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Direct messages: talk to anyone, privately | 5.13
1:1 private chat with real-time delivery, block-aware privacy, and 2-minute retract
Hey Pickful community,
Today we’re shipping something the community has been quietly asking for: direct messages. Starting now, you can have 1:1 private conversations with any Pickful user — no more shouting in the comment section or @-ing across threads.
💬 Why we built this
The community keeps growing. People want to swap details about an interview, share a hot tip, or just send a single emoji of solidarity — none of which is a great fit for public comments. It was time.
Our answer: one private thread per pair, text plus images, delivered in real time. Online recipients see it instantly; offline ones see it the next time they’re on Pickful.
🚀 How to use it
- Hit the Message button on any user’s profile to start a thread
- A new Messages entry in the side menu shows unread counts with a red badge
- The composer supports text plus images (PNG / JPEG / WebP / GIF)
- Sent something you regret? You have 2 minutes to retract — the message turns into a “Message retracted” placeholder on the other side
- Done with a thread? Hit the trash icon in the conversation header — it disappears on your side only, the other person still has the history
🛡️ Anti-harassment, by default
DMs are more intimate than comments, so we baked the protections in from day one:
Situation |
What’s in place |
|---|---|
Someone harasses you |
Block them and they can no longer message you |
You don’t want strangers writing |
DM privacy setting — accept from everyone, followers only, or nobody |
New accounts spamming |
Tiered hourly rate limit (10 / 60 / 300 per hour, based on points) |
You’re sending too much |
The same limit applies to you — system stops accepting after the cap |
🔒 Privacy
- DM content lives only in Pickful’s database; only the two participants can see it
- We don’t read your DMs. We do retain minimal metadata (timestamp, participant IDs) for compliance
- Retracting is a soft delete: the body is wiped immediately, the record stays for auditing
- No third-party analytics, no ad SDKs
📅 What’s next
This is v1, intentionally scoped tight:
- No group chats (1:1 only)
- No “read by” receipts (privacy-sensitive — coming as an opt-in)
- No emoji reactions (low demand for 1:1 threads)
If you bump into something you need, tell us — in comments, on Twitter, or now: just DM us 🎉
💬 To the community
DMs are how a community moves from “a public square” to “a network.” Squares are great for announcements, but the real connections happen one-on-one. As of today, two Pickful users who want to talk no longer have to take the scenic route.
This is live across Web, iOS, and Android — no app update required.
The Pickful team
May 13, 2026
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