Help Center

Friend in LA is for adults 18 and older who want to meet people in the Greater Los Angeles area for dating, friendship, or low-pressure social plans. If you are under 18, you cannot create or keep an account.

To get started you need a valid email you control, a US phone number you can verify by SMS/code, and a ZIP inside our Greater Los Angeles service area during onboarding. Those checks keep discovery local and reduce fake or out-of-area accounts.

After email and phone verification, you finish onboarding with photos, basics, location, and who you want to meet. Discovery unlocks once that profile setup is complete.

• You must be 18+ and use your own account — no shared or “team” profiles.
• Use a real US number and a ZIP we support; contact support if a valid LA-area ZIP is rejected.
• Read How it works and the Terms of use before you join.

Friend in LA is a local dating and social platform built for Greater Los Angeles. The idea is simple: meet people nearby for dating or social connection, not a nationwide swipe feed with no context.

Core product pieces include nearby discovery, mutual matching, messaging after a match, optional video call requests, member events, community and plan lounges, and an Elite peer circle for high-profile members who qualify.

You can start with a free account, then upgrade when you want more likes, discovery tools, or other paid features. Plans and packs are listed on Membership and managed from Billing after you sign in.

• Local-first discovery around Greater Los Angeles ZIPs and your chosen radius.
• Match → message → optional video calls, with report and block available throughout.
• Compare Free, Plus, Premium, and Elite paths on Membership.

Discovery is built around Greater Los Angeles. During onboarding you enter a ZIP and choose a radius so you mainly see people near you, not profiles across the country.

If you temporarily travel, your matching window still follows the location settings on your account. If you move permanently outside the service area, nearby discovery may stop showing useful results until you update your ZIP and preferences.

We periodically refine which ZIPs count as in-area. If you live in Greater LA and onboarding rejects your ZIP, open a support ticket with the ZIP so we can check the map.

• Set ZIP and radius in onboarding, then adjust later in profile/location settings.
• People outside your window generally will not appear in nearby discovery.
• Wrong rejections: contact support with your ZIP and city.

Direct messages open after a mutual match. That keeps DMs for people who both showed interest, instead of cold messages from strangers in discovery.

Some plan entitlements can change messaging access in limited ways; those exceptions are called out on Membership and in Billing for your current plan. Community rooms and plan lounges are separate group spaces with their own rules — they are not the same as a private DM thread.

In every conversation you can still block and report. If someone is pushy, scammy, or breaks guidelines, use those tools instead of arguing in-thread.

• Default: mutual match unlocks direct messages.
• Lounges are group spaces — follow each room’s rules and do not spam.
• Report or block anytime from the conversation tools or Report.

For account, billing, verification, or product help, open a trackable ticket from Contact support. We email you a private tracking link so you can read replies and add updates without guessing whether your message was received.

Browse this Help Center first — many questions about plans, badges, events, and safety are answered here and on related info pages. That usually gets you an answer faster than waiting on a ticket for something already documented.

Support is not an emergency line. If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 911 (or your local emergency number) first, then contact us after you are safe if an account action is still needed.

• Start here: Help Center topics for common issues.
• Open a ticket at /support and keep your emailed tracking link.
• Emergencies: call 911 — then follow up with support if needed.

Go to Create account and sign up with an email address you control. Confirm that email using the link or code we send, then verify a US phone number. Both steps are required before the account becomes an active member.

Next, complete onboarding: recent photos of you, basic profile details, a Greater Los Angeles ZIP, radius, and who you want to meet. Discovery stays locked until those steps are finished so nearby matching has something real to work with.

Accounts are for adults 18+ only, and each person should keep one account. Shared logins, fake ages, or stolen photos can lead to removal under the Community Guidelines.

• Register → verify email → verify US phone.
• Finish photos, ZIP, and preferences before discovery unlocks.
• Use How it works if you want the full product walkthrough.

Email changes are not a self-serve “type a new address” flow. We review them through support so someone who stole a password cannot quietly redirect recovery to their own inbox.

Open a ticket at Contact support from the email currently on the account when you still have access. Include why you need the change and any proof of ownership we ask for. We will not move an account to a new email without a review.

