Nearby - Chat, Meet, Friend - Zift App Advisor

Zift Advisory

Nearby is one of the many friend finder apps available; it is a no obligation way to meet people in your area. The Nearby app is only available for Android devices in the Google Play Store and is rated for teen users. This app features both in-app purchases and advertisements. This app is not safe for kids or teens.

About Nearby - Chat, Meet, Friend

What is Nearby - Chat, Meet, Friend?

Nearby is one of the many friend finder apps available; it is a no obligation way to meet people in your area.

The Nearby app is only available for Android devices in the Google Play Store and is rated for teen users. This app features both in-app purchases and advertisements.

Nearby firmly states that it is not a dating app: "Nearby isn't a dating app. Our users are looking to forge genuine new friendships with people that share both their location and their interests. Romance can happen anywhere - it's a fact of life - but, on Nearby it isn't the primary goal."

Despite Nearby’s claims of clean, honest intentions, many of people on the app use it as a dating platform. Users can message and communicate with others entirely free of charge.

Nearby is structured like Facebook, with a newsfeed interface and customizable profiles, where users can fill out as much or as little about themselves as they wish. Nearby allows its users to maintain anonymity if they choose to.

When users first open the Nearby app, they’re taken to their home screen, which contains a thumbnail of their photo, their profile, their conversations, as well as an option to jump in and search local users. Users have complained, that despite being able to filter posts by distance, the app is not very accurate with those users it claims are “nearby.”

Is Nearby - Chat, Meet, Friend safe for my kids?

Nearby is not safe for kids or teens. Any friend-finder app that uses geolocation data to find and connect nearby users is a safety concern.

Nearby allows users to send texts, photos, voice and video messages free of charge. Despite the teen content rating, this is not an appropriate app for minors to use.

While Nearby will not match minors with adults, nor will it allow them to communicate, there is no verification process for creating an account, thus opening the door for dishonesty with both minor and adult users.

Nearby does employ moderators, and users have the ability to report inappropriate content, but the app is still full of mature content.

While it’s great that teens are able to create an account without any identifying information, it also allows for the large number of fake or scam profiles users often complain of.