Searching and the map

Look around before you publish

You can open the app and look around, but to see sitters and families near you, you publish a profile. No ID check is needed for that. Sitter profiles and family profiles, photos included, are visible to everyone who has published a profile. You only create an account, with Apple, Google or your email address, when you set up a profile or send a message.

Nothing is blurred. You need the ID check to send messages.

Choose your area

1. Open the Explore tab.
2. At the top, choose Find a sitter or Babysit.
3. Tap the place at the top and choose Current location, or type a town or postcode. If you have a published profile, My area takes you back to your own area.

The app uses your phone's location only if you choose Current location and allow it. Your phone rounds it to a square of about 5 km, only that rough point is sent, and it is never stored. The places you search for stay on your phone.

The map and the list

• Each profile is a soft, see-through circle over its approximate area, with a small pin in the middle. The pin shows a tiny photo and the first name. It never shows a price.
• When many profiles are on the screen, you see only the pins, and pins that sit close together are grouped into a bubble with a number. Tap it to zoom in. The circles appear once fewer profiles are visible.
• After you move the map, tap Search this area. The map doesn't search on its own while you move it.
• Drag the list up to see every result. The list reaches a little further than the map: it starts with the people on the part of the map you see, then the people just outside it, then everyone further away, nearest first. How results are ordered
• Tap a profile to see a short preview. Its circle is highlighted. Tap the preview to open the profile.
• Sitters aged 16 or 17 always show their age.

No filters

There are no filters. You see the sitters or families around the place you chose, nearest first. If only a few people are nearby, the list also shows people further away.

Locations are approximate

Nobody's address is shown, and we never store it. Each profile appears as a circle over an approximate area. The area is based on a square of about 2 km for sitters and 3 km for families and moved by a random offset, so the circle shows a rough area, not where someone lives. Some people choose a larger area or show only their town. “Town only” profiles have no circle, just the name of the town.

Distances are shown only in bands, never in exact kilometres, and the map can't zoom in to street level. On a profile page, you see the same circle, marked as approximate.

If you see only a few results

T1D Babysitting is new, so some areas have only a few profiles at first. Tap Show a larger area, or share the app with someone who knows T1D.