How Heartbeat works

The short version

Heartbeat is a small, private social network for keeping up with people you actually know. It's structured like a personal blog with a hand-picked audience for each post — not a public platform. No algorithmic feed, no public posting, no data handed to advertisers.

Everyone uses their real first and last name. There's no anonymity and no way to browse or search for strangers.

What Heartbeat deliberately doesn't do

No endless scroll — the feed has a bottom and tells you when you've reached it.

No "5 new posts" pills, notification badges, streaks, or autoplay.

No re-engagement emails. Email is only ever for verification, password resets, and security.

No scoring or rating each other. Reaction counts stay low-key, and you can hide reactions entirely for yourself.

How do I add someone?

Two ways, both on the Followers page: enter an email or phone number you already have for them, or send them an invite link you've created. Either way it's a request they choose whether to accept.

There's no directory and searching by name returns nothing — this is on purpose. You can't stumble onto strangers.

What does "mutual" mean?

When someone accepts your request, you follow each other. There's no one-way follower — "people you follow" and "your followers" are the same list.

Muting or removing a connection

On the Followers page, each connection has Pin, Mute, and Remove. Mute keeps the connection but drops that person's posts from your feed. Remove disconnects you both — it's reversible (either of you can send a new request later). All three are silent; the other person is never told.

Invite links

On the Followers page you can create an invite link and share it any way you like. Whoever opens it can send you a connection request — you still choose whether to accept, and they never see your email or phone number.

Each link can have an expiry and a use limit (one person, a few, or unlimited), and you can revoke it any time from that same page.

Pinning someone

On the Followers page, tap "Pin" next to anyone you're connected with. Their posts get a small "Pinned" marker in your feed, and your feed gains a "Pinned only" view so you can catch up on just those people.

It's completely private — the person you pin isn't told, and pinning them doesn't pin you back. Tap "Unpin" any time.

Who sees my post?

Each post has an audience: everyone you follow, or a specific list you pick. The audience is fixed when you post — if someone unfollows you later, they still can't see old posts, and if you add someone later they won't retroactively see them either.

Editing a custom-audience post re-sets the audience to exactly who's checked at that moment.

Why do I have to add a tag?

Tags are how your followers filter their feed — someone can quietly hide your #politics posts without unfollowing you. Every post needs at least one. As you type, Heartbeat suggests tags from your words and from tags you've used before; nothing is added unless you tap it.

Photos

Up to 4 per post. They're automatically resized, and all location (GPS) data is stripped on upload so it can't leak to your audience. Photos are only visible to that post's audience — a direct link 404s for anyone else.

Editing

You can edit your own posts and comments any time — text, tags, audience, photos, and the per-post reaction/comment settings. An edited post or comment shows "· edited" with the time. Changing only the settings doesn't count as an edit.

How do I add an emoji reaction?

Tap the "+" on a post or comment, then open your device's emoji picker:

• iPhone / iPad: the emoji keyboard opens automatically.

• Mac: press ⌃⌘Space (Control-Command-Space), or the 🌐 / fn key.

• Windows: press ⊞ Win + . (period).

The "+" shows the right hint for your device. You can add more than one reaction; tap your own again to remove it.

Who controls reactions?

The post's author. In Settings you set your defaults (any emoji / a chosen set / off, for posts and for comments separately). Each post can override those in its "Comments & reactions on this post" section.

Hiding reactions for yourself

Settings → Reactions has two view options, both only affecting what you see: "hide reactions everywhere for me" (no chips, no counts, no reacting), or "show reactions but hide the counts" (you see which emoji people used, just not how many).

The comment pause

If a comment you're writing reads heated — lots of !!!, all caps, harsh words — the comment box shows a short pause with a couple of questions worth a second's thought. "Post anyway" is right there next to it, and once you post through it you won't see it again for an hour. Nothing about it is recorded.

Muted words

Settings → Muted words lets you add words or short phrases. Posts and comments containing them are kept out of your feed — either hidden completely or collapsed behind a "show anyway" note, your choice. A built-in profanity/slur list is muted by default; you can turn it off.

This only affects what you see. The author is never told, and a post you open by its direct link is never filtered.

Hiding a topic from your feed

On the Feed page, "Filters" lets you name tags you'd rather not see — posts carrying any of them drop out of your feed. It's a way to skip a topic (#politics, #sports, whatever) without unfollowing the person. You can also narrow to a date range there.

The Tags page (in the menu) shows the tags people around you use, sized by how often — tap one to hide it. What you've hidden stays hidden across reloads and logins until you clear it (chips at the top of Filters, one at a time or all at once).

This only changes what you see. Nobody is told, and a post you open by its direct link is never filtered.

The feed ends

Your feed shows a page of posts at a time with an "Older posts" link. When there's nothing older, it says "you're all caught up" — there's no infinitely-refilling scroll.

What's never shared

Your email and phone number are stored encrypted and are only ever used for contact lookup (someone finding you by details they already have) and account email. They're never shown on your profile, listed anywhere, or sold.

Your self-reported location, if you add one, is only used to choose which ad might show — advertisers only ever see aggregate totals, never you.

Changing your name or email

Both are in Settings → Profile / Contact. A name change is logged and lightly rate-limited; an email change sends a confirmation link to the new address and a heads-up to the old one.

Leaving

Settings → Account has two options. Archive hides all your content and disables login but keeps everything, so you can come back. Delete removes your posts, photos, comments, reactions and contact info for good after a grace period — logging back in during the grace period cancels it.

Checking a downloaded photo has no location data

On a Mac, open the photo in Preview → Tools → Show Inspector → the (i) tab; there should be no GPS section. On Windows, right-click → Properties → Details; the GPS fields should be empty. Heartbeat strips this on upload, so downloads from Heartbeat are already clean.

What does it cost?

Your first 12 connections are free. Beyond that, staying able to share with a larger audience needs a subscription — you pay based on the audience you've built, not per feature. Billing isn't switched on yet during the beta.

If a subscription lapses, nothing is deleted: your 12 oldest connections keep seeing your posts and the rest see a "renew to keep sharing" note until you're back under 12 or subscribed again.