversation history, and the profile. Three or more substantiated reports against one account triggers automatic suspension while we investigate. We don't outsource moderation.
If the report is substantiated, the account is permanently removed. Because Linen requires identity verification to return after suspension, a banned user cannot simply create a new account. You receive a notification when action is taken. You'll know your report mattered.
Suspended users must re-verify their identity before they can return to Linen. They cannot create a new account to bypass a suspension. verification links their identity across accounts. The ask is proportional: “We need to verify your identity.” It's fair. And it works.
Friction is a
feature, not a bug.
Linen is deliberately slower than other apps. Every constraint was designed to create more intentional behaviour. from both sides. Here's what we limit and why.
| What | Why it matters for safety and quality |
|---|---|
| 4 photos per batch, pick 1 | Forces a genuine choice rather than a reflexive swipe. You can't approve everyone by default. |
| 3 stories per batch, pick 1 | Same principle applied to personality. Every choice is a real decision. |
| Daily round limits by tier | Prevents binge behaviour that produces low-quality decisions. You only get so many choices. make them count. |
| 48-hour chat window | Creates urgency to have a real conversation rather than letting matches sit indefinitely. Conversations either go somewhere or close gracefully. |
| Name hidden until mutual opt-in | Your full name is never visible to strangers. Both people choose to share it. at the same moment. |
| Phone number hidden until mutual exchange | Your number is only revealed when you both confirm simultaneously. Neither person sees the other's intent before the exchange completes. |
| City unlock threshold | Linen doesn't open in a city until there are enough profiles to produce real matches. A thin pool produces bad experiences. We wait. |
Three principles behind
everything above.
The blind mechanic, pool separation, and deliberate friction prevent most abuse scenarios before they start. The safest feature is one where the problem never arises.
Verification is optional. But it's rewarded with visibility, algorithmic boost, and access to the most engaged segment of the pool. The system makes the right choice obvious without forcing it.
When action is required, the ask is proportional: verify your identity. The framing is respectful, not punitive. And it works because identity verification makes a second account impossible.
This is what
safe feels like.
Linen was built because the alternative wasn't working. Not just the apps. the whole dynamic. You deserve a way to find someone real without feeling evaluated, exposed, or ignored.
Join Linen ✦