FAQ

Live social discovery means we connect our users in real time while they are active on Yubo so they have the opportunity to interact immediately with others and begin forming friendships. We were inspired by the way friendships tend to form in the real world, where people strike up conversations with those around them, finding shared experiences and interests through being at the same place, at the same time. 

Our user base spans over 140 countries, and about 99% of our users are between the ages of 13 and 25. We bring together Gen Z users of diverse backgrounds, religions, and languages, offering a broader worldview to each user, no matter where they are.

Yubo connects users who are online at the same time to livestream, play games, and chat without the pressures of ‘likes’ or ‘follows.’ Users can discover new friends through the swipe feature, by joining livestreams and by adding “tags” to their profile to connect over shared interests – such as movies, gaming, music, sports, or fashion. Livestreams, which can host up to ten streamers at one time and any number of viewers, give users a place to hang out just as they would in real life – whether that’s discussing a specific topic, doing karaoke, playing a group game or just chilling.

YuBucks are Yubo’s in-app currency, which can be used to enhance users’ experience while socializing on the app – all of the main features on our platform are free, because we want to provide everyone in our community with the opportunity to socialize and build friendships. 

YuBucks can be used to access paid features like Boosts, which increase the visibility of livestreams. YuBucks can be purchased directly through the app by visiting ‘My Profile’ and tapping on ‘Your YuBucks balance’ to select the amount of YuBucks to purchase. 

We’ve removed ‘likes’ and ‘follows’ to encourage our users to connect authentically, like they would in real life. Our hope is to empower our users to be their true selves and build genuine friendships – without the pressures of performance.

We put safety at the core of every decision made at Yubo and we are recognized by experts as an industry leader in online safety innovation. We are guided by a safety board made up of respected experts and thought leaders of online safety and child protection from organizations such as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and Thorn.

We supplement our extensive range of technical tools and safety features with oversight from human Safety Specialists who work to proactively monitor activity on our platform 24/7. As the first major social media platform in the world to introduce real-time audio and video moderation for livestreams and to age verify 100% of the users on our platform, we are constantly working to expand our robust safety measures to keep our users as safe as possible. 

Age verification is mandatory on Yubo. All users on Yubo today have been age verified, and every new user is required to go through the age-verification process to use the app. We’re proud to be the first major social media platform in the world to introduce age-verification technology and requirements for all users to help prevent bots, fake profiles, and bad actors who try to misrepresent their age.

The age-verification system on Yubo prompts users to take a real-time photo of their face within the app during sign-up, which is then compared to the age the user provided at sign-up. The technology, provided in partnership with leading digital identity provider Yoti, analyzes the image as a pattern of pixels, which are converted to numbers and matched to an estimated age. The technology, certified by iBeta, the gold standard of such technologies, is able to verify with accuracy that a user is above or below an age threshold consistently across all ages, genders, and skin tones.

Yubo uses age gates to separate users into communities based on age to limit interaction between teens and adults on the platform. Our age verification processes ensure that age gating on Yubo is as accurate as possible so that our users are interacting with others of a similar age, just as they would in real life.

Yubo has a suite of cutting-edge technology tools that work alongside our team of Safety Specialists to proactively monitor activity on our platform and mitigate safety risks. 

• Yubo does not allow anyone under the age of 13 to create an account and requires age verification before a user can access the app. Our age verification system is supplemented by a range of fake account detection processes and techniques. These safeguards help to prevent users from being dishonest about their age, and strengthens our age gating measures to limit interaction between teens and adults. 
• 24/7 Safety Specialists and advanced AI algorithms monitor activity across the platform.
• Yubo uses advanced audio and video moderation for livestreaming, which flags violations of our Community Guidelines to Yubo Safety Specialists who can review and intervene in real-time. Our video moderation technology captures second-by-second screenshots of livestreams to detect inappropriate or harmful content or behavior.  
• SAFE mode is activated by default for all users to automatically filter inappropriate content in chats and comments so they’re not visible to others – users of ages 18 and over can switch this off if they prefer, but SAFE mode will always remain active for minors. 
• For all users, Yubo sends pop-up alerts when they are about to share personally identifiable information, like home addresses or phone numbers, to educate them of the dangers of sharing information with others online. 
• The Muted Words feature on Yubo allows users to block words, abbreviations, and emojis that they find offensive, harmful, or personally triggering, and that they do not want to see while on our platform. 
• Advanced reporting capabilities for users allow them to add up to four pieces of media (screenshots or video records) when making reports about behavior they have deemed inappropriate or unsafe on the platform, providing Safety Specialists useful context when reviewing reports and taking action.

No, Yubo is not for 12 year olds. The minimum age requirement for Yubo is 13 years old.

Our users’ privacy and safeguarding their personal data are extremely important to us. We have a range of tools to help our users protect their privacy, including pop-up alerts that warn users about sending personally sensitive information; the ‘Hide My City’ setting; accessible reporting tools, and blocking features. 

As a company headquartered in France, we adhere to the privacy requirements set by General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws, which require all online platforms to permanently delete user data after specified periods of time. However, with all online content, users should be aware that others can take screenshots of livestreams, videos, or chat, which means anything posted online can live on forever. 

Parents, caretakers, and educators can protect their teens online by having regular conversations about what they do in their digital spaces and educating them on online safety. Parents know their teens best, so just like in other areas of their lives, it is important to have open discussions to let them know they have support. A few questions you could ask your teen include:

• What are your favorite apps, and why do you like them? 
• Do you ever worry about anything that happens online?
• Where would you go for help if something goes wrong?
• Do you know how to identify risky or harmful online behaviors or interactions? 

Yubo is also here to help its young users by providing industry-leading online safety features, 24/7 safety experts, and many other safeguards to make their time on our platform as positive as possible.

You can find more information in our blog, ‘Staying safe on Yubo’ guide for parents, carers, and educators, and in the Yubo Safety Hub. If you’re a parent or caretaker and would like to report any inappropriate behavior or content on the Yubo platform, go to the Help Center and select ‘Contact Us.’

We encourage all users to report any behavior they see on Yubo that violates our Community Guidelines, makes them or others feel uncomfortable, or if something just doesn’t feel right. To file a report, you can click on ‘Report’ on the top right corner of the app and select the option that most appropriately applies. So our Safety Specialists have as much context as possible when reviewing reports, users are able (and encouraged) to attach up to four media files, such as screenshots or recordings.