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The main screen is your Punch list. Everyone you can punch is on it, in a few sections:

• Missed: people who punched you and you haven’t dealt with yet
• Favorites: the people you keep at the top (see section 2)
• Everyone else: everybody else, most recent first. Tap “A–Z” to sort them alphabetically instead.
• Waiting to join: people you’ve invited who haven’t joined yet

Tap a section’s header to collapse or expand it.

If you let Punchya use your contacts when you set it up, anyone in your contacts who already has Punchya shows up on your Punch list on their own. Punchya checks again about once a day. To check right now, pull down on the Punch list.

What Punchya does with your contacts:

• It never uploads your address book. Names never leave your phone. Numbers leave only as scrambled fingerprints (salted hashes), never as the numbers themselves.
• It never messages anyone for you. No “your friend joined Punchya” texts.
• It never sells or shares your contacts with anyone.

If you said “Not now” to contacts, you can still add people one at a time (below). Or turn contacts on later: open the iPhone Settings app, go to Apps › Punchya, and turn on Contacts.

When you join, people in your contacts can’t see you until their phone runs its own check, which can take up to a day. You don’t have to wait for that. Punch them and they’ll know you’re there.

Tap the + at the top of your Punch list to open “Add people.”

• Search your contacts, or scroll.
• People under “On Punchya” already have the app. Select them to add them.
• People under “Not on Punchya — invite” don’t have it yet. Selecting them sends an invitation by text.
• Anyone already on your list is marked “Already on your list.”

The bottom of the screen tells you exactly what will happen before it happens, e.g. “Adds 2 people. Invites 1 person by text.” Tap “Add” to go ahead.

From “Add people,” choose “Add by number” and type their number. If they have Punchya, they land on your list. If not, they get an invite.

Punchya works with U.S. and Canadian numbers for now.

Invitations come from you, not from us. Punchya opens a text message from your phone, already filled in:

You’ve been invited to join Punchya.
https://punchya.com/invite

Add your own words before you send it. A text from a friend that says why beats a bare link.

After you send it, they appear under “Waiting to join” with “Invite sent” and how long ago. You can’t punch them yet. If you try, the row pushes back and says “Nobody there yet.” Invitations last seven days. After that the row quietly goes away, and you can invite them again.

When they join, your punch is the first thing they see (“Sam punched you. That’s what brought you here.”), and their row moves onto your list showing “Joined.”

To take an invitation back, hold the row and choose “Cancel invitation.”

Every row responds to four gestures:

• Tap: open their card. It shows your history together and has a big Punch button.
• Swipe right: punch them (section 3).
• Swipe left: shows “Mute” and “Remove.” Nothing happens until you tap one.
• Press and hold: a menu with everything else, always in the same order.

The hold menu:

1. Punch now. Or “Punch back” if they’ve punched you, or “Undo” right after you’ve punched them.
2. Close (only when they’ve punched you and you haven’t answered)
3. Add to Favorites / Remove from Favorites
4. Add to group
5. Mute punches / Unmute
6. Block
7. Remove

Muting someone doesn’t stop their punches. It makes them quiet. Their punches still arrive and their row still shows “Missed,” but with no sound and no vibration. The row shows a grey “Muted” badge. Use “Unmute” to undo it.

Muting a person doesn’t mute the groups they’re in. See section 5.

Remove takes someone off your Punch list, and they stay off. Punchya won’t add them back the next time it checks your contacts. To get them back, add them yourself from “Add people.”

Blocking someone stops their punches reaching you, including punches they send to a group you’re in. They aren’t told. On their end it looks like an ordinary sent punch.

Changed your mind? Settings › People › Blocked lists everyone you’ve blocked. Tap “Unblock” (or hold the row). Their punches reach you again, and they aren’t told about that either.

Block them. That ends it: nothing from them reaches you again, and they’re never told.

There’s no “report this person” button, on purpose. A punch has no words in it, so there’s nothing for anyone here to read, and we won’t go digging through who punched whom to settle an argument. Nobody here can judge a dispute between two people, so we don’t pretend to. Block, Remove and Mute are yours to use.

