How Vanish Works & The Rules

Last updated: 23/09/2026
Reduced registration Groups and voting Automated moderation Subscriptions, filters, and items
Overview

Contents

1. Access and accounts

Vanish is designed to let users participate without traditional registration requirements. Users can create an account with limited information and start using the app without building a full public profile, but the service still relies on account, session, and device-linked controls to keep access functioning and to reduce abuse.

Reduced registration

  • Vanish does not require a full public profile.
  • Vanish does not require normal users to provide an email address or phone number.
  • Vanish is designed for lower-friction anonymous chat while still applying platform rules.

Basic account details

  • Accounts currently operate using limited onboarding information such as a username, password, chosen country, chosen city, gender, timezone, and related profile settings used by the app.
  • Precise GPS location is not required for normal account use.
  • Payment card information is not required by Vanish.
Vanish does not require your email address, phone number, or precise GPS location for ordinary use, but it does maintain device-linked session records and push-notification identifiers so the app can keep one active device session, revoke older sessions when needed, and route notifications correctly.

2. Groups and roles

Groups use a three-role structure: admin, elder, and member.

Admins

  • May kick, mute, promote, and demote.
  • May adjust group tax rates.
  • May spend group funds.
  • May acquire items for the group.
  • May siphon group funds into personal accounts.

Elders

  • May initiate no-confidence votes against the admin.
  • May apply moderation actions to members.
  • May perform public shaming actions.
  • Certain actions against elders incur item or currency costs.

Members

  • May publicly shame other users at an item cost.
  • May initiate no-confidence votes against the admin in eligible groups.
  • Participate in the group as the default entry role.

3. Voting and admin changes

4. Group types

  • Public-invite: listed globally but entry requires approval.
  • Public-open: listed globally and open to immediate entry.
  • Private: unlisted and invitation-only.

Visibility note

Group type affects how a group can be found and joined. Public groups are listed globally, while private groups are not listed and require invitation.

The earlier reference to top-ten onboarding group recommendations has been removed here because that feature is not yet implemented.

5. Subscriptions, Premium Filters, Slots, Spotlights, and Roses

Some Vanish features are free, some are unlocked through Google Play subscriptions, and some are available as one-time in-app purchases. The app currently uses plan-based entitlements as well as one-time digital items, and the exact bundles, availability, pricing, refill amounts, or included benefits may change over time.

Subscriptions

  • Free is the default plan.
  • Access currently adds a higher conversation-starter refill, unlimited search, and recurring Roses and Spotlights.
  • Select currently adds a higher conversation-starter refill, unlimited search, Premium Filters, and more recurring Roses and Spotlights.
  • Black currently adds the highest conversation-starter refill, unlimited search, Premium Filters, full notification insights, and the highest recurring Roses and Spotlights.
  • Subscriptions are processed through Google Play and usually renew automatically until cancelled in Google Play under your Google account settings.

One-time items and unlocks

  • Slots: allow you to start additional conversations where the app’s conversation-starting limits would otherwise restrict you.
  • Spotlights: temporarily increase your visibility and may visually highlight or prioritise you in discovery areas of the app. Spotlights cannot stack with another active Spotlight on the same account.
  • Roses: attach to a specific message and act as a stronger signal of interest. Roses do not guarantee a reply and do not override moderation rules.
  • Premium Filters: currently refer to additional discovery controls such as gender and city filters. They are included with Select and Black. They may also be purchased as a one-time Google Play digital item, or temporarily unlocked after watching a rewarded advertisement in the app.
  • Payments are processed by Google Play. Vanish does not access or store your card details directly, but purchase verification and usage logs may be retained for service operation, support, fraud prevention, and entitlement recovery.

6. Conversation-starting limits and Slots

Vanish may limit how many new conversations a user can start within a given period. This helps reduce spam, protects the quality of the feed, and keeps conversations more manageable for recipients.

Conversation starters and Slots are designed to support genuine conversation-starting. They are not a guarantee of replies, visibility, account safety, or continued access to the Service.

7. Moderation and enforcement

Moderation on Vanish is automated. There is no normal human review workflow. The platform uses user reports, behavioural analysis, honeypot traps, system-level spam detection, and automated model-based evaluation of reported content.

Reporting

  • Users may report other users, messages, images, and group behaviour.
  • Reports include a reason category.
  • Duplicate reports from the same user do not accumulate.
  • Multiple unique reports may trigger action depending on severity.

Automated evaluation

  • Reported content may be evaluated using a third-party moderation model.
  • No human review is conducted due to platform scale.
  • Decisions are algorithmic.
  • The system may not detect all illegal or copyrighted material.

Enforcement

  • Severe violations, including child sexual abuse material, extreme violence, or clear copyright infringement, result in immediate content removal and permanent ban.
  • Only in severe cases may Vanish temporarily collect device and location information to enforce a hard ban.
  • Mild or repeated behavioural violations, including spam, harassment, or evasion attempts, incur progressive suspensions.
  • Suspensions typically begin at one hour and increase with repeated triggers.

Honeypots and trust penalties

  • Automated traps are used to detect bots and malicious automation.
  • Offending users may receive escalating penalties.
  • Trust penalties may affect future moderation decisions.

Appeals

Because moderation is fully automated and there is no manual moderation layer, there is no formal appeal process.

8. Community rules

9. Can I stack Spotlights?

No. A Spotlight cannot stack with another active Spotlight on the same account. One active Spotlight must finish before another can be applied.

What do Premium Filters do?

Premium Filters currently add extra discovery controls such as gender and city filters. They are included with Select and Black. They may also be purchased as a one-time Google Play digital item, or temporarily unlocked after watching a rewarded advertisement in the app.

What do Roses do?

Roses attach to a specific message and act as a stronger signal of interest. They do not guarantee a reply and do not override moderation rules.

Why can I not start more conversations?

You have likely reached your current conversation-starting limit or used the starter balance currently available to your plan. You may need to wait for capacity to refill or use a Slot where available.

Does buying an item give immunity from moderation?

No. Subscriptions, Premium Filters, Slots, Spotlights, Roses, and any other paid features do not exempt users from the same automated moderation systems and enforcement rules.

Can I use the same Vanish account on multiple phones at once?

No. Vanish uses device-linked session authority. If you sign into or claim the account on another device, the earlier device may be signed out automatically.