Using the Flock is easy and should be intuitive for anyone who has used an online dating platform before. We have three ways to access the Flock social network; IPhone App, Android App, or Website. Firstly let’s discuss the apps.
The apps are built exactly the same for both Android and IPhone. Let’s walk through the signup process to start. When you open the app you will see a screen that allows you to pick a login method. These methods are Google, Email, Phone Number, and Facebook with the added bonus of Sign in with Apple on IPhone devices. Remember that whatever method you pick here, you must use again if you want to sign into the same account you make during this process.
Once you pick a sign in method, the app will talk with that sign in method’s provider and let you sign in. For email sign up you’ll need to verify your email address, and for phone number sign up you’ll need to verify phone. Facebook, Google and Apple sign in methods don’t need this step. Something to consider.
The first step is to check to see if you are a single person, a single person that was invited in by a friend, or a non-single person looking to help a friend.
Non-single people looking to help a friend can join in hidden mode as long as they have a friend’s invite code. This makes it so that users can invite whomever they like into the platform.
So if you have an invite code shared with you by a friend, this is where to enter that code. Put the user’s first name and code in, and click submit.
After this you will notice the two buttons below the form change to say “I’m single! Let’s go!” but also “Just helping a friend..”
Non-singles who would like to just help their friend can just select “Just helping a friend..” at this point and their profile (once created) will be hidden so that only their friend can see them.
If the user is a single as well.. They can select “I’m single! Let’s go!”
Either option brings the user to the next stage of signup.
The next screen gathers information about you to add to their profile. Easy and pretty standard on most dating applications. About me, Gender, Interested in gender, Date of Birth, Country, Zip/Postal code, Education level and Occupation are what’s asked here. Fill this out and continue.
Next are your email options that you’d like to set. We take member privacy and GDPR very seriously here at The Flock and we want to be sure you’re only signing up for emails you wish to receive.
Next is your profile image. This is a key image and the one that will show in search result listings. As the screen says.. Make it a good one! Don’t add a picture of a tree if you want people to actually talk to you.
After picking a profile image you will be automatically dropped into the member search screen of the app. At this point you’re off and running with a full profile!
First thing to do after this point is set your search preferences. Tap the little icon at top right of the search page so set up your search criteria. Set your search criteria that best fits what you’re looking for (or what your friend is looking for) and then tap “save as default” to save it as your default criteria.
Click the check mark when done and the search will execute.
Now on the Search screen you’ll notice there are small icons at the bottom. These will take you to popular locations in the app like Messages, Matches, Search and Social Network.
If you tap the three line menu at the top left of the Search screen you’ll see the menu pop out. At the top of this menu you can click “View Profile” and modify your profile, as well as navigate to many different parts of the app.
The Buddy up screen will show you your Facebook friends already in the app so you can become friends, and will also show you your personal Invite Code! Give this to friends, and when they join and redeem it you’ll instantly become friends.
Also in this menu is a My Friends screen, A place to redeem invite codes you’ve received, a way to hide/show your profile. Friends who are “only helping another friend” can use this button to unhide their profile if they ever decide they’d like to be seen.
My Hidden Users shows you users you’ve hidden and My Liked Profiles shows you profiles you’ve liked. Share this app lets you share the app to social media, Give a Review allows you to write a review, About this App gives you a brief about the app itself, Contact us spins up an email to our support, Email settings let’s you set what types of emails you receive (GDPR compliance), Terms of Use and Privacy Policy gives you our legal use information, Logout let’s you log yourself out, and Delete Account lets you delete your account no questions asked.
The website is very similar (purposefully) to the apps. So if you’ve used either our iPhone app or our Android App the website will make sense. But let’s go through how to use the website here as if you’ve never used the apps.
Firstly, you would need to point your browser (best viewed with a desktop/laptop) to https://flockdating.com
This will bring you to our main landing page. From here you can click the
button, which will send you to a screen where you can pick a login method. We have the same methods here as in the apps so whatever you pick as a method to login here, will also work in the apps.
If you already have an account, you will be immediately logged in and sent to the default start screen. If you do not, you will be able to become a member and set up your profile.
The next set of screens walk you through
The Account Type selection is where you get to select whether you are just helping a friend or if they are single yourself. If “just helping a friend” is selected, an invite code must be entered.
The Basic Information screen collects information we need to properly create your account and a few things that are nice to have on all profiles like Occupation, Education and About You.
Question and Answer is a simple Q&A feature we’re testing on site and apps. We have a limited set of probing questions that you can answer at your leisure. The goal is to fill your profile with answers to common questions others may wonder about.
The Profile Picture screen lets you pick a profile picture. This is important to add because it’s the first picture of you that anyone will see on the site. Don't skip. No one reaches out to someone without a picture.
