Community Guidelines

Effective date: May 27, 2026

Cova is for meeting small groups of real people in real life. These Guidelines are the shared expectations that keep it that way. They’re written in plain language, but they carry the same weight as our Terms of Service — breaking them can cost you rings, hide your content, or suspend or remove your account.

You’ll see these the first time you open Cova, and they’re always available in the App under Profile → Legal and at trycova.app/community.

Respect each other

Be who you say you are. Use your real first name and a photo of your actual face. Don’t impersonate other people, brands, or anyone else.

Treat people with respect. No harassment, threats, intimidation, stalking, or hate speech — in chat, in cove descriptions, or in person at a gathering.

Don’t endanger anyone. No sexual content directed at others, no coercion, and nothing that puts another person’s safety at risk. Cova is for adults gathering openly; predatory behavior of any kind means removal.

Protect people’s privacy. Don’t share anyone’s personal information — including the address of a gathering — outside the cove it was shared in, and never to harass, threaten, or expose someone.

Respect the gathering

Show up. Joining a cove is a commitment to the host and the other members. If your plans change, cancel through the App so your spot opens for someone else. Repeated no-shows cost rings and can temporarily limit your ability to join.

Hosting? Use the cancel tools. If no one has joined yet, you can cancel cleanly. If a few people have joined and you cancel inside the withdrawal window, expect a ring penalty. If several have joined, you can step back and the cove continues without you so the meeting still happens.

Follow the host’s lead. Hosts set the tone. If a cove isn’t for you, leave gracefully — don’t disrupt the people who came to enjoy it. Hosts: be clear about what your cove is, show up, and keep things welcoming.

Keep Cova for real gatherings. Don’t create coves you don’t intend to host, use fake locations, advertise products, recruit, or push people to other platforms.

Don’t charge members or make a profit. Hosting a cove isn’t a business. Don’t charge people to attend, take payment from members, or profit from a gathering. If the activity itself costs money — a class fee, a museum ticket, your own food and drinks — that’s fine, but members pay the venue or vendor directly, never you or each other.

Meet in public places. Host and attend coves in public spaces — cafés, parks, restaurants, venues — not private homes. We can’t always verify where a cove is held, so if you’re ever invited to someone’s residence for a cove, treat it as a red flag and report it.

Use the safety tools honestly

Report what doesn’t belong. Use the Report button on a cove, message, or profile. Reports go to our moderation queue and we review them. If you or someone else is in immediate danger, contact local emergency services first — Cova is not a substitute for 911.

Don’t take enforcement into your own hands. Report bad behavior rather than retaliating, calling out, or organizing against another user. We handle enforcement so you don’t have to.

Don’t abuse reporting. False or retaliatory reports are themselves a violation. We track reporting patterns. To protect people who speak up, anyone you report can’t cause you to lose rings for 48 hours afterward.

Block when you need space. Blocking is mutual — neither of you will see the other’s coves, join each other’s gatherings, or see each other’s messages.

Follow the law

Don’t use Cova for anything illegal, to facilitate illegal activity, or to organize harm. We cooperate with valid legal requests and may report unlawful activity to authorities.

What happens if you break these Guidelines

We take a graduated approach, proportionate to what happened:

1. Soft enforcement — we remove content, adjust rings, or restrict specific features.
2. Suspension — your account is paused. You can still open the App and submit an appeal, but you can’t browse, join, chat, or create coves until the suspension lifts or your appeal succeeds.
3. Permanent removal — for severe or repeated violations.

Appeals. If you think we got it wrong, submit an appeal from the App. We review appeals and aim to respond promptly, though we don’t commit to a specific timeframe.

A note on individual gatherings

These Guidelines apply to every cove regardless of category. Hosts may set additional, reasonable expectations in their cove description (“bring water,” “leave no trace,” “phones away”) and members are expected to honor them.

If you notice a pattern of harm these Guidelines don’t address, tell us at support@trycova.app.