Help Centre / Messaging & Signals

Messaging & Signals

CruiseCtrl's messaging system is built around privacy by default. Chats expire automatically after 24 hours unless both people choose to keep them, media can be sent as view-once, and your entire history is yours to control. This guide explains everything — from starting a first message to understanding the Signals screen.

1. Starting a conversation

There are several ways to open a new conversation with someone:

• From the Discover grid or map — tap a profile card to open their full profile, then tap Message. This creates a new conversation thread in Signals.
• In reply to a Tap — if someone has tapped you (see section 9), their Tap appears in the "Tapped You" rail at the top of Signals. Tap their avatar and choose Message to reply properly.
• In reply to a Pulse post — from the Pulse feed, tap Message on any post card to open a conversation with that user directly.
• From a Beacon attendee list — hosts can message individual attendees from the Beacon management screen.

When you send a first message, the other person receives a notification (if they have messaging notifications enabled) and the conversation appears in their Signals inbox. There are no message request filters or follow requirements — CruiseCtrl is designed for direct, friction-free connection.

2. The 24-hour expiry

This is one of CruiseCtrl's most distinctive features. By default, every new conversation auto-deletes 24 hours after the most recent message. This means:

• If neither person sends a message for 24 hours, the conversation is gone — from both sides.
• The timer resets each time a new message is sent. So an active, ongoing conversation won't expire unexpectedly mid-chat.
• The 24h clock appears in the conversation header so you always know how long you have.
• You receive a notification when a conversation is within 1 hour of expiring, giving you time to either send a message (which resets the clock) or request to keep it.

This design keeps your history clean and private by default. You don't need to manually delete old conversations — they go away on their own. If a connection fades naturally, so does the chat. There are no months-old unanswered messages sitting in your inbox.

When a conversation expires, all messages and any media sent within it are deleted from CruiseCtrl's servers. Once deleted, they cannot be recovered — not by you, not by us. Take screenshots or notes of anything important before a conversation you care about expires.

3. Keeping a chat

If you want to preserve a conversation beyond the default 24-hour window, either person can send a "Keep this chat?" request. Both people must agree for the chat to stop expiring.

To send a Keep request:

1. Open the conversation.
2. Tap the menu icon (⋯) in the top right corner.
3. Tap Keep this chat.
4. The other person sees a banner in the conversation: "Name wants to keep this chat." They can accept or decline.

If both accept:

• The 24-hour countdown disappears and the chat is kept indefinitely.
• A small "Kept" label appears in the conversation header so both parties know it's saved.

To un-keep a chat at any time, tap the menu (⋯) → Remove keep. The 24-hour expiry restarts from the moment you remove the keep. Either person can un-keep unilaterally — mutual agreement is only needed to start keeping, not to stop.

4. Sending media

You can send photos and videos in any conversation. To attach media:

1. Tap the camera icon in the message input bar to take a new photo or video with your device camera.
2. Or tap the gallery icon (image stack) to choose from your device photo library.

Before sending a photo or video, you are given the option to mark it as View Once (see section 5). If you don't mark it as View Once, the recipient can view it as many times as they like for as long as the conversation is active.

Media sent in conversations follows the same 24-hour expiry as messages. When the conversation expires or is deleted, all media within it is deleted from our servers as well.

Please only send media that you have the right to share. Do not send images of other people without their consent. Do not send non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII) — this is a serious violation of our Community Guidelines and may also be a criminal offence in your jurisdiction. Reports of NCII are treated as a priority. You can also contact safety@cruisectrl.eu directly.

5. View-once photos and videos

View-once media is a privacy feature that makes a photo or video disappear after the recipient opens it once. It is useful for sharing intimate content with a level of protection, or simply for ephemeral sharing in the spirit of the app.

How to send a view-once:

1. Attach a photo or video as usual (camera or gallery icon).
2. Before tapping send, tap the view-once toggle (a circular arrow icon that appears on the media preview).
3. Tap send. The media is sent with a "1" indicator visible to the recipient.

What happens when the recipient opens it:

• They see the photo or video in full screen for a single viewing session.
• Once they close it or navigate away, it is permanently removed from the conversation and cannot be viewed again.
• Screenshot protection is applied on supported devices and OS versions. On iOS, the sender is notified if the recipient takes a screenshot of a view-once. On Android, screenshots may be blocked at the system level depending on the device (support varies). Enable this in Settings → Privacy → Screenshot Protection.

Important: view-once provides significant but not absolute protection. On devices where system-level screenshot blocking is unavailable, a recipient with a second phone or camera can still capture the image. Use your judgement about what content you share and with whom.

6. Voice notes

You can send voice note recordings in any conversation — useful for a quicker, more personal exchange than text.

To send a voice note:

1. Hold down the microphone icon in the message input bar.
2. Speak while holding the button. A waveform animation shows the recording is live.
3. Release the button to send. To cancel without sending, slide your finger to the left before releasing.

