Trust & safety

Everyone you can be matched with has verified a work email

iHopOn is not open to the general public: you need an account, you are never shown on the open web, and verifying a work email address is required before you can be matched with anyone or see the day board. Members whose domain we recognise carry a verified marker on their profile and on every match; a small number are awaiting a quick manual review of an eligible domain and can be matched while they wait.

We check the domain that address belongs to — not the contents of anyone's inbox. And we never store the work address itself: it is turned into an irreversible fingerprint the moment you verify. Nobody at iHopOn can read it back, and it never appears on your profile or anyone else's screen.

You sign up with a personal email, since a work address can't be used, and you use your work email for this check alone. Your codes, ride alerts and messages all go to your personal inbox. Once you've verified, iHopOn keeps no readable copy of your work address and has no way to write to it. Members whose account still uses a work address from before this rule are asked to change it.

That tells you where someone works. It doesn't tell you who they are, how they drive, or whether you should get in their car — that judgment is always yours, and the end of this page lists what we don't check.

What others can see about where you start

Other members see the first three characters of your postal code, shown with the neighbourhood they name, like "K2J · Barrhaven", on your match card and on the day board. On a match's page, and on a ride you posted to the day board, the map shows your point rounded to about a kilometre, the same point every time. Once you and a match have both accepted, their page shows the point on the postal code you entered instead, so you can both tell whether you are actually on each other's way; you see the same about them. If a match would pick you up at a park-and-ride or carpool lot (only possible if you turned meeting points on), their map shows the lot instead, and nothing near your home. You can also choose to start from a meeting point instead of home, whether you drive or ride; then matches and the day board are shown only that lot, never your postal-code area or a point near your home. iHopOn never asks for or holds your street address, and no phone number changes hands anywhere in the app.

There is no live location tracking anywhere in iHopOn. Not during a ride, not before one, not ever. The app has no way to know where you are right now, because it never asks.

Your phone number stays yours

Messages happen inside iHopOn. There is no phone number field anywhere in the app, and no email address changes hands when you connect with someone.

If you decide to swap numbers with someone you've agreed to ride with, that's your choice to make, later, once you've decided you want to.

Nothing happens until you both agree

Seeing someone in your matches does not connect you to them. You send a request, they accept, and only then can either of you send a message. Either side can decline, and a decline tells the other person nothing beyond that it didn't go ahead.

If you're a woman and would rather be matched with women, you can turn that on in your profile. Women are then listed first for you, with everyone else below them, and men don't see you in their matches at all, so they can't send you a request.

Block anyone, instantly

Blocking takes effect immediately and works both ways. The person disappears from your matches, from the day board and from messaging — and you disappear from theirs.

They are not notified, and they can't tell from the app whether you blocked them or simply stopped using iHopOn.

Reports go to a real person

You can report anyone from their page, which opens from a match, from their name at the top of a chat, or from a day board ride. Safety and harassment reports are read first, by a human — right now, that human is the person who runs iHopOn.

We can suspend an account, for a set period or indefinitely, and we can close one for good. Either signs the person out of every device immediately and ends their access. A closure also keeps the record of the work email attached to it, so that address can't be used to open a fresh account.

We commit to reading every report within two business days, and safety and harassment reports sooner than that. iHopOn is run by one person alongside a full-time job, so that is a promise we can actually keep — we would rather publish a number we meet than a faster one we miss.

Serious incidents belong with the police, not with us. We are not investigators and we have no authority: if something happened that the police should know about, report it to them. Tell us as well and we will act on the account, but do not wait for us first.

Ratings follow people

Once you've been in the same pod for a week, or taken a day board ride together, you can give someone a star rating and add a private written note that only you and an administrator ever see — never them. Only the average is shown next to their name. It isn't a popularity score; it comes only from people who actually rode with them.

If someone keeps not turning up, report it, and a person will look at the account.

Before your first ride

• Agree the pickup spot and time in the app, in writing, so there's a record of what you both said.
• Meet somewhere public and well-lit the first time — a park-and-ride (a pod can set one as its meeting point), a mall lot, a busy corner.
• Tell someone you know who you're riding with and when.
• You can cancel at any time, for any reason, and you never owe anyone an explanation.
• If something feels wrong, don't get in the car. That is always the right call, and it costs you nothing here.

Money and insurance

iHopOn processes no payments of any kind. Cost sharing is arranged directly between you, and any amount shown in the app is a note between members — not a charge, and not something we handle.

Keep it to cost sharing: at most $0.54 per km driven, plus parking and tolls, on a trip the driver is making anyway, and no more than one round trip a day with iHopOn passengers. Those are the carpool conditions in Ontario and Quebec law. Charging more, or driving for paying customers, makes it paid transport — exactly the case personal insurance often excludes. We may close an account that does it.

iHopOn can't tell you whether your insurance covers carpooling, and policies differ. If you'll be driving, confirm with your own insurer, before your first ride, that carpooling with cost sharing is covered.

What iHopOn doesn't do

For completeness, because you should hear it from us rather than find out later: verifying a work email is the extent of the checking we do. We don't run criminal background checks, we don't check driving records, we don't verify anyone's insurance, and we don't inspect vehicles.

Nothing iHopOn shows you is a recommendation. A match, its overall fit, an “On your way” label or a star rating describes how well a commute lines up or what other members thought — never that someone is safe to ride with, a good driver, or insured.

We're not in the car, and we're not a party to any ride you arrange. iHopOn introduces people who are already making the same drive; what you agree to after that is between you.

In an emergency

If you are in immediate danger, call 911 first. Report it to us afterwards at support@ihopon.com and we will act on it — but we are not an emergency service and cannot help you in the moment.

Getting in touch

Anything at all, including things that aren't quite a report: support@ihopon.com. A person reads it.