Hold someone’s row and choose “Add to Favorites.” You can do the same from the ⋯ menu on their card. To take them out, choose “Remove from Favorites.”

Press and hold the “Favorites” header. The list goes into reorder mode. Drag people into the order you want, then tap “Done.”

(With VoiceOver: the Favorites header is a button labelled “Reorder favorites.” Double-tap it to enter reorder mode.)

One row wears a grey “Last punch” badge: whoever you punched most recently. You don’t set it. It follows you around, so the person you just punched is easy to find again.

Three ways, all the same:

• Swipe right on someone’s row and let go. It takes a real swipe, about a third of the way across, so you won’t punch anyone by accident.
• Hold their row and choose “Punch now.”
• Tap their row to open their card, then press and hold the big Punch button until it fills (“Hold to send”).

You’ll hear the send sound and feel a tap. The row becomes its own receipt:

Punched · 4:12 PM · delivered

“Delivered” means it reached their phone. “Sent” means Punchya has it but their phone couldn’t be reached, usually because they’ve turned notifications off.

If something goes wrong, the row says “Didn’t send” with a red “Failed” badge. Tap the row and use the Punch button on their card to try again.

Punching the same person twice within a few seconds doesn’t send twice. The second one shows “Already sent,” so a double-tap can’t spam anyone.

Punched the wrong person? For 15 seconds after a punch, the row shows an “Undo” button with a countdown. Tap it to take the punch back.

Missed that? For two minutes after sending, “Undo” is also the first item when you press and hold the row.

What they see: their Missed badge goes away, and the notification comes off their phone if iOS allows it. But if their phone already rang, they heard it. Undo takes back the punch, not the moment.

A punch arrives like a text: a notification with the person’s name and “Punched you,” and the sound from your sound pack (section 4).

On the notification itself, without opening the app, you can:

• PUNCH BACK: answer them straight from the lock screen
• CLOSE: dismiss it without answering

In the app, their row moves to “Missed” with an orange “Missed” badge (“Missed 2”, “Missed 3” if they’ve punched more than once). Orange means someone’s waiting on you.

A missed punch doesn’t stay forever. After 24 hours it ages out on its own, because a signal that old isn’t worth acting on.

A Punch Back is your answer: “Got it.” To send one:

• Hold their row and choose “Punch back,” or
• Tap “PUNCH BACK” on the notification, or
• Open their card. The big button says “Punch back.”

Swipe right always sends a new Punch, even when you owe a Punch Back. To answer, use one of the three above.

They’ll see “Punched you back.”

A Punch Back ends the exchange. Two beats, done. You can’t punch back a Punch Back. If you want to start a new round, just punch them.

Opening someone’s card counts as seeing their punch: the Missed badge clears, but they’re still waiting on your answer until you punch back or close it.

Seen it and don’t need to answer? Hold the row and choose “Close,” or tap “CLOSE” on the notification. The Missed badge goes away and nothing is sent.

• “You punched · 3:34 PM”
• “Punched you · 11m ago”
• “You punched back · Yesterday”
• “Punched you back · 2h ago”
• “No punches yet”
• “Joined · 4h ago” (someone you invited who just arrived)

You can still send punches, but you won’t get any. Punches are notifications, so with them off nothing can reach you. Your Punch list shows a reminder with a link to turn them back on in Settings.

Three packs. Each has a sound for a punch you send, one you receive, and a Punch Back:

• Cinema: body blow, close mic, real room. (The default.)
• Cartoon: springs, boings, wind-up
• Classic TV: brass sting, campy dramatic

Tap “Sent,” “Received,” or “Back” under any pack to sample it.

Your pack only changes what you hear. When you punch a friend, they hear their own pack, not yours.

Settings has a “Haptics” switch. Punchya rumbles your phone when a punch lands or leaves.

To quiet one person rather than everything, use Mute on their row (section 1).

To quiet a group, mute the group (section 5).

Tap + and choose “New group,” or hold someone’s row and choose “Add to group.” Pick up to 20 people from your Punch list, then name the group. Saying the name works as well as typing it. Tap the microphone.

