Yada

To know someone, start with their voice.

Yada is a dating app with no photos up front. You hear an introduction, talk three times, and then decide together whether to look.

Join the betaHow it goes
AlexIntroduced Monday · Tallinn
Tap each knot to finish a call

yada, verb: to know someone closely. Yada is a dating app built on that idea. You come to know someone by voice, over three calls, before you ever see them.

Who it is forAdults who are tired of judging and being judged by a photo in half a second, and who like a long phone call.

What happensYou record a short voice introduction and hear other people's. You take your portrait live in the app; there is no photo upload. When you both want to talk, you get three calls, and after the third you can both choose Reveal. A mutual yes opens a shared room.

Where it runsOn iPhone, through TestFlight. Android comes later. The beta is free while it is in testing.

How to reach usWrite to hello@yada.ing with questions or bugs. Safety reports go through the shield button in the app.

You speak.

"Hi, I'm Sam. I teach kids to swim on Saturdays, I keep killing basil, and I will defend a long voicemail to anyone."

Your introduction: two to four short chapters, in your own voice.
SamTallinn · no photo yet 0:22 / 0:40
DeclineI'd like to talk
Sam's introduction, as Alex hears it: a voice and a city, nothing else. If you both say you'd like to talk, your three calls start.

How it goes

First, hear an introduction.

Alex"I will defend a long voicemail to anyone." 0:16 / 0:42
You both said yes. Your Journey with Alex starts Monday.

Then talk, three times.

Every call is recorded. You can both replay it, and Yada makes the same notes for you both.

Sunday, 19:00Change time
Conversation 1
Tuesday · 18 minutes
Conversation 2
Thursday · 26 minutes
Conversation 3
Sunday · 19:00Tonight

Then look, together.

Alex's portrait: a live selfie of a woman with dark wavy hair, smiling into the camera Sam's portrait: a live selfie of a man with short curly hair, smiling into the camera

Both portraits were taken live in the Yada camera. Nobody can upload a photo.

Would you like to meet?YesNo

If you both say yes, a room.

You both said yes. Your room with Alex is open. See the room

Every call leaves a keepsake.

After each call, Yada draws it from one thing only: who spoke when. Alex's turns are rose, yours are gold, and a small ring marks each time you both talked at once.

No words, no audio, no faces. You pick the style of your copy, and you can share it anywhere. It never shows a portrait, a date, a time or a city.

Sam & Alex

A shared keepsake can carry your first names, or nothing at all.

Knot
Bloom
Silk ball

One call, three styles. 31 minutes: Alex spoke for about 14 and you for about 14. You talked over each other 45 times, 31 of them in the last five minutes.

The Reveal, in four moments.

After the third call, either of you can choose Reveal. It starts only when you both do, and it is the one part of Yada that films you.

  1. Ready to see Alex?

    Your reaction is recorded. Alex can share it.

    1 · You both choose it

    Before anything starts, the screen tells you that your reaction is recorded and that Alex can share it. You can still choose Not now.

  2. Alex's portrait, seen for the first time Recording your reaction

    There you are.

    2 · You see each other

    After a short countdown, both portraits are released at the same moment. Each phone films the face that looks at it, for a few seconds.

  3. Would you like to meet Alex?

    Your answer locks when you continue.

    3 · You answer in private

    Both answers lock before either of you sees a reaction. Nobody decides after watching someone's face.

  4. Alex's reaction: a surprised, delighted laugh, one hand near her mouth Your reaction, which Alex gets: Sam laughingYours, to Alex

    Alex's reaction to you.

    4 · You trade reactions, then see the answer

    Whatever you each answered, you get the other's first look. Watch it or skip it. Then you both see the result.

You both want to meetYour room opens, and you can plan where to meet.

This Journey has endedYour keepsakes, recordings and notes stay with you, in Keepsakes.

Then, a room for two.

A mutual yes opens a room that only you and Alex can enter. It is quiet on purpose: everything in it is there to get you to a first meeting.

The fridge
Leave a note, written or spoken, and pin it to the door.
The table
One question a day. You see Alex's answer after you give yours.
The shelf
Your three keepsakes, from the calls that got you here.
The plant
It grows a little each time one of you adds something. It never wilts.
Chat and calls
Text, voice notes and calls whenever you like. Calls in the room are not recorded.
The first meeting
Suggest a place and a time. The plan holds when you both agree, and you can tell a friend where you will be.

The room stays open for one season. Then you each answer, in private: keep the room? Two yeses keep it open, free. Otherwise it closes for both of you.

No photos, no read receipts, no typing dots, no streaks, no countdown.

No grid of faces and no texting strangers. A voice A switchboard operator with headphones, 1950s, three calls A crowd listening to a voice demonstration, 1939, and one moment when you both look up A man smiling into his phone's front camera.

  • Fair questions

  • Because a face decides too fast. Nobody sees your portrait until you have had three calls and you both choose Reveal. Until then, you see only their silhouette, in one flat colour.

Because a face decides too fast. Nobody sees your portrait until you have had three calls and you both choose Reveal. Until then, you see only their silhouette, in one flat colour.

The beta is open.

Join the Yada beta

  1. Ask for an invite from your iPhone.
  2. Install TestFlight from the App Store, then open the invite we send you.
  3. Install Yada and sign in with Apple or Google.
Ask for an invite

The portraits and reaction stills of Alex and Sam are AI-generated illustrations of live in-app captures, not Yada members. The keepsakes and the room are drawings from the Yada app. Archival pictures: Joan Howard operating a switchboard, Museums Victoria, public domain · The VODER at the 1939 New York World's Fair, Bell Telephone Quarterly, Internet Archive Book Images, no known copyright restrictions.