Fhetch Frequently Asked Questions

• Is Fhetch free?

  Yes. It manages this by selling advertising space to make money.

• Is Fhetch safe?

  Yes. The vast majority of other apps let users sign up with an email, or a phony social media account, or a fake internet phone number, or allow users to remain anonymous behind a username. This is why those platforms often deal with spammers, cyberbullies, harassers, trolls, etc. On Fhetch, any user will need to verify their genuine wireless number, and will not be able to contact you unless they have your wireless phone number.

• Is Fhetch secure?

  Yes. Fhetch uses end-to-end encryption and valid wireless phone numbers are needed to register. Voip phone numbers will not work.

• What is unique about Fhetch?

  Fhetch is the only app in the world that allows you to request a photo from someone with a single tap and this unique concept is patented. Other fun features such as adding speech or thinking bubbles easily to photos, the possibility to take photos with a continuous flash mode, an easier selfie capture button position for your thumb, sorting your contacts by last seen online by tapping the top left icon, or the ability to quickly change the font size in the chatroom are some of its unique features. There will be more!

• What is a fhetch?

  A fhetch (noun) is a “ping” that is sent out to the user you want to fhetch (verb). The fhetcher who initiates this exchange taps on the left circle next to the contact to request a photo. The fhetchee then receives this notification and a camera lens icon appears accompanied by a glass 'knock-knock’ sound effect.

• Will Fhetch add more features?

  Yes. Fhetch is in its infancy. Lookout for future updates that will include videos, group chats, stories, calls, voice messages, a more interactive chat room, etc.

• Can I discard or reject a fhetch I received?

  No. The fhetch will be displayed for an hour. If you ignore it, it will disappear automatically. If someone is insisting too much, you can always snooze to take a break from them.

• If I accidentally fhetch someone, can I undo this action?

  No. Not for the time being. It’ll disappear in an hour. No big deal!

• Can someone know I fhetched them if they haven’t opened their phone for over an hour and the fhetch expired?

  It depends on their notification settings for Fhetch. They won’t be able to see it on the app, however they might see it amongst their other notifications on their locked screen if they added the lock screen notification setting for Fhetch.

• What does the curved arrow inside the circles mean?

  It means that your fhetch is out and that the photo request has successfully been sent to the server. Tapping the arrow will replace the previous fhetch with a new one and reset the expiration to 1 hour again.

• Why does the chat history disappear?

  Fhetch is a semi-ephemeral platform where the old exchanges in the chatroom get gradually pushed out leaving only the last 25 exchanges visible. People are most likely to share uncured spontaneous messages & photos if they won’t remain in the chat history forever, however it can also be frustrating for the viewer when these immediately disappear after being viewed. So this seems to be a good compromise. Nonetheless, all unviewed media remains in the chat history until it is viewed and media that is less than 48 hours old will also be displayed in full.

• Can I reply to a fhetch with a photo from my album?

  No. A fhetch is a photo request asking to know what you are doing right now and requires you to take a brand new photo. These new live photos will appear as mini polaroids in the main screen on the receiver’s end and as thumbnails in the chatroom. Received live photos cannot be saved. Photos sent from the album will only appear as thumbnails in the chatroom. Received album photos can be saved.

• Why can I save some received photos and not others?

  Users sending saved photos in the chat are sending photos from their album that are already saved on their phones. Most are probably ok with having you save those photos on your phone so we added a save button. Users responding to fhetches usually spontaneously send live photos which are uncured. Many probably don’t want those photos to be saved on your phone so we removed the save button for those photos.

• Will others be notified if I take a screenshot?

  No. Screenshot notifications give a false sense of security and can lead to poor decision making. If you have second thoughts about sending a photo or a message, it might be best to change it before sending it.

• What happens if I change phone number?

  You will lose your total like count and all of your chat history. We are working on future versions of the app which will allow users to keep their account.

• Can I get a Fhetch username and password?

  Currently only companies are allowed to own usernames on Fhetch - other users cannot. This takes away the burden of having to chose an available username when installing the app, making the installation extremely fast and easy. Furthermore, anonymity behind usernames can result in poor user behavior.

• How do I prevent people from bothering me on Fhetch?

  When you swipe left on the cell of a Fhetch user, you can choose to either snooze or block that user. You will not receive any notifications from users you snoozed until you unsnooze them again. During that period, you will appear as offline on their device. Users that are blocked will sink to the bottom of your contact list. No interaction is possible until they are unblocked.

• What is the “C” next to the flash mode?

  “C” stands for continuous. The flash mode will be on while and when you take the photo. This allows the user to take better photos in the dark by letting the camera focus on objects and reduced red-eye effect on pictures.

• How do I see my number of total likes and Fhetch connections ?

  In the main screen, slide the top left icon right to display your number of connections and total likes.

• Why does the icon on the top left in the main screen change when I tap on it?

  The clock icon sorts your Fhetch contacts by most recently seen online. The other icon sorts your contacts by the last activity interaction they had with you.

• Why doesn’t Fhetch show when a user is typing a message in the chatroom?

  Unlike the vast majority of messaging apps, Fhetch believes that not seeing if and when a person is typing results in a better overall user experience.