Mates journey

Find people. Make plans. Get out.

Mates is the friends half of the same app: a separate profile, groups, hangouts, games and local deals — not leftover dating photos.

Preregister free Try the demo

One Dollar Mate activities screen with nearby hangouts

Five steps

How it actually goes.

01Set upYour own Mates profile
02Find peopleNearby, on purpose
03Join groupsOr start one
04Make plansHangouts and games
05Get outShow up Here

01 · Set up

A friends profile that's actually separate.

The first time you open Mates you create a mates profile — a unique @username, your relationship status if you want to share it, a bio and your own photos. You can copy your name and photos across from Dates if it's easier, but dating details like "single since" never appear here.

Your own @username, 3–20 characters
Separate bio, photos and interests
Dating and friends pools never mix

Choosing between Date and Mates when you open One Dollar Hub

02 · Find people

Three ways to meet people.

No compatibility percentages and no romance framing — just people nearby you'd actually hang out with.

Find friends

Browse people nearby who share your interests and lifestyle, then send a friend request. They accept and you're connected — no cap on how many friends you have.

Search by username

Already know someone on Mates? Search their @username and send a request. You can search your own friends list too once it grows.

Meet through plans

You don't have to swipe at all. Join a hangout, drop into a game, or turn up to something a group has organised.

03 · Join groups

Find a crew. Or start one.

Community groups have their own Discover and "your groups" tabs. Filter by distance, pick up to five tags, and groups are ranked by how much they overlap with yours. Groups have leads and admins who handle join requests and keep things civil.

Up to 5 tags, ranked by overlap
Distance filter so you're not joining a group two cities over
Creating a public group requires identity verification; private groups are open to everyone
Post to the group feed and reply to each other

Activities and groups in One Dollar Mate

04 · Make plans

Host a hangout, or drop into a game.

A specific time and place gets more people turning up than a vague "sometime". Every hangout can have its own group chat.

Hangouts

Post a hangout with a time, a place, a suburb and up to five tags. Keep it friends-only or put it on the wall so anyone can ask to join. Set how many spots there are and invite people by name.

Each hangout can get its own group chat
Friends-only or open on the wall
Sort by closest or newest

Games

Hot Takes, Sketchy and Sounds Legit, as quick games or hosted lobbies. Hosting lets you set a start time, minimum and maximum players, and a distance cap. Tapping a lobby just opens it to look — you join when you tap Join game.

Quick games with fixed round counts
Hosted lobbies with a start time and player cap
Games can also run inside a group chat

Red flag / Green flag is a One Dollar Date game and isn't part of Mates.

Local deals

Turn a local deal into a hangout.

The same partner wall as Dates, filtered for hangouts. Tap an offer and the hangout is prefilled with the venue — then show the code when you get there.

Offers at places people already go
One tap to turn an offer into a plan

Local deals near you that can become a hangout

05 · Get out

Show up Here. See who's at the same place.

Optional venue check-in shows who's actually out, without always-on GPS. Check in when you arrive, see friends and other Mates nearby, and get checked out automatically after 6 hours.

Check in, see who's here now, auto check-out after 6 hours
Who's out tonight — friends and people nearby, filtered by distance
Switch to Dates anytime from your profile

Checking in at a venue to see who is here now

Safety

Show up with more confidence.

Mates is 18+, reportable, and designed around meeting in public places.

See safety tools Read the FAQ