Link a date

Questions and answers

What is Link a date?

A simple way to move from a chat to a real date without sharing your phone number. You plan the date and send someone a private link. The other person can accept, decline or suggest another time, and once they answer you can chat about the details. There are no accounts and nothing to install.

How do I plan a date?

  1. On the home page, give the plan a title, for example "Dinner".
  2. Choose the day, the time and the time zone. Place, a link to the place and a note are optional.
  3. Choose a passphrase: 6 to 40 letters and numbers, with no spaces or symbols. It is not case sensitive.
  4. Press "Create the date".
  5. Copy the invitation link and send it to the person you are inviting, in whatever app you already use. Tell them the passphrase another way, not in the same message.
  6. Keep your own link. It is how you come back to the date.

What are the two links?

Every date has two private links. The invitation link is for the person you invite: that person can answer and chat. Your own link is for you: you can see the answer, confirm a new time, cancel, chat and delete the date. Whoever has the invitation link and the passphrase can open the date as the invited person sees it, so share them only with the person you mean to invite.

What is the passphrase for?

It keeps the date private to the two of you. Someone who gets the invitation link without the passphrase sees only a page asking for it, and nothing about the date. The "Suggest a passphrase" button fills in four random words, which is very hard to guess. You choose it when you make the date and tell it to the person you invite by another route. A few wrong tries cost nothing, but after the fourth wrong try a visitor must wait a minute, then 5 minutes, 30 minutes and finally an hour between tries, and if all visitors together make 300 wrong tries in an hour, the date is locked until those tries age out, which is within an hour, or at once when you set a new passphrase. Your own page shows how many wrong tries there were in the last hour. The passphrase is stored only as a scrambled fingerprint, so it cannot be shown again. If you forget it or want to change it, open your own link, press "Change the details" and type a new one under "New passphrase". Everyone who knew the old one is then asked again. After you enter the passphrase, the date stays open in that browser tab, even after a reload, for up to a day. A new tab asks again. Dates made in a private room do not have a passphrase.

I lost my link or my passphrase. Can I get it back?

No. The links are not stored anywhere, only a scrambled fingerprint of each is kept, so nobody, including the owner of this site, can recover a link. Save your own link somewhere safe, for example by sending it to yourself. If you lose it, plan a new date. If you only forget the passphrase, open your own link and set a new one.

How does the other person answer?

The other person opens the invitation link and chooses Accept, Decline, or Suggest another time. You do not need to refresh the page. Your page updates by itself and says what happened, for example "The other person accepted."

Can I change the details of a date?

Yes. On your own page press "Change the details" to edit the title, the day and time, the time zone, the place and the note. If you change the day or the time, the other person is asked to answer again, and the chat pauses until the other person does. The other person hears about the change on their page straight away. The person you invited can also suggest another day and time. You then see the suggestion on your page and press "Confirm the new time".

Who can use it?

Adults only. You confirm that you are 18 or older with a checkbox when you create a date, and the person you invite confirms it when they accept or suggest a time.

What does "Block and delete" do?

If you were invited and you do not want this, press "Block and delete" on the date page. The date and the chat are deleted for both of you, and the link you were sent stops working. There are no accounts, so it ends this one date only. Declining is gentler: it just answers no and leaves the date and the chat visible to both of you.

What about time zones?

The time you enter is in the time zone you choose, which starts as your own. The other person sees the time in their own time zone. If the two zones differ, the page also shows the time in the creator's zone, so there is no confusion.

How does the chat work?

The chat opens once the person you invited has accepted or suggested another time. It closes if the date is declined or cancelled. Messages are plain text up to 500 characters, with up to two messages a second and 200 messages in a chat. Links in messages are not clickable. New messages appear at once on both sides, and a message from the other person is announced as "Other says:" followed by the text. You can turn the announcements off with the checkbox "Read new messages aloud". Either of you can clear the whole chat.

How do I write and send a message?

Type in the Message box and press Enter. Press Shift and Enter together to start a new line. You can also press the Send button.

What are the "On the day" buttons?

Once a date is accepted, from 3 hours before it starts until 8 hours after, a section called "On the day" appears. Press "On my way", "I'm here", or choose how late you will be and press "Tell the other person I'm running late". The other person sees it at once on their own page and hears it announced, for example "The other person is on their way." You can clear your update at any time. Nothing is sent by email or text, so the other person needs to have the page open.

What is "How the other person can spot me"?

