Questions, answered

Ember shows you who else is at the same venue tonight and up for meeting someone. You wave, and if they wave back you both find out. No endless chat: the whole point is saying hi in person.

No. Ember runs in your phone's browser. Scan the QR code on your table or open the site, pick your pub, and you're in the room in seconds. There are native apps on the way, but you will never be forced to install one.

Yes, Ember is free for guests. You just need to be 18 or over and actually at the venue. Match at a participating venue and it even puts a drink behind the bar for you.

Open Nights near you and we'll list the rooms that are open right now, closest first. If you're already in the pub, the QR code on the table or the bar takes you straight into that venue's room.

You must be 18 or over to use Ember. Venues serve alcohol and their staff can ask for ID at the bar, so an underage account will be removed as soon as we hear about it.

Yes. A room is for the people who are actually there. We check that you're at the venue before letting you in, which is exactly what makes an Ember room different from a dating app: everyone you see is a few metres away.

Any modern phone browser: Safari on iPhone, Chrome on Android, and the usual desktop browsers if you're curious. Keep your browser up to date and allow location access, and everything else just works.

Each participating venue opens a room for the night. Join while you're there, and when the night ends the room closes and that night's activity is wiped. Your profile stays; each night disappears.

The venue decides. Most rooms open in the early evening and close at last orders. The nights list shows the opening hours for every venue, and you'll see a countdown inside the room as closing time gets near.

No. You're in one pub at a time, so you're in one room at a time. Leave the room and join the next venue's when you move on, and the new room starts fresh.

Leave the room and you disappear from the grid, so nobody waves at someone who has already gone home. Come back the same night and you can rejoin.

Early in the evening a room can be quiet. Stay in it: you'll see people appear as they arrive and join. If the pub near you never seems to have anyone, tell us which one and we'll go and talk to them.

Please do. Send us the name of the pub through the contact form and we'll get in touch with them. Venues can also sign up themselves on the For Venues page.

Waving is private: the other person only finds out if they wave at you too. When both of you have waved, it's a match, and you both see it. Then go say hi, that's the whole point.

Only if they wave back. An unanswered wave is invisible: no badge, no notification, no hint. That means nobody gets turned down in public, and nobody has to do the turning down.

Yes. Tap the wave again to withdraw it before it turns into a match. Once you've both waved, the match is done and you'll both have seen it.

As many as you like within the night, within reason. We limit bursts of waves to keep the room from turning into a numbers game, so wave at the people you'd actually walk over and talk to.

A very small one, on purpose. A match comes with a few messages each, enough to say where you're standing, not enough to spend the night typing. When they run out, they run out: you're both in the same building, and the drink deal gives you a reason to meet at the bar.

Meet at the bar rather than at their table: it's neutral ground, it's what the two-halves drink code is for, and either of you can walk away without a scene. And you're allowed to change your mind. A match is an invitation, not a contract.

They go with the night. Matches, waves and the room itself are wiped minutes after the room closes. If you want to see them again, that's what phone numbers and second dates are for.

Match at an Ember venue and you get a single-use drink code in two halves: one of you holds the QR, the other holds a short check code. The bar needs both, so you order together. What the deal is worth is set by the venue that funds it, and your drink code tells you what it covers before you walk up. One match drink per person, per night, however many people you match with, and it only works at the venue named on the card.

Not with each other. You get one match with the same person per night, wherever you both go, so walking to another pub doesn't hand you a second drink. Match with someone new and that's a different story.

No. It's one match drink per person, per night. The drink lands on your first match where both of you still have tonight's to claim, and matches after that earn points instead. The drink is there to break the ice, not to buy your round.

Show the QR half to the staff member. They scan it, type the four-digit check code from the other phone, and the deal is marked as used. It takes about ten seconds and it can't be used twice.

That's up to the venue: it sets the deal, funds it, and your drink code tells you what it has excluded before you walk up. Bottles of wine, doubles, premium spirits and cocktails are the usual exclusions. If the code shows no conditions, any standard drink from the regular menu counts.

Turn your screen brightness up and hold the phone steady, that fixes it most of the time. If it still won't scan, staff can type the code by hand.

No. The deal belongs to the night and the venue it was earned in, and it expires when the room closes. It's a reason to walk to the bar tonight, not a voucher to save.

