t@ngo · a signal light for your people
Find your people.
Skip the whole internet.
Put up a signal — drinks? hike? somebody check on me — and the people who actually know you see it. No feed. No ads. No strangers. Just your real-life network, lit up.
◉ 5 signals up
close
1 hop
close
↑ that's a live toy. tap I'M IN, change your signal, poke the skin.
01 / what it is
A group chat's cooler, quieter cousin.
Every social app wants you to perform for the planet. Tango is for the forty-ish humans you'd actually get tacos with. It does three things, and then it gets out of the way.
Signals, not posts
One tap says what you're up for. No caption to workshop, no photo to pick, no "hey sorry to bother you."
Your people only
You add friends in person. Your world is them, plus the friends they vouch for. Organic, like it used to be.
A clean channel
When two of you say yes, a chat opens. That's it. A chat that isn't also a mall, a newsroom and a casino.
- no ads
- no algorithm
- no follower counts
- no strangers in your replies
- no doomscroll
- no phone number needed
02 / signals
Twelve signals. Zero essays.
The set is small on purpose. When there are only a few things you can say, saying them stops being awkward. Tap one to see what your people get.
Signals fade on their own. Nobody has to see that you asked about drinks at 4pm and nobody came. (It happens. It's fine.)
03 / check on me
The hardest text to send is "I'm not okay."
When you're at the bottom of a rough stretch, reaching out feels like handing someone your mess. So you don't. And they'd have shown up in a heartbeat — they just didn't know.
Tango has a signal for that. CHECK ON ME is one tap, sits right next to COFFEE and HIKE, and needs no explanation. No paragraph. No apology. Your people get a quiet nudge, and somebody says hi.
We put it in the same row as everything else on purpose. Asking for company should be as normal as asking who wants tacos.
One tap
No words required. Add some if you want.
You pick who
Everyone, your inner circle, or three specific humans.
No audience
It's not a post. Nothing to like, nothing that lingers.
Tango is a way to reach your friends, not an emergency service. If you or someone you know is in danger, call your local emergency number. In the US you can call or text 988 any time.
04 / how it works
Four steps. One of them is a handshake.
Add people in real life
Scan each other's phones when you're together. That's the whole sign-up. No account, no number, no "find friends from contacts."
Put up a signal
Pick one of twelve. Say who can see it and how long it stays up.
Your people get a nudge
A notification, not a feed. "Maya is up for drinks." They tap I'm in or let it float by.
You both said yes, so now you chat
A private thread opens between the people who opted in. Make the plan. Go do the thing.
05 / scenarios
Stuff this is actually for.
You're free and slightly feral. You don't want to text nine people one by one. Signal up. Two friends bite. You have plans by 6:25.
DRINKSYou know three people here. But they know thirty. Friends-of-friends can see your hike signal, and Saturday suddenly has a crew.
HIKEForty-one messages, zero dinner. Skip the debate: one signal, whoever's in is in, the rest catch the next one.
DINNERKid's at practice. You have until 5:30 and a rare urge to see an adult. Find out who's nearby without making it A Whole Thing.
COFFEEYou don't need conversation. You need another human typing in the same room.
CO-WORKYou've been quiet and nobody's noticed, because everybody's busy. You don't have the words. You don't need them.
CHECK ON MESixty thousand people and no cell service. Tango hops phone to phone, so your crew still finds each other at the back left speaker.
SHOW / DANCEThe night ran long and the ride apps are surging. Somebody you trust is probably still out.
NEED A RIDE06 / screens
What it looks like.
Yes, it looks like a 1983 command terminal. Everything else on your phone is a slot machine; we went the other way.
Raise a signal
Your people, right now
Then a clean chat
07 / private by design
We can't sell your data. We don't have it.
The boring-on-purpose part. Tango is built so there's no company in the middle of your friendships.
No account
No email, no phone number, no profile to scrape. Your identity is a key that lives on your phone.
Sealed end to end
Messages are encrypted with the same family of cryptography Signal uses. Phones that pass them along see noise.
No server holding your stuff
Messages travel phone to phone and expire. There's no archive for anyone to leak, subpoena or train a model on.
Works with no signal
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi mesh between nearby phones, with the internet as a backup rather than a requirement.
Straight talk: Tango is in active development. The above is how it's being built, and the code will be open so people who know crypto can check our homework.
08 / events ON THE ROADMAP
Plays nice with the apps where plans already live.
You shouldn't have to copy-paste a party. Share an event link or a calendar invite into Tango and it becomes something your people can signal on.
Calendars
Apple, Google and Outlook calendars on your phone, plus scheduling links.
Invites + tickets
Party invites, ticketed shows, classes and sessions, pulled in from a link.
Other chats
Hand a plan off to the group chat you already have. Tango's a companion, not a cage.
All of it happens on your phone. Tango never sees your calendar or who's going.
09 / faq
Fair questions.
Is this a dating app?
No. It's for people you already know and the people they'd vouch for. If sparks fly on a hike, that's between you and the trail.
Is this only for festivals?
It started there, because that's where phones stop working. But the Tuesday-night version of the problem is the same: your friends are around and none of you know it.
Who can see my signals?
Only people you've added, and, if you allow it, the friends they vouch for. You choose per signal. There is no public anything.
What if nobody answers?
The signal fades and that's the end of it. No read receipts on signals, no "seen by 14." We're not building a new way to feel bad.
What does it cost? Where are the ads?
There are no ads and there won't be. We'd rather charge a few bucks someday than sell your attention.
When can I get it?
iPhone first; Android after. It's a working prototype today. Early testers get in the way everything here works: through a friend. Ask whoever sent you this page.