Safe Dating Tips

Keep the conversation on Otter at first. Take your time getting a read on each other here, where blocking, reporting, and pacing all protect you. Share your number or socials only when it feels right, and never because someone's pushing for it.

Look for the badge. Everyone visible on Otter passed selfie verification, so you're talking to a real person. It's still smart to do a quick video or voice call before meeting; thirty seconds of hearing someone laugh tells you more than a week of texting.

Mind what your photos reveal. Skip pictures with your street, your building, or your work badge in them, and consider using photos that aren't on your public social media, since images can be reverse-searched back to your accounts.

Tell someone your plans. Who you're meeting, where, and when. Share your live location with a friend if your phone allows it, and head out with a charged phone. It takes one minute and changes everything about how safe the night feels.

Look them up if you want to. A quick search of their name is normal, not paranoid. Anyone worth meeting won't mind existing on the internet.

Meet somewhere public. A café, a bar, a restaurant, somewhere with people around, for at least the first date or two. If someone insists on somewhere private for a first meeting, that's your answer about them.

Control your own ride. Arrive and leave on your own steam: your car, your transit, your taxi. Nobody you just met needs to know where you live.

Keep an eye on your drink. Order it yourself, watch it made, and keep it with you. If you lose track of it, get a fresh one. No good person will ever be offended by that.

Stay clear enough to judge. A drink or two is a date; more than that with a stranger is a risk. You can always drink more on date five.

Nobody owes anybody anything. Not a second drink, not a kiss, not anything, no matter who paid for dinner, how long you've been chatting, or that you matched at all. Consent is asked for and freely given, every time, for everything. Anyone who treats attention as a debt is showing you exactly who they are.

Trust your gut, and leave if you need to. If something feels off, it probably is. You owe nobody an explanation, a full dinner, or a polite goodbye. Ask staff for help if you need it; they've done this before.

Some things are red flags no matter how charming the person: pushing to move off the app immediately, refusing to video call before meeting, love-bombing you with intensity in the first days, and stories that keep shifting. And above all: anyone who asks for money, ever, for any reason, is running a scam. Never send money, never share banking or financial details, and don't believe the emergency, however convincing. Report it to us and to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, and let us handle them.

Check in with your person. The friend who knew your plans, tell them you're home. Make it a ritual.

Report what needs reporting. If someone crossed a line, on the app or off it, block and report them on Otter. Every report is reviewed by a person, and reporting protects the next member, not just you.