Phone numbers must be re-verified through the verify-phone flow after any allowed change. Until the new number is confirmed, account recovery and member activation steps that depend on SMS may still use the old verified number.

• Email: support ticket + ownership review — not instant self-serve.
• Phone: allowed change, then complete verify-phone again.
• Lost email and phone access: contact support with as much account detail as you can.

Use Forgot password with the email on your Friend in LA account. We send a reset link that expires for security — open it promptly and choose a new password you have not used elsewhere.

If the email never arrives, check spam/junk and confirm you typed the same address you registered with. You can request another reset after the previous link expires or as the product allows.

If you no longer have access to the email or phone on file, do not create a second account to “start over.” Contact support with enough detail to prove ownership (approximate signup time, ZIP used, billing last four if you paid, etc.).

• Reset from /forgot-password using your account email.
• Links expire — request a new one if yours timed out.
• No email/phone access: ticket at support, not a duplicate signup.

Member sign-in uses email and password. Phone verification is required to activate membership, which adds a second factor to account creation even when day-to-day login is password-based.

Staff and control roles may require authenticator-based two-factor for admin access. That is a separate requirement from the member product and does not appear on every Free/Plus/Premium account.

Protect your login with a unique password. Review signed-in devices under Account → Sessions & security and sign out anything you do not recognize. If you suspect takeover, change your password and contact support.

• Members: email/password login; phone verify for activation.
• Admin/control roles: authenticator 2FA may be required.
• Check Sessions & security regularly; contact support if a device looks wrong.

Signed-in members can request account deletion from account settings. That process removes or anonymizes personal data according to our Privacy policy and legal retention rules (for example, records we must keep for billing disputes, safety, or law).

If you have Plus, Premium, Elite, or other paid products, cancel renewals from Billing before or while deleting if you want charges to stop as soon as the product allows. Deleting the account is not always the same as an immediate mid-cycle refund.

Support tickets you already opened stay reachable through your emailed tracking link until they are closed, even if the member session is gone. Export or save anything you need from the app before you confirm deletion.

• Request deletion from account settings while signed in.
• Cancel paid renewals in Billing if you want to stop future charges.
• Privacy details: Privacy policy; questions: support.

Optional marketing and digest emails include an Unsubscribe link that opens your preference page. Use that to turn off promotional mail without closing your account.

Security and account emails — password reset, email verification, important billing receipts when required — still send even if you opt out of marketing. Those keep the account recoverable and compliant.

SMS choices (alerts, marketing where offered) live under Account → SMS preferences. If a preference page link fails or you need account-specific help, open Contact support.

• Marketing/digests: Unsubscribe link → preference page.
• Security/verification emails always send.
• SMS: Account → SMS preferences; stuck? use support.

Use recent photos of you. Profiles should honestly represent who you are meeting people as — not a celebrity lookalike, a friend’s face, or heavily misleading edits that hide your identity.

Public photos cannot include minors, stolen images, illegal content, or graphic sexual imagery. Prompts and bio text follow the same honesty and safety bar: no hate, no scams, no solicitation that breaks guidelines.

Moderation may remove photos, limit discovery, suspend, or ban accounts that violate the rules. Repeat or severe issues are handled under the Community Guidelines.

• Clear, recent photos of you — no stolen or celebrity stand-ins.
• No minors, illegal content, or graphic sexual public photos.
• Report fakes via Report; full rules: Community Guidelines.

Yes. Phone verification confirms you control a US number and is required before an account becomes an active member. Without it, discovery and member features stay locked.

This step is separate from optional Admin Identity Verification (a paid live review with an authorized admin) and from Elite peer qualification. Completing phone verify does not grant those badges or Elite status.

Use a number you can receive codes on. VoIP or recycled numbers sometimes fail delivery — if a legitimate US mobile keeps failing, contact support with the last few digits (never paste full OTPs into tickets).

• Required for active membership — not optional.
• Different from Admin Identity Verified and Elite.
• Overview of badges: Verification info.

