Cohorta

Getting started

Cohorta is a connection app for real communities, bringing dating, friendship and events together. Follow these steps to get started.

Why a web app?

Cohorta runs in your browser; there is nothing to download from the App Store or Google Play. Once it's on your home screen it works just like any other app on your phone. A downloadable app will follow later.

Set-up at a glance

  1. Get your group code from your community's Facebook group
  2. Open cohorta.app, create your account with the group code and the sign-in code we email you, complete the 18+ check with Yoti, and subscribe: £0 today, with 30 days free for new joiners
  3. Add it to your home screen when the pop-up asks
  4. Sign back in
  5. Add your photos (4 minimum, 6 maximum)
  6. Choose what you're here for: dating, friendship, or both
  7. Fill in Basics (including At a Glance) and the section for whichever you chose; both are required
  8. Answer the questions for what you chose, then your first prompt
  9. You're in: start browsing people and events

The process takes about five minutes.

1. Get your group code

Get your group code from your community's Facebook group. Codes are posted each month by the Ambassadors, members who promote and support Cohorta in the group. Cohorta is invite-only through communities, not open to the public.

2. Create your account

Open cohorta.app in your browser; there's nothing to download from the App Store or Google Play. Enter your group code, then your email address, which the owner of your group is given, along with your display name and profile photo, so they can confirm you belong to their group. We'll email you a six-digit code to confirm it's really you, and you'll accept the terms.

Cohorta is for adults aged 18 and over: you give your date of birth when you set up your profile, and a date of birth under 18 cannot be saved. You must also complete an age check with Yoti; entering a date of birth alone is not enough.

New joiners subscribe with 30 days free from sign-up, then £4.99 a month. You are not charged at sign-up; your first payment is on day 31. Your first-charge date is shown when you subscribe, and we remind you 3 days before your first payment, by email, and in the app and by push where you have them turned on.

If we find an account belongs to someone under 18 we delete it straight away and refund anything they have paid.

3. Add it to your home screen

When you're asked whether to add Cohorta to your home screen, say yes. It takes about thirty seconds. Cohorta then opens from its own icon exactly like any other app. Adding it to your home screen is the only way to receive notifications. Until Cohorta is on your home screen, your phone has nothing to notify you from, so you'd never know when someone likes you or messages you.

If you tapped "Not now", you can install it later from Profile → Account.

4. Sign back in

Open Cohorta from its new home screen icon and sign back in. You only do the six-digit code step once; after that you stay signed in, and you won't be asked for a code every time you open the app.

5. Add your photos

Add at least 4 photos, up to a maximum of 6, one at a time. Each photo saves as soon as it appears in its box, so there's no separate save step and nothing gets lost if you stop halfway through. You can reorder or replace any of them later.

6. Choose what you're here for

Tell us whether you're open to dating, friendship, or both. This decides what you're asked next: a section only appears once you've chosen it, so pick friendship alone and the dating questions never show up at all. You can change your mind any time.

7. Complete Basics and your chosen sections

Basics is required, and so is the dating or friendship section, but only the ones you selected. Choose both and you'll fill in both.

These sections cover who you are and where you're based. You choose what to share and can edit all of it later.

The section people most often miss is At a Glance, your mini bio just under your photos. It's required, and until it's done, Discover, Likes You, Events and Chats all stay locked, so if something isn't unlocking, that's the first place to look.

8. Answer your prompts

Only the first prompt is required. The rest are optional, but they're what give people something to talk to you about, and profiles with more answered do noticeably better. It is worth spending five more minutes on them.

9. Start connecting

In Discover you'll see other members of your community. Like the people you're interested in; if they like you back, it's a match, and you can message each other in the app. Head to Events to find what's on near you.

Before you start, keep these two points in mind:

  • When you like someone, they leave your Discover feed for good: either they match with you, or they're gone. They haven't blocked you and nothing's broken; they're simply waiting on their side. If they like you back, they'll turn up in your chats.
  • When you dismiss someone, that isn't final: they leave your feed for now, and once you've been through everyone, Review skipped profiles brings them back round. The one choice that is final: dismissing someone who has already liked you (on some screens this button is still labelled 'Pass'); that closes the pairing for good, both ways.

So if your feed looks emptier than you expected, it's usually because you've already been through those people, not because there's nobody there.

10. Notifications

Two things need to be switched on: the home-screen install (step 3) and allowing notifications when your phone asks. If you skipped either, you can turn notifications on later: the install from Profile → Account, and notifications from your phone's Settings app. Once installed, Cohorta appears on your phone like any other app.

11. Stay in control

  • Block anyone instantly from their profile or your conversation.
  • Report anything that breaks our community guidelines: tap the member's avatar, choose Report profile, pick the reason that fits and tell us what happened. Every report goes to Cohorta Support, confidentially.
  • Cancel any time from your account on the Cohorta website (there's a link in the app), and delete from Profile → Account.

For questions about using the app, check the Member FAQ first. If the answer isn't there, ask in your community's Facebook group; someone will usually know, and the answer helps everyone else too.

If something is broken, or the group couldn't help, email support@cohorta.me.

Please don't message your group's admins about the app itself; they don't run Cohorta and can't fix it. Another member's behaviour goes through Report in the app (tap their avatar, then Report profile) and goes to Cohorta Support.