Hegmo

Help centre

Short answers about how Hegmo works. If yours isn't here, write to [email protected] and a person will read it.

Getting into a group

How do groups form?

You ask for a group — how big you'd like it, and how far you're willing to go — and then you wait alongside everyone nearby who has asked for something similar. Once there are enough of you, a group opens and you are all in it at once.

Nobody hand-picks you out of the queue, and you don't hand-pick anyone into it. That is the point: a room of people near you who you would not otherwise have met. The only thing a group has to do is chat. Meeting up is always the group's own idea, never something the app asks of you.

How big is a group?

You choose when you ask. Small is 4 to 5 people, medium is 5 to 10, large is 10 to 15.

Why is it taking so long?

Two things decide who you can be matched with.

The first is the area your home location sits in. Matching happens around named areas, not around your exact spot, and an area needs a certain number of people living in it before groups start forming there at all.

The second is the distance range you set when you ask — how far past your own area you're willing to look.

So a group forms once enough people near you are waiting for something close to what you asked for. In a quiet area, or on a narrow distance range, that takes longer.

The longer you wait, the more Hegmo loosens the parts of your request that can loosen: it will open your group at the smaller end of the size you picked, reach further out, and accept a wider mix of ages and a less even mix of genders. Two things never move — the size of group you asked for, and the maximum distance you set. So if nothing is happening, raising that maximum is the single thing that helps most.

What is a slot, and why three?

A slot is one place for a group. You have three. Each one holds either a group you're in or a request still waiting to become one — a request reserves its slot until it forms a group or you cancel it.

Three is the ceiling for everyone, on every plan. It is there so your groups stay chats you can actually keep up with; a dozen half-read rooms is how a group chat dies.

What does the + on Home do?

It fills a free slot. Tap it, pick a size and a distance range, and your request joins the pool. It is the same action whether you're starting your first group or replacing one that has ended.

When all three slots are in use the + dims, and pressing it tells you so. Leaving a group, or cancelling a waiting request, frees the slot again straight away.

Swiping

What does a like mean?

I want this person in my group. It is not a date, and it never makes a one-to-one match — there are no private messages in Hegmo at all. A like is a vote about who you would like in a room with you.

Likes are quiet. Nobody is told that you liked them, and you are never shown who has liked you.

Why did my likes run out?

On the free plan you get 20 likes a day, and the count resets the next day. Passing is free and unlimited — it never spends a like — so the deck is never a wall: you can keep looking and keep passing after your likes are gone.

What is a matched group?

An ordinary group chat, built out of likes instead of out of the waiting pool. Most of the people in it already wanted each other there. Matched groups live under the Matched tab.

On the free plan you can be in one matched group at a time. You can carry on swiping while you're in it — your likes still count — they simply can't place you in a second one until that group ends or you leave it.

In a group

How do I leave?

Open the group's details from the chat header and tap Leave group. You lose access to the chat, the slot comes back, and it can't be undone.

What happens when a group gets too small?

Three members is the floor. If a group drops below it, it winds down: the chat closes for everybody, and each of you is asked to find another group. The slot is free again immediately.

How long does a group last?

A group can have a lifespan. When yours does, a countdown shows in the chat; when it runs out the group wraps up, and everyone in it is asked to find another — so you keep meeting new people rather than sitting in the same room for good. A group showing no countdown is not on a clock.

Can I keep a group?

Yes — that is what Save is for. Open the group's details, tap Save this group, and choose the people you want to keep. Each of them gets an invite and has 24 hours to accept, and the Saved group forms from whoever joins.

A Saved group is a new chat with no countdown, and it doesn't use one of your three slots. More than one person can save the same group, which simply makes more than one Saved group.

The person who starts a Save is the one who pays for it: accepting an invite is free for everybody, always. The free plan includes one Save.

Can we rename the group?

Yes. Every group is born with a name, and any member can change it from the group's details. It is one name shared by the whole group — everyone sees the change — and the chat says who made it.

