Do You Need Instagram to Get on Raya?

Expect to need one. Raya's application has a step titled What's Your Instagram?, and Raya's privacy policy lists your Instagram handle among the details you begin an application with. Raya says it reads your account to verify who you are and to judge your real-world connection to people already on the app. Once you are a member, other members can see your Instagram username and the accounts you both follow. So the account keeps mattering long after you apply, including to the women you message.

Raya's privacy policy is specific about this. When you apply, you authorize Raya to read a set of details from your Instagram account:

• Your username.
• Your profile picture and biography.
• Your website.
• Your followers and the accounts you follow.
• The number of pictures you have posted.

The policy gives two reasons. One is to verify your identity. The other is to evaluate your real-world connection to existing members.

The web application also asks you to confirm your username, and says it uses it for verification and for account recovery. So your Instagram is also part of how you get back into your account if you ever lose access.

Applying is not the end of it. Raya's privacy policy says that once you are a member, other members can see your Instagram username and the accounts you both follow.

That changes how a woman on Raya meets you. Before she decides whether to like you, she may already know you follow the same people she does, and she can look you up in seconds. On a lot of apps a woman knows only what you chose to show her. On Raya, she also knows who your account connects you to.

If you have no Instagram at all, you are looking at an application built around one. Raya's pages describe the Instagram step as part of applying, so plan on having an account before you start.

If your account is private, go by what Raya actually spells out. Its privacy policy lists the details you authorize it to read, and that list is a better guide than rumors about private accounts.

Either way, do not build a fake account or buy followers to look more connected. Raya is judging real-world connection. An account that exists only for an application is the opposite of that, and a woman who looks you up will see it for what it is.

Most men think of the Instagram step as a hurdle to clear once. It is more useful to think of it as a second page every woman on Raya can read.

Plenty of women look a man up before a date. Men who have worked on their Instagram describe women asking for it even after swapping numbers, just to see what his life looks like beyond the app. On Raya, your username is already in front of her.

So the question is not only whether you have an Instagram. It is what she finds when she taps it.

Do this for the women who will look at it, not as a trick for anyone else.

Look at your account the way a stranger would. Check that your recent posts show your face clearly and look like your real life: a trip, a sport, friends, work you care about. Make sure the newest post is not years old. An account that stopped two summers ago tells her your life went quiet.

Clear out what you would never choose to show a date. Posts that only make sense to your ex. A grid of nothing but memes. Tagged photos from a night you would rather forget.

Check that your Instagram and your Raya pictures tell the same story. If your Raya set shows a man who travels and has friends, and your grid is three gym selfies from years ago, she will believe the grid. When the two agree, each one makes the other easier to trust.

Keep it honest. The point is an account that looks like you on a normal good week, not a highlight reel of someone you are not.

Put it together and you get the real reason Instagram matters on Raya. By the time a woman reads your first message, she may already have seen your account and the people you have in common.

That makes the message itself count even more. Write about one thing she actually shared, not a greeting that would fit anyone. Keep it short and easy to answer. When she replies with interest, suggest meeting and swap numbers.

Your account gets her curious. Your message decides whether she answers. On Raya you need both.