Questions, answered
The honest answers to what people actually ask before trusting an app with something they've written. If yours isn't here, just ask me.
The basics
What is Glowva?
A social app built around being heard rather than seen. You can use it like an ordinary social platform — share your day, follow people you like, message friends instantly. Underneath that there's a quieter layer: anonymous writing sent to one stranger, slow letters between two people, and small themed rooms that close after a day or two. The tagline is "a place to write, connect, and be heard," and that's meant literally.
Is this a mental health app?
No, and that's deliberate. Glowva isn't therapy, it isn't a crisis service, and it isn't staffed by clinicians. It's a place to write honestly and be met by other people. If you're in crisis, please contact your local emergency services or a crisis line — Glowva is not a substitute for either.
Who is it for?
Anyone who wants somewhere less performative than the usual feed. In practice that tends to be people who write, people who feel a bit unseen, and people who are tired of apps that reward the loudest version of you. You don't have to be going through something to belong here.
When can I join?
Glowva opens in beta during 2026. You can add your email on the home page and you'll get one note when it opens — nothing else.
How it actually works
Is my writing broadcast to everyone?
No — and this is the thing most worth understanding, because "anonymous writing app" usually implies a public free-for-all. Nothing on Glowva works that way. Your writing goes to exactly one of four places, and you always choose which: your own feed, seen by people who follow you; a Glow Drop, delivered anonymously to one stranger; a Letter, read by one person; or a Campfire, a small themed room that closes. There is no global anonymous feed where anything you write is dropped in front of everybody.
What is a Glow Drop?
A short piece of anonymous writing that goes to one person. You write it — often with someone specific in mind, like a first love or someone you've lost — and Glowva delivers it to a stranger instead. They can't reply. All they can do is send back a glow: one wordless signal meaning "I read this, it landed." That's the whole exchange. You can receive drops the same way.
What are Letters?
A slow back-and-forth between two people, which a stranger can open after receiving your drop. A correspondence is four letters — two each — and then it's complete. Once you open a letter you have a day to reply; if the day passes, the letter settles, which means it stays readable forever but can't be answered. Nothing is ever deleted. If both of you want to, you can choose to reveal who you are at the end, and then the limits come off.
What is a Campfire?
A small room built around one writing prompt, open for a set stretch of time — usually a day or two — and then gone. Strangers write into the same prompt, you read each other, and the room dissolves. You met, you felt something, there's no lingering social obligation afterwards.
Can I just use it as a normal social app?
Yes. Ordinary posts, following, comments, and instant direct messages all work the way you'd expect. The slowness is confined to Letters, plus an optional "send slowly" setting on DMs if you want it. Glowva isn't a slow-only app — the quiet layer is there when you want it, not imposed on everything.
Where are the follower counts and the algorithm?
There aren't any. There's no engagement algorithm deciding who gets seen, and the profile shows "people who felt seen" rather than followers. Your feed is the people you chose to follow, in order.
Safety and anonymity
Doesn't anonymity just mean abuse?
It's the right question, and the answer is structural rather than a promise to behave. On Glowva, anonymity comes with no reply channel attached. A Glow Drop travels one way — the person receiving it cannot write back, only send a wordless glow. A Letter can only begin if the recipient chooses to open one, and it ends after four. Nobody can send you unsolicited anonymous messages, so the usual mechanism for anonymous harassment — an open inbox pointed at a stranger — doesn't exist here. On top of that, content is moderated (below) and you can report or block from any post, profile, or message.
How is content moderated?
Every image and video is scanned before it reaches anyone. Written content, voice messages, and private messages go through automated moderation, and borderline cases are escalated to a human. Reports from users are reviewed, and moderation decisions can be appealed — removals are meant to be reversible while something is looked into, not a verdict. No detection system is perfect, which is why automated scanning, human review, and your reports all work together. The full child-safety standards are on the Child Safety page, and the rules everyone agrees to are in the Community Guidelines.
What if someone makes me uncomfortable?
Report them, block them, or both — from the ⋮ menu on any post, comment, profile, or message. Blocking is immediate. Reports involving the safety of a child are prioritised ahead of all other moderation work. If something needs a human urgently, email [email protected].
How old do you have to be?
16 or over. Accounts found to belong to anyone younger are removed. Because parts of Glowva are anonymous by design, any interaction that sexualises or targets someone presenting as a minor is treated with the same severity regardless of the account's stated age.
Privacy and your data
Is my writing private? Is it encrypted?
Your content is encrypted at rest and in transit. It is not end-to-end encrypted, and I'd rather be straight with you about that than hide behind the phrase: automated moderation has to be able to read content in order to catch abuse, grooming, and child-safety violations. An app built for vulnerable people that couldn't detect any of that would not be safer, it would just be less accountable. Nobody reads your messages for curiosity's sake, and human review happens when something is flagged or reported.
Do you track me or sell my data?
No tracking, and your data is never sold. There's no behavioural profiling and no third-party analytics following you around. See the Privacy Policy for the full detail.
Can I get my writing out, or delete everything?
Yes to both. You can request a full export of your data and download it, and you can delete your account from settings. What you wrote is yours.
Money
Is it free? Who actually pays?
Using Glowva — writing, letters, drops, campfires, messaging — is free, and the plan is for it to stay that way. The business model is Community Spaces: private group hosting that facilitators and organisations pay for, like therapy practices running groups, schools running wellbeing programmes, grief organisations, recovery communities, and creators with an audience. They have budgets; the person who joined because they felt alone at 2am does not. Keeping those two apart is the entire point. If optional paid extras ever appear for individuals, they'll be exactly that — optional extras, never a paywall in front of being heard.
Will there be ads?
Not targeted ones — that part is absolute. There's no tracking and no behavioural profiling to target with, and there never will be. If sponsorship ever appears it will be standalone, clearly labelled sponsor cards you can scroll straight past: never full-screen, never blocking, never interrupting something you're reading. I'd rather tell you that plainly now than promise "no ads ever" and quietly walk it back later.
Who is building this?
One person — me. No growth team, no investors to please, nobody paid to keep you scrolling. That means Glowva moves at the pace one person can manage, and it also means nobody can overrule the decisions that keep it calm. — Sonny
Anything else
How do I get in touch?
For anything safety-related, [email protected]. For everything else, [email protected]. You can also read the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.