What Yubo actually does
Yubo is a social discovery app built around live video rather than a static photo feed. Instead of scrolling posts, users swipe through profiles filtered by shared interests, join multi-person group video chats, or go live to a public room where anyone can drop in, comment, and leave.
The company, founded in Paris in 2015 (originally under the name Yellow), describes it as a place to "meet like-minded people, or find a group to hang with" — closer to a live hangout room than a dating app or a broadcast platform, even though swipe-based matching is part of the mechanic.
The core product
The free tier covers everything most users need: creating a profile, swiping to match, joining or hosting group video calls, going live, and using the full set of safety tools (blocking, reporting, muted words, location visibility controls, camera/microphone permission management). Matching is driven by declared interests and activity rather than a public follower graph, and conversations move quickly from swipe to live group chat, which is the app's main differentiator from asynchronous messaging apps.
What's new or notable
The most consequential recent change is not a feature but a policy shift: on November 1, 2025, Yubo completed a transition to an 18-and-over platform.
The company says the shift followed roughly a decade of its user base ageing up, an internal survey in which the large majority of respondents favoured a single adult audience, and a phased rollout that began by notifying 13–15 year-olds in early 2025, followed by country-by-country deactivation of 16–17 year-old accounts completed by October 29, 2025.
Deactivated minor accounts are held (not deleted) so users can return and re-verify once they turn 18; accounts inactive for over two years are deleted under the company's data retention rules. This means Yubo today is explicitly not a teen app, whatever its earlier reputation.
Who should use Yubo
Great fit if…
- You're an adult (18+) looking to meet new people around shared interests through live video rather than text-first apps.
- You like the format of dropping into a live group room or video chat instead of scheduling a one-on-one call.
- You want a European-run, Paris-headquartered alternative to the large US social platforms for this specific live-hangout format.
Skip it if…
- You are under 18 — the platform no longer accepts or retains accounts for minors as of November 2025.
- You're uncomfortable with a matching format built on live video exposure to strangers, even a moderated one.
- You want a fixed, published subscription price you can budget for — Yubo's paid packs are sold as in-app purchases with no public EUR/GBP price list.
Pricing in detail
Yubo's base app — profile creation, swiping, group video chat, live streaming, and all safety tools — is free with no feature gate. Optional paid layers exist purely for visibility and convenience, sold as in-app purchases through Apple's App Store or Google Play and priced in the buyer's local currency at the time of purchase. Yubo's own support documentation (support.yubo.live) describes what each pack includes but does not publish a fixed price list in any currency, EUR or otherwise, so no numeric price can be verified against an official page at the time of writing.
| Plan | Price | What's included |
|---|---|---|
| Free | €0 | Profile, swiping, group video chat, live streaming, blocking/reporting, muted words, location and camera/mic controls |
| Power Pack | In-app purchase, price shown at checkout (not published on a fixed price list) | See who swiped you, swipe up to 10,000 profiles/day, unlimited reverse swipes, one weekly Turbo + Boost + Spotlight |
| Elite Pack | In-app purchase, price shown at checkout (not published on a fixed price list); upgrading from Power Pack only charges the difference | All Power Pack features, plus sending Spotlights to non-friends, viewing profile visitors, and priority placement in swipes |
| YuBucks (virtual currency) | Sold in bundles via in-app purchase, price shown at checkout | Used to buy Boosts, Pixels (gift-able digital collectibles), and other one-off cosmetic extras |
Where it falls short
- No public, fixed EUR/GBP price sheet for paid packs — pricing is opaque until you open the in-app store.
- Live video with strangers is inherently higher-exposure than closed or asynchronous chat, whatever moderation sits behind it.
- Press investigations before the 2025 policy change documented cases where reported accounts weren't acted on quickly enough, including a widely reported case tied to a mass shooting perpetrator whose account had accumulated multiple unenforced reports.
- The app's 18+-only status (since November 2025) means any past reputation or guidance built around "teen safety features" is now outdated — check current terms before assuming who the platform serves.
Privacy & data
Yubo is a French company and processes personal data under the EU's GDPR framework; its privacy policy documents collection of profile data, device and usage data, and payment information for in-app purchases, along with the legal bases and retention rules required under GDPR. Age verification (Yoti facial estimation plus manual ID review) requires processing a selfie and, when flagged, an ID document, which the company states is used for verification and not retained beyond what's needed for that purpose per its published policy.
Live-stream and message content is scanned by automated moderation tools, and Yubo states it reports suspected child exploitation cases to NCMEC and cooperates with law enforcement. Users can request data export or deletion through the in-app Privacy Hub or support channels, consistent with GDPR data-subject rights.
How we checked this
Verified against Yubo's own terms of service, support Help Center articles (support.yubo.live) on Power Pack, Elite Pack, YuBucks and minimum age, the company's Safety Hub (yubo.live/safety), and its November 2025 press release on the transition to an 18+ platform, cross-checked against independent safety-guide summaries (eSafety Commissioner) and Wikipedia's sourced company history for founding, funding and past incidents. No EUR/GBP price figures for paid packs could be located on an official page, so none are stated as fact in this entry — the pricing table reflects that gap honestly rather than estimating a number.