Rooted Community Guidelines

The short version

Rooted is for people looking for something real. Heritage is at the heart of it, and everyone here has verified they are a real person.

Five things carry most of the weight:

1. Be who you say you are.
2. Be 18 or over.
3. Never ask anyone here for money.
4. Treat people, and their heritage, with respect.
5. Keep it on Rooted until you both want otherwise.

The rest of this page explains what those mean, what happens when someone breaks them, and what we will never do to you.

Being real

Verification is a live selfie check. It is free, it always will be, and it is what lets you reach people here: liking someone and starting a conversation are for verified members. You can browse, and you can always reply to someone who has already messaged you, verified or not. We check it is a real person, in real time, and we keep only the result, never the images.

That means:

• Use your own photos. Not a model, not a friend, not someone you found online.
• Be yourself. Do not pretend to be someone else, and do not build a profile for anyone other than yourself.
• Be honest in the details that matter. Your age, whether you have children, and your relationship structure are things people make real decisions on.

If you have chosen "open to polygyny", we ask two further questions: whether you are currently married, and whether your partner knows you are dating. Both answers appear on your profile and cannot be hidden. That is deliberate. Someone deciding whether to meet you deserves to know, and answering honestly is not held against you. Answering dishonestly is.

Being 18 or over

Rooted is for adults. You must be 18 or over to hold an account.

If you believe someone here is under 18, report them. Use "They seem underage". We treat those reports as urgent, and we would far rather look into a report that turns out to be nothing than miss one that was not.

Money, and the people who ask for it

Nobody on Rooted should ever ask you for money. Not for a flight, not for a visa, not for a hospital bill, not for a can't-miss investment, not because something terrible has just happened and you are the only one who can help.

Romance fraud is patient and it is convincing. It targets people who are being open, which is the very thing a dating app asks of you. So:

• We never charge you for safety. Our scam check is free for everyone, forever. If a message feels off, tap "Check this message" and we will tell you what we see.
• Your profile text cannot mention money or payments. We block it when you write it, so nobody can use their profile as a lure.
• Asking a member for money will end your account. There is no warning ladder for this one.

If someone asks you for money, please report them before you block them, so we can act. You have done nothing wrong by talking to them.

Respect, and heritage

Rooted exists because heritage matters. That is also why we are careful about it.

• Interest is welcome. Reduction is not. Asking someone about where their people are from is part of what this app is for. Treating a person as a type, a curiosity, or a preference to be collected is not.
• No slurs, no racial or ethnic abuse, no hate. Including "as a compliment".
• No harassment. Repeated contact after someone has stopped replying, pressure of any kind, threats, or intimidation.
• No unsolicited sexual messages or images. Ever, and regardless of how the conversation has been going.
• No sharing anyone's private information, including their photos, their messages to you, or anything they told you in confidence.

"No" is a complete answer here. So is silence. Nobody owes you a reply, an explanation, or another chance.

Photos and profile content

Every photo is scanned before anyone can see it. Nothing appears on your profile until it has passed.

Please do not upload:

• Nudity or sexual content.
• Violence, gore, or anything designed to shock.
• Hateful symbols or content.
• Photos that are mainly someone else, or that make it unclear which person you are.
• Contact details, phone numbers, or handles for other apps.

If a photo is removed, we will tell you it was removed and why in general terms. You can appeal.

Child sexual abuse material

Zero tolerance, no appeal, no exceptions. Any account involved is closed permanently and reported to the appropriate authorities. We scan for this on every upload and we do not rely on reports to find it.

Keeping it on Rooted

Your profile cannot contain phone numbers or links to other apps, and we block them as you type.

This is a safety measure rather than a way of keeping you here. Conversations that move off Rooted in the first few messages are the single most common shape of a scam, because everything we can do to protect you stops at our own door. Once you both want to swap numbers, that is entirely your call.

What happens if a rule is broken

We look at reports individually. A person having a bad day is not the same as a person running a scam, and we do not treat them the same way.

We will always tell you the general category of the concern. We will never tell you who reported you or repeat what they said, because that is how people get retaliated against for speaking up.

You can appeal any of these. There is a link in the notice itself and in your notifications. An appeal is read by a person, not a machine. If we got it wrong we will say so and restore your account.

Tools you have, right now

• Report. Six reasons, including "Something else". You never need our permission first.
• Block. They disappear from your Discover, your likes and your matches, and you from theirs. They are never told.
• Unmatch. Ends the connection. Permanent.
• Close the conversation. A kinder ending for something that has simply run its course. It stays closed, and nobody is told off.
• Check this message. Free scam check, on any message, any time.

Blocking and reporting are private. Nobody is ever notified that you reported or blocked them.

What we will never do

• Never charge you for safety. The scam check, blocking, reporting and verification are all free and always will be.
• Never make you pay to reply. If someone messages you, you can always answer.
• Never tell someone that you read their message. We do not show read receipts to anyone.
• Never tell someone who reported them.
• Never sell your data. Your heritage, your faith and your messages are not products.

If something has gone seriously wrong

If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services first. We can close an account. We cannot reach you.

For anything urgent involving a child, or a credible threat to someone's safety, report it in the app and contact the police. Reports involving children go straight to the top of our queue and are escalated to the relevant authorities.

You can also reach us directly at support@joinrooted.love.

If something here has touched your life beyond Rooted — abuse, violence, a scam, or just needing someone to talk to — you don't have to handle it alone. In immediate danger, call your local emergency services. For everything else, findahelpline.com lists free, confidential support services in over 130 countries, and the Safety Centre in the app lists services we recommend for the countries where most of our members live.

Last updated: 11 August 2026. If we change these guidelines in a way that affects what is allowed, we will tell you in the app before it takes effect.