No, you do not have to invite people in your Contacts list to use Open. However, inviting others to use Open will:
- increase your chances of seeing relevant conversations from people you may know
- create an opportunity for you to connect with friends on a deeper, personal level
- allow you to anonymously connect with your friend's friends
After someone joins, the app will connect them as a “Friend" on Open so that you can chat with them (and others). Here is a breakdown of who you are communicating with on Open:
"Friend on Open"
- Your contacts and people who have your number saved in their contacts list.
"Friends of friends"
- People on Open whom you share mutual contacts with. This helps you reach more people.
Sending invitations will never reveal your identity. When you choose to send an invitation to someone, they'll receive a text message that appears as:
How can I send invites?
When you first join Open, you'll be asked if you want to send anonymous invitations to people in your Contacts list. This is optional and can be skipped.
You can also send invites to individuals in your Contacts list by tapping on your user icon at the top-right corner of your home screen:
From your user panel, you can tap on the teal Add Friends button to send invites to everyone in your Contacts list, or select specific people from your Contacts list to send anonymous invites to.
If you have received an invitation to join Open but do not want to join, you do not need to take any further action. If you do not want to receive any further invitations from more of your friends in the future, you can reply to the text message you received with 'X' or 'STOP' and you will not receive any further text messages from Open's users.