Nearkin exists because finding your people shouldn't require an algorithm, a subscription, or giving up your privacy.
Nearkin is a simple tool for finding people nearby who share your interests. That's it. You describe what you're into, and it shows you other people in your area who said the same thing. Then it gets out of the way.
No feed to scroll. No content to consume. No platform to perform on. Just a way to find the people you didn't know were already around you — the ones who also go to the farmers' market looking for someone to talk to about fermentation, or who wish their neighbourhood had a regular chess game, or who want to start a reading group but don't know who to ask.
"The operation of a peer-matching network would be simple. The user would identify himself by name and address and describe the activity for which he sought a peer. A computer would send him back the names and addresses of all those who had inserted the same description. It is amazing that such a simple utility has never been used on a broad scale."
— Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society (1971)
In 1971, the philosopher Ivan Illich described this app almost exactly — and lamented that nothing like it existed. He called it a learning web: a decentralised network where people could find each other based on shared interest, without an institution in the middle taking a cut, setting the terms, or deciding who was worth knowing.
His point wasn't really about education. It was about what happens when human relationships have to pass through an institution to be legitimate. The institution always extracts something — your attention, your data, your money, your autonomy. Illich believed that the most important connections in a community happen sideways, between peers, without anyone officiating.
Nearkin is an attempt to build the tool he had in mind.
Finding someone nearby who shares your interest is free. That will not change. No paywall will ever stand between you and your community.
We show your neighbourhood, not your street. Exact coordinates never leave your device. We couldn't sell your location data even if we wanted to — we don't have it.
People are described, not rated. There are no badges, no reputation scores, no verified accounts. Trust is built in person, the way it always has been.
Success means people meeting in the world, not spending more time in the app. We measure nothing that would tempt us to optimise for the wrong thing.
Nearkin is free while it's finding its feet. If it becomes genuinely useful to you — if it leads to a friendship, a group, a regular Tuesday evening you look forward to — you'll have the option to support it. Not to unlock features. Just to keep the lights on for everyone else.
We think that's a more honest relationship than a subscription.