# Safety on SkiBuds and on the mountain > For anyone meeting a riding partner online: SkiBuds' 18+ rule, reporting, blocking and location controls, and how to ride safely with someone new. Source: https://skibudsapp.com/safety Updated: 2026-10-26 This page is for anyone about to ride with someone they met online, through SkiBuds or anywhere else. The short version: the SkiBuds app, coming soon to iOS and Android, is for adults 18 and over. Messages and profiles are filtered automatically, you can report any profile or message and block anyone, and reports are reviewed and acted on within 24 hours. Live location sharing is off until you turn it on, and then only your friends can see it. Safety was part of SkiBuds from the start. Stephen Phillips began the app partly to find people to ride with "from a safety perspective," as he [wrote in 2021](https://skibudsapp.com/posts/history-vision-future-of-skibuds-and-why-i-need-your-help). These are the rules the app will launch with, and the [Terms of Service](https://skibudsapp.com/terms) and [Privacy Policy](https://skibudsapp.com/privacy) are the binding versions. The second half of this page is about the day itself: meeting someone new and riding with them safely. ## An 18+ community You must be at least 18 to use SkiBuds, and by using it you confirm that you are. If we learn an account belongs to someone under 18, we terminate it. We don't knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you think we have, email us at the address in the [Privacy Policy](https://skibudsapp.com/privacy) and we'll delete the account and its information. ## Zero tolerance for abuse The terms ban content that is illegal, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene or hateful, and they ban abusing other users. Impersonation, spam and creating multiple accounts for abusive purposes are prohibited too. Moderation combines automatic filtering with human review. When content or behavior breaks the rules, we can remove the content and suspend or permanently remove the account. ## Tools every rider will have - **Filter:** objectionable language is filtered automatically in messages and profiles. - **Report:** every profile and message has a Report button. - **Block:** you can block any user. - **Contact us:** raise a safety concern directly with the SkiBuds team at [powWowLLC1@gmail.com](mailto:powWowLLC1@gmail.com). We review reports and act on violations within 24 hours, including removing content and removing the user responsible. ## You control your location Location features use your phone's permissions, and you can turn location services off in your device settings at any time. Live location sharing is off by default. If you turn it on, only your friends can see your last shared position. Choose Live or the 30-second update mode, and turn sharing off whenever you want. Updates depend on a connection, location permission and a fresh GPS fix. A Day Recap leaves out your GPS route and your exact start and finish points, so you can share stats from a day without sharing where you went. SkiBuds does not sell your data. The [privacy FAQ](https://skibudsapp.com/faq#privacy-security) covers what is collected and why. ## Meeting a new riding partner None of this needs an app, and it works with anyone you meet online: - **Talk first.** Agree on ability, pace, terrain and a plan in chat before the day. - **Meet in public.** Pick a busy, easy-to-find spot in daylight, like the base lodge or the bottom of a main lift. - **Get yourself there if you can.** The simplest first meetup is one where everyone arrives on their own. If you do share a ride with someone you've only talked to online, meet at a public pickup spot like a park-and-ride, not a home address. - **Tell someone.** Let a friend know who you're riding with, where and until when. - **Ride your own day.** You can split up at any point. Agree on a regroup spot and a time to call it. - **Block and report.** If someone makes you uncomfortable, block them and report it. You don't owe them an explanation. The [first meetup checklist](https://skibudsapp.com/guides/ski-buddy-meetup-checklist) turns these into a plan you can copy into a message. Riding with people near your level also means nobody gets pushed onto terrain they didn't want; see [skiing with friends of different abilities](https://skibudsapp.com/guides/skiing-with-friends-different-abilities). ## Riding together on the snow SkiBuds will help you find a riding partner, but it isn't a safety app and can't tell you whether a slope is safe. Follow resort rules and closures, check conditions with ski patrol or resort staff, and ride within your ability. Lift and trail reports in the app will come from other riders, not the resort, so confirm what's open with the resort itself. The [NSAA's Your Responsibility Code](https://nsaa.org/safety/) is ten short lines and worth reading before a first day with anyone. Two of them matter more in a group: people ahead of or downhill from you have the right-of-way, and you should stop only where you're visible from above, which rules out waiting for your friends just below a blind rollover. If there's a collision, the code says to share contact information with each other and a ski area employee. If your new partner wants the trees on a powder day, stay close. [Deep Snow Safety](https://deepsnowsafety.org/sis-prevention-equipment/), a tree well safety site from avalanche and ski-area professionals in the Northwest, puts the rule plainly: "Ride or ski with a partner and keep your partner in sight at all times." Its reasoning is grim and practical. In many tree well and deep snow accidents, part of the rider's body or equipment was visible, but no partner was there to see it. Agree who goes first and where you'll stop before you drop in, and give tree wells a wide berth, looking at the open gaps between trees rather than at the trees themselves. Leaving the resort boundary is a different sport. Avalanche.org's [gear advice](https://avalanche.org/avalanche-tutorial/get-the-gear.php) is direct: "Always carry an avalanche transceiver, probe and shovel and know how to use them." That means training as well as gear, and reading the day's forecast from your local avalanche center before you go. Find U.S. centers through [Avalanche.org](https://avalanche.org/us-avalanche-centers/); [Avalanche Canada](https://www.avalanche.ca/about) publishes daily winter forecasts for much of western Canada's mountains. [How to read an avalanche forecast](https://skibudsapp.com/guides/how-to-read-an-avalanche-forecast) walks through the danger levels, and [finding a backcountry ski partner](https://skibudsapp.com/guides/how-to-find-a-backcountry-ski-partner) lists the questions to ask before a first tour. SkiBuds is coming soon to iOS and Android. The [launch status](https://skibudsapp.com/#launch-status) will change when it's in the stores.