Some matches earn points instead of a drink: a match at a pub that doesn't run the deal yet, or a match where tonight's drink is already spent. Points add up as your Ember Score, which only you can see, and unlike the rest of the night they carry over. They have no cash value and can't be transferred; they're for spending inside Ember, on things like a drink on a later night.

Only people in the same room as you tonight can see your profile: your first name, photos, bio and interests. Your email address and phone number are never shown to anyone.

Because you're going to meet in ten minutes, and you should know who you're waving at. A room where everyone has a face is a room where people actually walk over.

Clear photos of you, with your face visible in the first one. No nudity, no photos of children, no group shots where we can't tell who you are, and nothing that isn't yours to post. We remove anything that breaks those rules.

Use the first name you'd give someone at the bar. It doesn't have to match your passport, but if you introduce yourself as someone else all night, the evening gets off to a strange start.

Yes. Your bio, interests and photos stay with your account, so joining the next room takes one tap. What doesn't follow you is the night itself: waves, matches and who you were in a room with are gone minutes after closing time.

Tap the three dots on their card and report them. Reporting also blocks: you stop seeing each other for the night, and they can't wave at you. If anything feels wrong in person, involve venue staff.

The block is instant, and the report goes to our team with the context of that night. We review every one. Depending on what we find, an account can be warned, removed from the venue, or banned outright.

No. Reports are confidential. They see that they've been blocked by someone, not who reported them or what was said.

Yes. Blocking alone is fine and needs no explanation. You both drop out of each other's room for the night and no wave can pass between you.

Tell venue staff immediately, and call 999 if anyone is at risk. Ember is an app, not an emergency service. Report the account afterwards and we'll act on it.

Every account is tied to a verified sign-in, everyone must have a photo, and you can only enter a room from inside the venue. That combination makes an Ember room a great deal harder to fake than an ordinary dating feed.

Every wave and match from the night is deleted within minutes of the room closing. No feeds, no history, nothing follows you home. Your account and profile stay until you delete them.

We check that you're at the venue when you join a room, and we use your rough location to sort the nights list by distance. We don't follow you around, we don't build a movement history, and we don't share any of it with advertisers.

No. We make money from venues, not from you. Your data is not for sale, and it never will be.

Yes. Email us from the address on your account and we'll send you everything we hold about you, as required by UK data protection law. You can ask us to correct or erase it too.

Never. Venues see how busy the night is and how many matches happened, as numbers. They don't see your profile, your waves or who you matched with. The staff screen at the bar only checks whether a drink code is valid.

With your phone number, or with Google, Apple or Microsoft if you'd rather tap a button. Whichever you choose, the room only ever sees your first name and photo.

Check that you're using the same method you signed up with: signing in with Google when you registered with your phone number creates confusion, not an account. If the SMS code hasn't arrived, give it a minute and tap resend, then contact us and we'll sort it out.

Not from inside Ember yet. Contact us from the address or number on your account and we'll change it for you.

Open the app, go to Settings and tap Delete account. Your profile, photos and account are removed permanently. You can also email us from the address on your account and we'll remove everything for you.

Yes. The profile, the photos and the account go, and they don't come back. We keep only the minimum we're legally required to keep, such as records of a serious safety report.

Sign up on the For Venues page, pick a plan, and we'll set your first night up with you. There's a 14 day trial, and you can talk to a person before committing to anything.

Put the QR codes on the tables and honour the match drink when a pair walks up to the bar: they order together and you stand the deal you set. That's the whole job. Ember runs the room, you run the pub.

Open staff mode in the Ember app, scan the QR on one phone, then type the check code shown on the other. If it's green, pour the drinks. If it's red, the code has already been used or it belongs to another venue.

Numbers, not people: how many joined, how many matched, how many drink deals were redeemed. No profiles, no waves, no names.

Pull to refresh, then check that you have signal at the back of the pub. If the page is still stuck, close the tab and scan the QR code again. Nothing is lost: your profile is on your account, not in the tab.

Thick walls and cellar bars confuse phone location. Allow location access for the site, turn WiFi on, and try again near a window or the door. Still stuck? Contact us with the venue name and we'll take a look.

Photos must be normal image files under about 10 MB. Screenshots of screenshots and half-downloaded images tend to fail. Try another photo, and if none of them work, tell us which phone and browser you're on.

Notifications need permission from your browser, and iPhones only allow them once you've added Ember to your home screen. Check the site's permissions in your phone settings, then try again.