How Lotokam works

1. Sign in, no password

You sign in with the Google or Microsoft account you already have. There is no password to invent and no form to fill in.

We ask for nothing else at this point. Not your phone number, not your address, not your age.

2. Say what you need

One tap: you have a car and can take somebody, you are looking for a lift, or you would like to take turns driving. You can change it whenever you like.

3. Drop two pins

Drag a pin roughly where you start, and another roughly where you are going. You never type an address.

Before the pin is saved it is snapped to a grid about 500 metres across, so what reaches the database is your neighbourhood, not your gate. That is deliberate, and it is why the map is a pin rather than a search box.

4. Tap your usual times

Morning out, evening back, in preset chips rather than a clock. Pick more than one if your hours move around.

5. Then forget about us

If somebody is already going your way, you will see them straight away. If nobody is yet, that is not a failure and your request is not thrown away.

It stays on the noticeboard, and every single time a new person signs up we check them against everybody waiting. Join in a quiet week and you will still get an email the day your neighbour arrives, whether that is Tuesday or in six months.

6. You both say yes

Nothing is shared until you have both tapped connect. Only then does each of you see the other's WhatsApp number or email.

After that it is your conversation. Lotokam has no chat, sees nothing, and takes no part in it.