Ask an Insider

OffYaGo Insiders are independent tour operators and locals who have been approved by the OffYaGo team and have set up a page. You can find one for the place you're going, write to them, and, if you both want to, plan a trip together.

Find an Insider

• From a trip. On the Trip screen, when the trip's country has Insiders, a row reads Ask someone who lives there. Tap it to see the Insiders for that country. If you already have a conversation about this trip, the row takes you to it.
• From Search. Type a city (two letters or more) and, when an Insider covers it, a group above the results names up to three Insiders. Tap it for the list.

The list opens with the trip's cities already chosen. You can narrow it by city, how they help, interests, languages, Available now and Picked by the OffYaGo team. You need to be signed in.

What a page shows

An Insider writes their own page: a photo, a few lines about themselves, the cities they cover, their interests and languages, and up to three sample trips. They offer one or both of:

• Shows you around, in person on the day.
• Plans with you, help with your trip in the app.

OffYaGo doesn't show ratings. Picked by the OffYaGo team says who chose, not that someone is the best. A photo appears only after the OffYaGo team has checked it, until then you see initials.

Write to one or several

1. Tap an Insider's card. To ask a few at once, choose up to three in the list and tap Write to several.
2. The first time, the app asks for the name people see. It's your mate name, never your email.
3. Write your message and send it. With several Insiders it goes as that many private conversations. None of them learns about the others.

Nobody has to accept first, and there is no mate code. You can start up to 10 new conversations a day. If an Insider is away, the screen says when they're back.

Find your conversations

A speech-bubble button beside the bell on the Trips screen opens Messages, grouped by trip, with conversations about no trip last under No trip. It appears once you have a conversation. Under your last message you see Seen once the Insider has read it. If a message doesn't go, tap Not sent · Tap to try again. It won't be sent twice.

When you aren't looking at the conversation, a notification says someone wrote to you. It never contains the message. See Notifications.

Plan a trip together

Choose the trip a conversation is about with Choose a trip at the top. Then tap Add … to this trip and send an invitation. They accept or decline as any trip mate would, and the usual Trip mate limits apply. An Insider can also invite you to a trip they made, and can ask you to add them to yours. You read their trip and add places, and only they plan it.

When an Insider joins your trip, the app can offer to thank the others you wrote to about it and close those conversations.

Report, block, or stop

• Report is in the ••• menu of a conversation and of a page. We answer within two working days.
• Block is in a conversation's ••• menu. It stops messages and new invitations between you. It doesn't take anyone off a trip. Use Remove from trip or Leave trip for that.
• Closing the others in a trip only ends those threads. A new message from you reopens one.

Who sees what

An Insider sees your mate name, your messages and, only if you invite them, the trip you choose. They never see your email. Messages are kept for 12 months after the last one, then deleted. If you delete your account, your messages go with it and the other person's conversation becomes read-only. See Your privacy in brief and Deleting your account.