The recipient can tap the play button to listen to your voice note at any time while the conversation is active. Voice notes are included in the 24-hour expiry and are deleted along with the rest of the conversation when it expires or is deleted. They cannot be saved to the recipient's device from within the app.

Voice notes are not transcribed or processed by any speech recognition service. The audio is stored temporarily on our EU-based servers and deleted with the conversation.

7. Reactions

To react to a specific message with an emoji:

1. Long-press any message in the conversation.
2. An emoji reaction picker slides up. Choose your reaction.
3. The emoji appears beneath the message, visible to both participants.

To remove your reaction, long-press the message again and tap the same emoji to toggle it off. Each person can leave one reaction per message. Reactions do not reset the 24-hour conversation timer.

8. Gallery unlock (photos 2–6)

Users' gallery photos (slots 2–6 on their profile, which may contain more explicit content) unlock automatically once both people have sent at least one message to each other. There is no separate "unlock photos" button or request needed — it happens automatically as soon as the mutual-message condition is met.

This means that as soon as you've exchanged your first messages, you'll both see each other's gallery photos on the profile view without any additional action. The unlock is mutual and simultaneous — it triggers for both people at the same moment.

9. What are Taps?

A Tap is a free, lightweight signal of interest — a way to say "I'm interested" without having to compose a full opening message. Taps are available to all users at no cost.

To send a Tap:

• On the Discover grid, swipe right on a profile card, or tap the tap icon (lightning bolt) on any profile card.
• From a full profile view, tap the Tap button below the profile photo.

The recipient is notified: "Name tapped you." Taps appear in the "Tapped You" rail at the top of Signals — a scrollable row of profile photos showing everyone who has tapped you recently. Tapping back on someone who tapped you opens a new conversation.

A few Tap rules:

• You can only Tap the same person once every 24 hours.
• Taps do not open a conversation by themselves — they are an invitation for the other person to respond. If they're interested, they'll message you or Tap back.
• Taps are not anonymous — the person you tap can see that it was you.

10. The Signals screen

Signals is your messaging hub — everything in one place. Tap the Signals icon in the bottom navigation bar to open it.

The Signals screen is organised as follows:

• Tapped You rail — a horizontal scroll of profile photos at the very top, showing everyone who has sent you a Tap. Tap any photo to open their profile; swipe the rail to see more. Taps disappear from this rail after 7 days if no conversation is started.
• Pinned conversations — conversations you've pinned appear at the top of the chat list, above unpinned ones. To pin a conversation, long-press it in the list and tap Pin.
• Active conversations — sorted by most recent message. Each entry shows the other person's main photo, name, last message preview, and the remaining time before expiry (for conversations with an active countdown). A flame icon indicates they have an active Pulse post.

Filter controls at the top of the chat list let you narrow down:

• Online — show only conversations with users who are currently active (requires the other person's presence setting to be set to "Active now").
• Unread — show only conversations with unread messages.
• Matches — show only conversations where both people have tapped each other (mutual Taps).

Use the search bar at the top of Signals to find a specific conversation by the other person's name.

11. Blocking from a chat

If someone is making you uncomfortable or violating our guidelines in a conversation, you can block them directly from the chat:

1. Open the conversation.
2. Tap the menu icon (⋯) in the top right corner.
3. Tap Block. You can also tap Report & Block to submit a report at the same time (recommended).

What blocking does:

• The conversation ends immediately for both parties.
• The blocked person can no longer message you, Tap you, or view your profile from the grid.
• You disappear from each other's Discover views.
• The block is silent — the blocked person is not notified that they've been blocked.

To manage your block list, go to Settings → Privacy → Blocked users. You can unblock someone from there at any time. Unblocking does not restore a previous conversation — that chat remains deleted.

For serious safety concerns — threats, coercion, attempts to extort or "out" you — please also email safety@cruisectrl.eu in addition to blocking in-app. See the Safety Guide for detailed guidance on specific situations.

12. When someone is offline

You don't need the other person to be online to send them a message. CruiseCtrl delivers messages asynchronously — send whenever you like, and they'll receive it the next time they open the app.

The presence label in the conversation header tells you their status (if they've enabled it):

• "Active now" — they are currently using the app. Expect a quick reply.
• "Active X min/hr ago" — they were recently active. The exact time is approximate.
• No presence label — they have set their presence to Off, or they haven't opened the app in a long time.

Remember that while you can message someone who is checked out or offline, the 24-hour conversation timer still counts down from the last message. If the conversation expires while they're away, it will be gone before they read it. If you want to keep the conversation alive for longer, send a Keep request proactively — they'll receive it when they next open the app and can accept even after a delay.

Still stuck? Email support@cruisectrl.eu · Back to Help Centre