A short note, up to 200 characters, that helps you recognise each other when you meet, for example "green scarf, table by the window". Each person writes their own. The other person sees it only after the date is accepted. Do not write your name, phone number or other personal details.

How do I save the date to my calendar?

Open the date and choose "Save to calendar". It downloads a calendar file that opens in most calendar apps. The event lasts two hours and includes the place and the note. It also carries two reminders, one day before and one hour before. Most calendar apps keep them, but some use their own default reminders instead.

How do I reserve a table?

If the creator added a link to the place, a "Reserve a table" button opens that place's own website or booking page in a new tab. Link a date does not take bookings itself, and it does not check that a place is open or has room.

Who can see my date?

Only people who have one of its two links can open it through the site, and the invitation link also needs the passphrase. It is not listed anywhere, and search engines are asked to ignore the private pages. Only the site owners have access to the database where the details are stored, as the privacy page explains.

How long is a date kept? Can I delete it?

A date and its chat are deleted automatically 30 days after the date took place. You can delete a date yourself at any time with "Delete this date now" on your own page. That removes the date and the chat for both of you. The person you invited can also delete it, with "Block and delete".

Do I need an account? Does it send emails?

No account, no phone number and no email address. Link a date does not send email or text messages, so you send the invitation link yourself.

Which browsers does it work in?

Any recent browser on a phone or a computer. Live updates need a normal internet connection. If the live connection drops, the page checks for changes every 15 seconds until it is back.

Is it free?

Yes.

Some tips for meeting someone new

What is a room?

A private board of open invitations for a community, such as a club, a group chat or a course. Members post what they would like to do, for example "coffee and a walk on Saturday", and other members ask to join. Each request becomes a normal private date, with the same answer buttons, chat and "On the day" tools. Rooms are not listed anywhere. You find one only through the room link that its admin shares with the community.

How do I make a room, and what does the admin do?

Use "Rooms" in the footer, give the room a name and a short description, optionally choose a passphrase, and press "Make the room". You get a room link to share inside your community, and a private admin link to keep. With a passphrase, the room link alone shows only a page asking for it, and members need both the link and the passphrase (tell them the passphrase another way). Without one, anyone with the room link can open the board. The same rules as for dates apply: letters and numbers only, 6 to 40 characters, a few wrong tries are free and then the waits grow from a minute to an hour, and a lock for up to an hour after 300 wrong tries from all visitors together, which the admin can end at once with a new passphrase. The admin page shows the count of wrong tries. With the admin link you can set, change or remove the passphrase, remove any post, pause the room so nobody can post or ask, change the name, or delete the room and everything in it. You cannot see who is behind a post, only its nickname and text. The admin link cannot be recovered if you lose it.

How do I post an invitation, and how do I ask to join?

Open the room link. To post, fill in "Post an invitation": a nickname, what you would like to do, an optional general area, and optionally a day and time. You get a private post link. Keep it, because it is how you see requests and close or delete your invitation. If the room has a passphrase, you are asked for it first. To ask to join, press "Ask to join" on someone's invitation, add a nickname and a short note, and send. You get a private link of your own for the answer and the chat.

How many requests can an invitation have?

The poster chooses when posting: 5, 10, 20, or no limit, on how many requests can wait for an answer at the same time. When the poster answers one, by accepting, declining or blocking it, a place frees up. The invitation stays open until the poster closes it or it expires, even after a request is accepted, so a poster can accept several people. Each accepted request is its own private date with its own chat, and there are no group dates yet. A room's board holds up to 100 open invitations, shown 50 to a page. An invitation with a time expires at that time, and one without a time expires after 3 days.

Are there limits on how much I can do?

Yes, to stop abuse. The site limits how fast one person can make dates, send chat messages, make rooms, post invitations and ask to join, and it slows down anyone who tries wrong passphrases again and again. If you reach a limit, the page says so and you can try again after a while. People on the same network share some of these limits.

How do I change how the site looks?

Use the "Theme" list at the bottom of any page. Automatic follows your device, or choose Dark or Light. The choice is remembered in your own browser only.

Does the site track me?

No accounts, no ads, no trackers and no cookies. The site keeps only anonymous daily totals, such as how many dates were made, and nothing about who you are. The privacy page explains what is stored, what stays in your browser, and how long it is kept.

How do I report a problem?

Use the "Report" link at the bottom of any page, or write to omrilife@gmail.com. If you want us to look at a particular date, include the link you were sent. Please do not send anything else personal.

Is it connected to other services?

No. Link a date is not connected to any other company or service with a similar name. See also the privacy page.