cruush v3
Written by Julien Lenaz, lead developer of cruush.
The Sinner’s Map opens October 31
At 12am Eastern on Halloween, Saturday, October 31, cruush stops being NYC only. The Sinner’s Map opens in 23 states and Washington, DC: Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.
If you’re in one of them, you move onto the map the next time cruush gets your location, and the Sinner’s Map welcome email follows. You still see everyone within 50 miles, and Mile High Club can drop your pin anywhere on the open map. Everywhere else, you’re in Purgatory, which has its own map with Flash and Pulse.
Halloween weekend
Open cruush on any two days from October 26 to 31 and you get cruush+ free from Friday 6pm through Sunday midnight, Eastern.
Flash
Flash opens your camera to one person, a group or the whole world. Global is the default, so you can find every live Flash anywhere. Give yours a title, up to 5 tags and a cover picture, schedule it for any date, and it shows in the Upcoming tab before it starts. A Flash can last up to 48 hours.
Sort Flashes by Active, Nearby or Viewers, or open Swipe for one Flash per screen, full screen if you like. Chat and react with emojis over the video. Your Flash posts to the Confessional and stays there while it’s on. Tap FLASHING on a map pin to open that Flash, and turn on Show in Carousel to be dealt in the Carousel.
Hosts approve guests, can set a password, invite mutual cruushes with Flash together, and choose who doesn’t see the Flash: mutual cruushes only, or hide it from any crowd. Hosts can mute anyone, turn off their camera and mic, remove or block them, and choose who can comment and who can react, with slow mode. Anyone can report from inside a Flash, including for an idle camera.
Your pin flashes on the map while you’re live, and your own heart turns pale yellow. Holding a flashing heart plays a muted preview, and you can turn that off with Flash previews on hover in Settings.
Calls
Voice and video calls work in DMs, group chats, Covens and Parties, with call buttons in the chat header. Calls ring with the cruush heartbeat and show Ringing, No answer, Declined or Busy. Group calls hold up to 100 people, the chat button in a call pulls the conversation up, and a call shrinks into a corner tile while you keep using the app.
Without cruush+ you get 60 free minutes of calls a month. cruush+ is unlimited.
Verify ID
Verify ID is free, in Settings, and gets you the verified badge. Your ID photos and selfie are encrypted on your phone before they upload, checked on cruush’s own server and deleted after a decision. A person looks only when the machine can’t decide. Your ID is never on your profile and never used to train AI.
Aura
The Vibes on your profile are now called Aura, everywhere: your profile, Edit Profile, Seeking, Visibility and filters. Everything you picked is still there, and tranny is a new identity option.
Parties
Anyone can host a Party for free, with a flyer and a location picker. The address goes only to the people you let in, and each Party can have its own chat. Pick a Vibe, describe your Party with tags, and search Parties by tag. cruush+ adds recurring Parties, cohosts, stats and reusable Parties. Parties are on the Sinner’s Map only.
Party pins on the map show the Party’s name and when it starts, and a live Party’s pin pulses.
Dark Room
Dark Room is part of cruush+. While it’s on, nothing you do posts to the Confessional by itself, and you can Flash without a pin.
Pulse
A Pulse shows who saw it, who opened your profile and who answered, with a recap when it ends. Answer a Pulse with one tap. Pick who sees your beat (Everyone, Cruushes or My crowds) and who can open your pin from it. Pulse in two taps with Out tonight or Free now, and turn on Pulses near me in Notification settings for any Pulse inside a radius you choose. Purgatory members can Pulse too.
The map shows how many hearts are beating near you, and the Confessional lists live Pulses first. Pulse from a Spot when you check in, or turn on Use a Pulse on a Confessional post. Coven owners and admins can Pulse the whole Coven, and new members get two Pulses a day for their first week.
Chat and crowds
See when someone is typing. Only the fact that you’re typing is shared, never what you write. Texts and photos can be view-once, and you see when one was opened. The message button lights up the moment you match. In groups and Covens, bubbles are purple for your mutuals and pink for everyone else. Press and hold a message to reply, react, edit or @mention someone. Post anonymously in the Confessional, and join an open Coven anonymously.
New crowds: Bi/Pan, Ace/Demi, Poly/ENM and Curious. T4C/C4T is one crowd, and T4T is its own.
Spots
Every Spot has its own group chat. Check in where people can see it and you’re in the Spot chat while you’re within half a mile. Spots have a new layout in Spot blue, and Spot posts can include photos.
On the map
If a cruush shares their precise location with you, tap the pin on their profile and the map flies to them. With Ghost Mode on, you choose whether cruushes land on your real location or your Ghost spot.
Ghost Mode starts at a 5 mile radius, and your map presence can last up to 14 days. Seeking has a Recently active switch for people active in the last 24 hours. Your Cruushes list shows real distances again.
cruush+ on Patreon
Sell your soul on Patreon. $10 a month, Daddy takes cards. Founding Sinner gets cruush+ on cruush.app for every month you stay, and the first 1,000 keep $10 forever. Connect your Patreon at cruush.app/store and it turns on by itself.
cruush+ members never see ads. Everyone else can buy the ad space in Parties Nearby and the Confessional.
cruush for Android
Download cruush for Android from the sign-in page. Calls, camera, notifications and the heartbeat work in the app.
Smaller sins
Every Friday at 6pm Eastern, cruush emails you what you missed that week, counts only. The Carousel is free for everyone. New body types: pre-op and post-op. Settings > Account access shows anything restricted on your account and until when. Changing your email asks for your 2FA code when 2FA is on. Photos in messages and Favorites no longer get stuck in review. The bottom bar hides while you type, three profile tags fit across a phone screen, an arrow shows when there’s more to scroll, and the bug button is in the chat menus.
Help keep the lights on
cruush is my full-time work and only income. cruush+ subscribers and Patreon members keep the lights on. Get cruush+ or join on Patreon.
xoxo,
Julien
Lead developer/daddy of cruush