The Invite Code screen allows you to enter the First name and Invite code a friend has given you, so that you can buddy up on the site. Remember, if you joined the site indicating that you are “just helping a friend”, redemption of at least 1 invite code is required. We allow non-singles into the platform, but only if they’re coming in with a friend.
Finally the Email Options screen will let you indicate what kinds of emails you’d like to (or not like to) receive from us. We respect your privacy, and do not want to email you anything if you do not want to hear it. We do, however, always reserve the right to email you if it pertains to important information about your account with us that you must hear.
The final FINAL screen is a review page of all the information you’ve entered over the past few screens. On this page you must accept the Terms and Conditions and then click Submit. After this, you are brought back to the login screen to login again after your account has been created. Re-login here and you’ll be sent directly into the site.
Once logged into the website you’ll see a header menu as well as a profile picture drop down menu.
These hold all the links you’ll need as a member. Links to parts of the site such as Matches, Search, Messages, Friends List and Invites are there, along with our new addition of a full fledged Social Networking Platform!!!
Under the profile picture drop down menu you’ll see links to My Profile (view your own profile as others see it), Update Profile, Hidden Profiles, Liked Profiles, Delete Account and Logout.
Clicking on “The Flock Social Network!” menu item will take you directly into our Social Network. This part of the site has blog articles about relationships, geographical based groups, news feed where you see everyone’s posts, pages, event calendars and more! No more Facebook spying on you or pummelling you with ads. Just come chat on our social network instead!
There are a few more things users should know up front regarding how things work on “The Flock”.
Invite Codes
The Invite Code system is a pivotal part of the system here at Flock. Every user gets their own unique
Invite Code that no one else has. This makes it possible for the user to share their code with other
friends/people so if that other person joins the app/site, they can link up. If a user navigates to the
Invites page in the website or the Buddy Up screen in the app, they’ll see their invite code and be able to
share it out.
The other important part of this though is your name in the site. If you’re name is Deborah but your name in the site is Deb, tell your friend. They need to know what your first name is in Flock to be able to redeem your code. It’s likely after entering Deborah and it not working that they will try “Deb” or “Debbie” but just tell them so they don’t have to guess.
After two users are friends, they can chat, forward profiles with each other, help each other build up their profiles, and more. It just all has to start with the invite code and first name.
No Fake Accounts
Most other dating sites generate fake users (sometimes even backed by bots who actually will respond to you) to create a false sense of opportunity. Obviously if you log into a dating site and it’s FULL of beautiful men or women, you’re going to think you hit the jackpot. The truth is these are fake accounts, scammers or bots. It’s the harsh reality of today’s dating app landscape.
We do not do this. We will never do this. We actually are building technology to detect and disable scammers. We see the appeal of doing this, but just can’t.
You see.. “Empty room syndrome” is very real for any kind of community driven app. Getting people to download your app and create an account when just starting out is very very hard. This is why people fill their apps with fakes and bots. If it “looks” full, real users will come.
The problem is.. Real users will also be pissed. They will be angry and feel deceived. It wastes their time, and is just plain crappy to do to someone just looking for love. We don’t feel that’s right.
Scammers
There are LOTS of scammers trying to scam people on dating apps. You need to be very very careful. Learn how to identify scammers, read some articles on it. Here’s some good ones.
https://www.beenverified.com/crime/7-traits-online-dating-scam-victims
https://news.trendmicro.com/2021/03/02/is-it-true-love-things-you-should-know-about-romance-scams
https://www.snbonline.com/about/news/how-to-detect-an-online-romance-scam
We are currently working on an algorithm called a Multiple Criteria Probability Algorithm that will analyze user behavior patterns and identify potential scammers in real time so that we can eyeball them and disable them. Soon we believe this algorithm will be tuned enough such that it can be left to guard the walls alone. Till then, we look at each profile that signs up manually with our eyeballs to ensure they’re real.
And let me tell you, almost 33% of the users that join our site are scammers. It’s insane. Be careful out there.
Cost
We are currently a fully free service. Some day we think we can provide enough value to our users that we could potentially charge for premium features, or a monthly cost for access to premium features, but right now, we’re staying free. We want you to use our service, and we want you to succeed.
A word about our Social Network
FSN (Flock Social Network) is a full featured social network platform. It’s news feed feature is built such that you can see all posts from anyone, but can also follow specific users and see just posts from those you follow. We also have Pages, a Blog, Geographical groups, and more in there. It’s chock full of awesomeness.
We did, however, just introduce this social network so it’s not on our apps quite yet. We will get it there
soon though.
And that’s how to use our apps and website! Any questions or comments feel free to email us directly at
contact@flockdating.com and we’ll get back to you as fast as we
can!