How it works

Five steps, in order. The order is the product.

You speak first.

Signing up is a conversation, not a form. It opens with one question: "Say hello, and a little about who you are."

That question is asked once and never asked again, and it cannot be got wrong. Whatever you say, the answer is kept.

If a recording does not come through, you speak again. Silence never overwrites what you already said.

After the hello come a few short spoken questions:

Browsing is other people's recorded answers, one person at a time. There are no pictures at this point.

Who you hear is filtered by who you said you hope to meet, and by age.

On the most personal question, the person recording chooses who hears the answer:

Every other answer is heard by everyone. An answer set to matches only is not part of browsing.

To like someone you hold the record button and speak to them. There is no tap that does it for you, and there is no way to doom scroll.

They hear your voice note, and your photo appears, which is the first time they see you.

You have one photo, and this is the moment it is shown.

A match happens when two people have each liked the other with a recording.

Matches stop at six. When six are full, the like control goes quiet, and an unmatch makes room.

There is no typing in a Hotpot conversation.