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No. Badger signs you in with Google or a one-tap magic link sent to your email — there’s no password to create, forget or leak.

Badger runs on iPhone, Android, the web and desktop. Sign in on any of them and your conversations and groups are right there.

Start a direct message or invite people to a group. They’ll get a request in their inbox; once they accept, you’ll see each other on the map (if you’ve both chosen to share location).

Open Settings and update your display name or photo. Changes show up for your friends automatically.

No. Direct messages and group chats are end-to-end encrypted. They’re encrypted on your device and only decrypted on your friends’ devices — we can’t read them, and neither can anyone in between.

Only the people you choose. Location sharing is opt-in and set per conversation. If you share nothing, you appear to no one.

Hidden mode removes you from the map completely and stops your device publishing a location, until you turn it off again. Your friends simply see that you’re hidden.

On purpose. Because messages are end-to-end encrypted, the contents are never sent to a notification — you’ll see who messaged you, then open Badger to read it securely.

Tap the mood header at the top of the map, pick a primary and secondary mood, and add a status emoji. Your marker updates live for everyone sharing with you.

When friends are close together, Badger fans them out into a “spider” so no one is hidden. A large crowd becomes a single count bubble — tap it to zoom in and separate them.

They’re quick signals: a status emoji, an activity icon when someone’s on the move, an unread-message count, and a padlock when someone is hidden.

Badger reads your device’s motion to show whether a friend is currently still, walking, running, cycling or driving, as a small icon on their marker. It’s worked out entirely on your device from movement alone — your raw sensor data is never shared.

A DM is a private 1:1 conversation. A group is a named space for several people, with admins and its own settings. Both are end-to-end encrypted.

Yes — replies thread underneath the original post, so the conversation stays easy to follow. Tap a post’s likes to see who reacted.

Plenty: text, photos, videos, voice notes, files, GIFs and stickers, and polls. Links get a tidy preview card. Everything is end-to-end encrypted — heavier media is encrypted on your device before it’s uploaded, so only your friends can open it.

Tap the + in a chat and choose Poll, then add your question and options. Polls are single-choice: tap an option to vote, tap again to change your mind, and tap View votes to see exactly who chose what.

Yes. Tap + → Voice and start talking — you’ll see a live waveform as you record, and your friends get a player with a scrubbable waveform. Video works the same way: record a clip or pick one from your gallery.

Group admins can set a retention window, after which messages expire automatically. It’s a tidy way to keep conversations in the moment.

On mobile, use the system Share sheet and choose Badger — for a photo, video, link or file. On desktop, drag the image, link or file onto the Badger window, then pick who to send it to. To attach something already on your device, tap the + in any chat.

Check that Location Services are enabled for Badger, that you’re not in Hidden mode, and that you’ve turned on sharing for that conversation. On the web, make sure the browser has permission to access your location.

Make sure notifications are allowed for Badger in your device settings and that you’re signed in. Signing out stops notifications to that device by design.

You’ll only appear if you’ve enabled location sharing for the conversation you share and you’re not hidden. Both of you also need to have accepted the DM or group.

Try closing and reopening Badger, or refreshing the web app. If it persists, let us know below — a quick description of what you were doing helps a lot.