The name shows exactly as you type it. If you call it “Carpool,” people see “David punched Carpool.”

A group has its own row on your Punch list. Punch it like anyone else: swipe right, hold and choose “Punch now,” or tap it and hold the Punch button.

Everyone in the group gets “David / punched Carpool.” When one of them punches back, it comes to you only. Nobody else in the group hears it.

Hold the group’s row:

• Punch now
• Add to Favorites
• Manage members: add or take people out
• Rename
• Share group / Make private (see “Shared groups,” below)
• Delete group: gone for everyone

If someone can’t be added, Punchya says so (“Sam can’t be added to Carpool”) and adds everyone else.

Nobody needs your permission to add you to a group. But the first punch you get from a group tells you: “David added you to Carpool.” Right there you can:

• Mute: Carpool’s punches arrive quietly. David’s own punches still ring.
• Leave: you’re out. David can add you again later.
• Block: you’re out, and nobody can add you back to Carpool.

You’ll find the same choices later: hold David’s row and choose “Carpool.”

A group punch shows on the sender’s row: “Punched Carpool · 2m.” Punch back and it goes to David only.

(If David has shared the group and you’ve added it, its punches land on the group’s own row instead. See below.)

• Muting a group quiets that group’s punches. It doesn’t quiet the people in it when they punch you directly.
• Muting a person doesn’t quiet their group punches. To quiet those, mute the group.
• Blocking a person blocks them everywhere, groups included.

A group is private unless you share it. Private means only you can see who’s in it, and only you can start a punch to it. Sharing lets everyone in it see who else is in it, put the group on their own list, and punch the whole group themselves.

Only you can share, rename, change the members or delete your group, shared or not.

Sharing your group

Hold the group’s row, or tap ••• on the group screen, and choose “Share group.” Punchya asks first, every time:

Share Carpool? Everyone in Carpool will see who else is in it, and anyone in it can punch the whole group.

The group screen then says “Shared · 4 people.”

To undo it, choose “Make private”:

Make Carpool private? Only you will see who’s in it, and it comes off everyone else’s list. They stay in it, and only you can start a punch to it.

Nobody gets a message when you share or unshare.

When someone punches your group

Once Carpool is shared, anyone in it can punch it, and you get it too. It lands on Carpool’s row: “Sarah punched Carpool · 2m.” Hold the row and choose “Punch back” to answer. It goes to Sarah only, not the whole group. Choose “Close” if you don’t need to answer.

The big Punch button on the group screen always punches the whole group.

When you’re in someone’s shared group

The “David added you to Carpool” card gets a fourth button, “Add.” Tap it and Carpool gets its own row on your list. You can also add it later: hold David’s row, choose “Carpool,” then “Add Carpool.”

Once it’s on your list:

• Punch it like any row. Everyone in it gets it, David included.
• Its punches land on Carpool’s row, not on the sender’s.
• Tap it to see who’s in it. People on your list show by name. Anyone else shows as initials only. The screen says whose group it is: “David’s group · 4 people.”

Hold Carpool’s row:

• Punch now (or Punch back, if someone in it punched you)
• Add to Favorites
• Mute Carpool
• Leave Carpool
• Remove from my list: the row goes, but you stay in the group
• Block Carpool

Swipe left shows “Mute” and “Remove.” Remove is the same as “Remove from my list.”

After “Remove from my list,” Carpool’s punches still arrive as notifications, but the row stays off your list until you add it again.

If David makes Carpool private, its row leaves your list. You’re still in it, and its punches go back to showing on David’s row.

Someone you don’t know

A shared group can include people who aren’t on your list. If one of them punches the group, it arrives on the group’s row, which is added for you if you didn’t have it. They never get a row of their own on your list, and they show only as their initials, in the app and on the notification (“SG punched Carpool”). Once they’re on your list, you’ll see their name.

Blocked a group and changed your mind? Settings › People › Blocked lists the groups you’ve blocked too. Tap “Rejoin.” You’re back in with notifications on, and if it’s shared, it’s back on your list. If the group has been deleted or is full (20 people), you can’t rejoin it.