Three steps, then you're in.

Sign up with an email address and your date of birth. You will get a confirmation email — open it and the account is live. Apoile is 18 and over, and the age check runs in the database rather than the form, so it cannot be skipped.

Then fill in the parts other people see:

• Up to six photos. Your first approved one is what people see in the feed.
• Your city, and optionally your province or state.
• What you do, if you want to say.
• A short about-you, up to 500 characters.
• Up to five interests, chosen from a curated list.

Your date of birth is never shown to anyone. Only your age is, and it is worked out from your birthday rather than stored as a number, so it stays right as you get older.

Discover shows people near you, most recently active first. Like or pass on each one. Passing is silent — nobody is told, and they simply stop appearing for you.

Search narrows it down by age range, city, gender and interests. Interests are the useful one: they are what turns a profile into something you can actually open a conversation about.

Liking someone does nothing on its own. If they like you back, that is a match — and only then can either of you send a message. Until that moment there is no way to reach you.

That single rule is the reason the inbox stays worth opening. There are no unsolicited openers on Apoile because they are not possible, not because they are discouraged.

Messages arrive in real time, and you can see when yours have been read. Unmatching removes the conversation for both of you.

Nothing. There is no paid tier, no boosts, no super likes and no limit on how many people you can like or message in a day beyond sensible anti-spam limits.

Apoile is a website, not an app-store download. It works in any modern browser on a phone, tablet or computer — add it to your home screen and it behaves much like an app.

Members are in Canada and the United States.