Our algorithm, in plain language

How SHY decides who you see

Matching is the heart of SHY, so you deserve to know how it works.

Who is eligible to appear

Before any ranking happens, SHY filters to people who are actually available to you: active accounts that completed onboarding, match your stated gender and age preferences, are within your distance setting, aren't hidden by privacy choices, and — in both directions — aren't blocked. Verified accounts are prioritized; brand-new accounts get a short grace period while they verify.

How ranking works

Eligible people are scored on three groups of signals: Values (overlap between the interests, values, and lifestyle tags you each chose), Engagement (whether someone actually shows up and participates), and Presence (verification, age fit, and reputation signals like how they treat people). When a signal is unknown we treat it as unknown — we never invent a number. A small amount of deliberate variety is mixed in — occasionally someone outside your usual pattern with unusually strong shared values — so your feed doesn't become an echo of your last choice.

What you control

Your stated preferences — age range, distance, intention, dealbreakers, and the values and interests on your profile — are the strongest inputs. Change them and your feed changes.

Money never buys placement

Paid options on SHY change convenience — for example, a larger daily discovery allowance or browsing another city while traveling. They never change ranking. Nobody can pay to appear higher in your feed, and paying doesn't make you appear higher in anyone else's. The scoring code does not read subscription status. There is also no public compatibility score on people — Harmony shows grounded, human-readable reasons instead of a number.

Last reviewed: August 19, 2026. When our ranking policy changes, this page changes with it — every feed response is stamped with a ranking policy version internally so changes are attributable.