Phone Verified means you proved control of a US phone number. It is required for member access and is the baseline trust step for every active account.

Admin Identity Verified is an optional paid live review with an authorized admin. You purchase a verification product, schedule an appointment, and join when prompted. Payment creates a request; only admin approval grants the badge.

Neither badge is a background check, a guarantee of honesty offline, or a shortcut into Elite. Elite is a separate peer-circle path with its own fee, interview, and approval.

• Phone Verified = required US number control for membership.
• Admin Identity Verified = optional live admin review after purchase + approval.
• Details: Verification info and Verification terms.

No. Paying only creates a verification request and starts the appointment flow. You are not Admin Identity Verified until an authorized admin completes and approves the live review.

If you miss the session, leave early, or cannot complete the presence check, the badge stays unapproved until you reschedule and pass per product rules. Declined reviews also do not grant the badge.

Refunds, if any, follow the product page and our refund rules — payment itself is never “buy a badge.” Read the terms before you checkout so expectations match the process.

• Checkout → schedule → live review → admin approval (or not).
• No auto-badge on charge success.
• See Verification terms and what each badge means.

Admin Identity Verified means a completed live review under our process and policies. It does not guarantee honesty, safety, relationship intent, background-check clearance, wealth, or Elite status.

People can still misrepresent motives after a successful review. Treat the badge as one signal among many — not a green light to ignore usual dating caution in Greater Los Angeles.

If someone’s behavior feels wrong after verification, trust that instinct. Use public first meets, block, and report. Badges never replace judgment offline.

• Not a background check or safety guarantee.
• Not Elite membership or peer-circle approval.
• Concerns: Report or support; tips: Safety.

After you purchase Admin Identity Verification, you schedule a live appointment within the published duration window shown in the product flow. Join when prompted using the instructions in Verification after sign-in.

Admins typically run a live presence check and may ask you to follow simple on-camera steps. Have a working camera, stable connection, and a quiet space. Keep government ID ready only if the flow explicitly asks — follow the admin’s instructions for that session.

Missed or incomplete sessions may need rescheduling per product rules. Manage open requests from Verification in your account; do not create duplicate purchases hoping to skip the queue.

• Buy → schedule within the published window → join live.
• Follow admin instructions; incomplete sessions may need a new slot.
• Manage requests in Verification after sign-in; policy: Verification terms.

Verification products follow the rules on the product page and our Refund policy. Paying never auto-approves a badge, and a decline after a completed review is not the same as a platform failure.

If a session cannot be completed for a clear platform reason (for example, admin no-show on our side when you were present and ready), contact support with your request reference, approximate appointment time, and what happened.

Member no-shows, late joins, or unfinished presence checks are usually handled by rescheduling rules rather than an automatic refund. Read the listing before you pay so you know what is covered.

• Product page + Refund policy control eligibility.
• Badge denial after a fair review ≠ automatic refund.
• Platform-side failures: ticket at support with your request reference.

Your ZIP and radius set a local discovery window across Greater Los Angeles. Friend in LA is designed so you mainly meet people who are actually nearby, not profiles from another state.

Results refresh as people update availability, privacy, and location settings. Someone can leave your window if they tighten privacy, change ZIP, or move outside your radius.

You can tighten or widen radius in profile/location settings when the product allows. Extremely wide settings still stay within how we define the service area — this is not a national dating feed.

• ZIP + radius = who shows up in nearby discovery.
• Adjust location settings when you move neighborhoods or cities.
• Outside your window generally will not appear in nearby discovery.

Like someone you want to meet; pass on profiles that are not a fit. A match happens when both people like each other. Until then, there is usually no open DM thread.

Daily like limits depend on your plan. Free accounts get a smaller daily budget; Plus and Premium raise limits and may include tools that help you stand out. Super Likes and boosts (purchased or included) call extra attention to your profile when those products are available.

Matches can be unmatched later if the conversation is not working. If someone violates guidelines, report them in addition to unmatching so moderation can review.

• Mutual like = match; then messaging can open.
• Like limits and extras follow your plan — see Membership.
• Manage packs and subscriptions in Billing.