Plans

Paying doesn't change how matching works or who you can be matched with. What it buys is room.

Free

One more Save

A single one-off purchase, not a subscription: it buys one more Save on top of your free one. Everyone you then invite joins free, as always.

Premium

Everyone, free and Premium alike, has the same three slots for ordinary groups and swipes the same deck of people.

The Plans row on the Profile tab lays all of this out side by side, and you can open it whenever you like. You'll also see the same options offered at the moment one of the free limits actually stops you — out of likes for the day, say, or a second Save. Turning that down leaves you exactly where you were.

Safety

What's the difference between reporting and blocking?

Report sends a message, a person, or a Feedback board post to us with a reason attached, and a human reads it. Those are the three places it can start: from a message in a group chat, from a member's profile, or from the flag on a post on the board. You'll see that it was sent; what happens next is our decision, not something the app can promise you on the spot.

Block is between you and one other person, and it takes effect at once: the two of you are never matched into the same group again. You choose whether to leave the groups you currently share with them or stay in them, so blocking someone doesn't have to cost you a group you like. It can't be undone.

Report when something should be looked at. Block when you never want to be grouped with that person again. They are not exclusive — you can do both.

Who can see my profile?

Two sets of people, and nobody else: the members of a group you're in, once that group has formed, and people swiping the deck near you, who could end up in a group with you. There is no public directory, no search, and no way to look someone up.

Does anyone see where I live?

No. You give Hegmo a home location — once, and you can change it whenever you like — and it is used to work out which named area you're in. What other people see is that area's name: never your address, never your coordinates, and never a distance between you and them. Matching measures from your home to an area, not from person to person.

Your account

How do I change my profile?

The Profile tab, then Edit profile. Everything on it can be changed there — your photos and their captions, your first name, what you do, where you are, your prompts, your interests and languages, your walls — and changes save as you make them. The Preview toggle at the top shows your profile exactly as somebody else meets it.

Three things are fixed once you've signed up: your handle, your gender and your date of birth. They anchor matching and the 18+ rule, so the app won't edit them. If one of them is wrong, write to [email protected].

How do I delete my account?

The Profile tab, the gear, then Delete account at the foot of Settings. It asks once, and then it is done: your profile and your photos are deleted, you're removed from every group, and any waiting request is cancelled. There is no undo and no grace period.

What happens to my messages?

They stay. A conversation belongs to everyone in it, so leaving a group or deleting your account doesn't tear holes in other people's chats. Your messages remain where they were, attributed to Former member — your name, your photos and your profile are gone from them.

Telling us things

How do I suggest something, or report a problem with the app?

The Profile tab, then Feedback board. It is one shared board: you write what you want to say, everyone on Hegmo reads it, and your name is never shown on a post. We can still see who wrote what — that is how an abusive post gets dealt with — but no member ever can.

You can upvote a post you agree with — once each, and tapping the arrow again takes your upvote back off. Each post shows how many members upvoted it and whether you did; who voted is never shown, the same way a post never shows who wrote it. Top puts the most-upvoted posts first and New puts the latest first.

Each post carries a status we set. A post starts as Open and shows nothing on the board; once we have decided, it shows Planned or Done, and neither is a promise that something will be built. Most posts show nothing, which is the normal state of one: a post with no word on it hasn't been turned down, it hasn't been decided.

If a post breaks the rules, flag it. Every post carries a flag, and tapping it starts the same report a message or a member gets: you pick a reason, and it goes to the same person who reads every other one. What we can do about a post once we've read the report is in the Terms of service, along with the rules themselves.

The board is for the app itself. Something about a person is a Report instead, which is private and goes to us alone; What's the difference between reporting and blocking? above says how reporting works, on the board and everywhere else.

Contact

Write to [email protected]. It reaches a real person, and telling us your handle and what you were doing at the time is usually enough to sort it out in one reply.