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Compass
Apps & Tools
Compass is a free, open-source directory for finding your people — friends, a partner, or collaborators — based on who they are, not how they look.
Most apps hand you a queue and an algorithm you never see. Compass hands you a search bar and the whole directory.
SEARCH, DON'T SWIPE
Read every profile. Filter by location, age, values, causes, politics, religion, diet, languages, education and personality — more than twenty filters. Or type a single word like "meditation" or "indie film": free-text search reads what people wrote in their bios, not just the boxes they ticked.
PROFILES THAT TAKE TWENTY MINUTES, NOT TWO
A bio in your own words, answers to prompts, the causes you care about, and what kind of connection you are after — platonic, romantic, collaborative, or all three. Photos are optional and never the point. Every field is optional: what you leave blank stays blank.
ONE ALGORITHM, AND YOU SET THE WEIGHTS
For each compatibility question you give three things: your answer, the answers you would accept from someone else, and how much it matters to you. Your score with someone is those three things compared. No engagement optimization, no hidden ranking, no paid boosts — and you can read the source code.
NO "HEY"
A first message is 200 characters minimum and requires a verified email address. You have to say something real about the person you are writing to before it will send.
SAVED SEARCHES INSTEAD OF SCROLLING
Save a search and get an email the day someone new matches it. No daily allowance of people, no reason to open the app out of habit.
YOU CONTROL WHAT IS PUBLIC
Compass is a directory, so profiles are public pages by default — that is what makes searching work at all. One tap makes yours members-only, and search engines are told not to index it. Hide profiles you would rather not see, block someone outright, report them to moderators, export everything we hold about you, or delete your account and its data for good. Messages are encrypted at rest. Your data is never sold — there is nobody to sell it to.
FREE, AND STRUCTURALLY SO
No ads, no subscriptions, no paid tiers, no venture capital, nobody on payroll. Compass runs on donations and publishes every expense. It is governed by a written constitution: proposals and ballots are public, and members who contribute can vote on them.
EARLY
Compass launched in October 2025 and is growing every month. That has been enough to start hundreds of conversations, and not enough to guarantee somebody in your town. So save a search — and if you know someone who belongs here, bring them.
Available in English, French and German.
Source code: github.com/CompassConnections/Compass
Most apps hand you a queue and an algorithm you never see. Compass hands you a search bar and the whole directory.
SEARCH, DON'T SWIPE
Read every profile. Filter by location, age, values, causes, politics, religion, diet, languages, education and personality — more than twenty filters. Or type a single word like "meditation" or "indie film": free-text search reads what people wrote in their bios, not just the boxes they ticked.
PROFILES THAT TAKE TWENTY MINUTES, NOT TWO
A bio in your own words, answers to prompts, the causes you care about, and what kind of connection you are after — platonic, romantic, collaborative, or all three. Photos are optional and never the point. Every field is optional: what you leave blank stays blank.
ONE ALGORITHM, AND YOU SET THE WEIGHTS
For each compatibility question you give three things: your answer, the answers you would accept from someone else, and how much it matters to you. Your score with someone is those three things compared. No engagement optimization, no hidden ranking, no paid boosts — and you can read the source code.
NO "HEY"
A first message is 200 characters minimum and requires a verified email address. You have to say something real about the person you are writing to before it will send.
SAVED SEARCHES INSTEAD OF SCROLLING
Save a search and get an email the day someone new matches it. No daily allowance of people, no reason to open the app out of habit.
YOU CONTROL WHAT IS PUBLIC
Compass is a directory, so profiles are public pages by default — that is what makes searching work at all. One tap makes yours members-only, and search engines are told not to index it. Hide profiles you would rather not see, block someone outright, report them to moderators, export everything we hold about you, or delete your account and its data for good. Messages are encrypted at rest. Your data is never sold — there is nobody to sell it to.
FREE, AND STRUCTURALLY SO
No ads, no subscriptions, no paid tiers, no venture capital, nobody on payroll. Compass runs on donations and publishes every expense. It is governed by a written constitution: proposals and ballots are public, and members who contribute can vote on them.
EARLY
Compass launched in October 2025 and is growing every month. That has been enough to start hundreds of conversations, and not enough to guarantee somebody in your town. So save a search — and if you know someone who belongs here, bring them.
Available in English, French and German.
Source code: github.com/CompassConnections/Compass
