skip to main content

soundings.

what is soundings?

soundings works two ways. with your person, you both answer privately and reveal together before each date. on your own, it becomes a dating journal: the same questions, your honest answers, an invite waiting whenever they're ready to join.

most dating tools help you find people. none help you discover whether a connection has depth.

soundings is six guided dates. each one has a theme, two anchor questions you answer privately in the app before the date, and conversation prompts you bring to the date itself. the questions are designed for poly relationships: metamours, time, jealousy, compersion, safer sex across a network.

you answer alone. then you reveal together. you're honest because nobody's watching. the reveal creates the conversation.

A soundings journey overview showing six dates listed with their themes. Dates 1-3 marked complete, date 4 as the current/waiting one.

the six dates

the journey has a shape:

  • date 1: curiosity and chemistry. what draws you in. what people misunderstand about you.
  • date 2: love and relationship philosophy. what commitment means. how existing partners fit.
  • date 3: communication and emotional safety. what helps you feel safe. how you handle hurt.
  • date 4: time, lifestyle, and integration. whether your actual lives could make room for this.
  • date 5: desire, intimacy, and boundaries. what makes you feel desired. what safety looks like.
  • date 6: vision and possibility. what you've discovered. what you imagine this becoming.
A date's anchor questions waiting to be answered, the 'answer privately before your date' setup.

answer alone, reveal together

before each date, you each answer two anchor questions in the app. privately. no peeking.

then you reveal. you see what your person wrote. they see what you wrote. the conversation you need to have is already on the table before you sit down.

The reveal for date 2: both people's answers visible together, the money shot.

here's what a real reveal looks like. same question, two people, two completely honest answers. one names her existing partner and the structure she's built. the other says she's still figuring it out and wants the room to expand. that's the conversation most people wait months to have. soundings puts it on the table by date two.

at your own pace

after each date, a simple checkpoint: ready for the next one? if someone picks “not yet,” the other person only hears “your partner wants to sit with this one a little longer.” no reason, no guessing game. the conversation about why happens in person, not through the app.

some connections move through all six dates in six weeks. some take six months. the pace is yours.

The checkpoint between dates: 'ready for the next one?' with the gentle pacing mechanism.

what it becomes

each completed date becomes a moment in your shared archive. over time, soundings dates live alongside pulse milestones, glimmers reveals, and embers sessions. your relationship's story, told through the practices you chose to do together.

Elizabeth's moments page showing soundings dates alongside pulse, glimmers, and embers moments. The full tending picture.

on your own

you don't need your date on tessakin to start.

solo soundings gives you the same six dates as a personal dating journal.

answer the anchor questions for yourself. sit with what comes up. bring your honest reflections to the actual date. when your person is ready, one invite brings them into the journey and their answers appear alongside yours.

you don't lose anything by starting alone. you gain clarity.

The solo journaling view: a date's anchor questions answered as a personal dating journal, with no partner column.
The invite prompt in solo mode: a card offering to bring your date into the journey whenever they're ready, so their answers appear alongside yours.
read about why soundings works →

explore the practices

soundings is free on tessakin. start a journey with someone you're discovering.