Safety Guide

Last updated: 10 August 2026 · Deutsche Fassung

Frenby connects people from the same neighbourhood. That's the good part: you meet real people from your Kiez. It also means meeting people you don't know yet. We do not verify identities and we run no background checks. A profile is not proof of trustworthiness. Please take the following seriously.

Before you meet

• Stay in the chat first. Message for a while before arranging anything. Someone who dodges questions, rushes you or applies pressure is a warning sign.
• Don't give away private details early. No home address, no workplace, nothing about your family, finances or daily routine.
• Look at the profile. One photo, no details, very generic answers? Ask questions. A reverse image search can reveal stolen photos.
• Tell someone. Let a friend know who you're meeting, where and when, and check in afterwards.

At the first meeting

• Public and in daylight. A café, a park, a market: places with other people around. Not at your place, and not at theirs.
• Keep it short. One coffee or a walk is plenty for a first meeting.
• Arrive and leave under your own steam. Don't get picked up or driven home. Make sure you can leave independently at any point.
• Watch your drink. Don't accept open drinks you didn't get yourself, and don't leave your glass unattended.
• Charged phone. Sounds obvious; matters when it counts.
• Trust your instincts. If something feels off, leave. You don't owe anyone a reason, an explanation or an apology. Ask staff for help if you need it.

Spotting scams

On any platform, there is never a good reason to send money to someone you just met online. Be suspicious if someone:

• asks for money, cryptocurrency, gift-card codes or bank details, however moving the reason (“emergency”, “ticket”, “customs fee”);
• promotes a “safe” investment, a trading tip or a job offer;
• wants to move quickly to WhatsApp, Telegram or another app;
• builds intense closeness very fast while never being available for a video or voice call;
• asks you for intimate photos, or sends you some, then threatens to publish them (“sextortion”). Do not pay. Preserve evidence and contact the police.

What's visible in Frenby

• Other users near you see your profile and a calculated distance, never your exact coordinates.
• You only share a location in chat if you actively choose to. Share it only with people you trust, and remember a shared location can point at a specific home. It expires an hour after you send it and the coordinate is then removed, the next time either of you opens the chat. Tap Stop to unsend it and it goes immediately.
• Everything in your profile (photo, about me, neighbourhood, interests) is visible to users near you. Only put in what you're happy to show publicly.
• Under You → Settings you can control which genders you're visible to, and change the distance unit.

If something happens

• Immediate danger: 110 (police) or 112 (ambulance).
• Criminal behaviour: file a report. Any police station will take one; in Berlin you can also report online via the Berlin police “Internetwache”. Save screenshots of the profile and chat first.
• Report it to us: report@frenby.com. Tell us what happened and attach screenshots. We review every report and can remove content and suspend accounts.

Support and advice

These services are free and confidential, and can be used anonymously:

• Violence against women helpline: 116 016. 24/7, multilingual, free of charge.
• Weisser Ring: 116 006. Support for victims of crime, available daily.
• Telefonseelsorge (emotional support): 0800 111 0 111 or 0800 111 0 222. 24/7, free and anonymous.

In Berlin

• BIG Hotline (violence in close relationships): 030 611 03 00. Around the clock, including weekends and public holidays.
• LARA (sexual violence, and victim support for lesbian, bi and queer people): 030 216 88 88. Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 18:00.
• MANEO (the gay anti-violence project in Berlin): 030 216 33 36.
• L-Support (victim support for lesbian, bi and queer people): 030 459 618 65. l-support.net
• Opferhilfe Berlin (counselling centre for victims of crime): 030 395 28 67.

Outside Germany

The advice above holds wherever you are. What changes is who you report to. The emergency numbers are in the box at the top of this page. For anything that is not an emergency:

• European Union: report crime to your local police. The reporting and appeal rights described in section 7 of our Terms of Use come from the Digital Services Act and apply across the EU.
• United Kingdom: fraud and online scams go to Action Fraud in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and to Police Scotland in Scotland.
• United States: report internet crime to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), and fraud to the Federal Trade Commission.
• Canada: report scams and fraud to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
• Australia: report scams to Scamwatch. For intimate images shared without your consent, the eSafety Commissioner can order their removal under the Online Safety Act 2021, which is a faster route than most countries offer. Use it.

Wherever you are, also report it to us at report@frenby.com. We can remove content and suspend accounts regardless of which country you are in, and we do not need the police to act first.

Child safety standards

These are the published child safety standards for Frenby: Make Friends Nearby (com.frenby.app), listed on Google Play in German as Frenby: Leute kennenlernen. Frenby has zero tolerance for child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE), including child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

Frenby is for adults aged 18 and over, and is not a dating app. We ask for your date of birth at sign-up and refuse the account if it shows you are under 18. If we learn an account belongs to someone under 18, we delete it and its data. Be aware of the limit here: that check relies on the date of birth entered, and we verify no identity documents and run no background checks, which is why reporting matters.

Prohibited without exception, and grounds for immediate, permanent removal:

• CSAM in any form, including drawn, computer-generated and AI-generated depictions.
• Sexualisation of a minor in text, images, audio, profile content or messages.
• Grooming, solicitation, or any attempt to arrange contact with a minor for a sexual purpose.
• Sextortion, or threatening to share anyone's intimate imagery.
• Trafficking, or its facilitation.
• Use of Frenby by anyone under 18.

How to report. In the app, on any profile or conversation: open the menu, choose Report, and pick Underage user or Sexually explicit content. The report carries the conversation with it, and you can block the person at the same time. By email, including without a Frenby account: report@frenby.com, which is our designated point of contact for child safety, including for Google and for law enforcement. If a child is in immediate danger, call your emergency services first (110 for police in Germany, 112 across the EU). Do not wait for us.

How we respond. A person reviews every report; we do not let automated moderation decide these cases. Confirmed CSAE means immediate, permanent account removal. We report apparent CSAM to the competent regional and national authorities where the law requires it, and preserve the related evidence rather than deleting it with the account, as described in our Privacy Policy. We comply with applicable child safety laws in the markets where Frenby is available and cooperate with lawful requests from authorities. As a company based in Germany, escalation means the competent German authorities, and the police immediately where a child may be in danger. You do not have to go through us: anyone can report suspected child sexual abuse imagery directly to a regional hotline, and Google maintains a list of them by country, including NCMEC in the US and the Internet Watch Foundation in the UK.

Our rules

Harassment, threats, hate speech, sexually explicit content, fake profiles, fraud and advertising are banned on Frenby. The full rules are in section 5 of our Terms of Use. Break them and you lose access.