Pinglo — Lost & Found

Nearby finally means nearby — the feed runs on your real location, or Everywhere when you travel. Community safety alerts now carry a severity and reach staff.

Anyone can walk up and say "that's my phone." Most lost-and-found apps take their word for it. Pinglo asks for one thing first: a private detail only the real owner could know — the crack in the corner of the screen, the last four digits on the card inside. No match, no handover.

Reporting takes about a minute. Pick a category, drop roughly where it went missing, add the one private detail. Then browse what is actually near you, because the feed now runs on your device's real location — or switch to Everywhere and search with no distance limit when you're travelling. Found something that isn't yours? Post a sighting and the owner is notified the moment you do. When a claim checks out, it moves into private chat, so nobody has to publish personal details to get their things back.

Campuses, venues and workplaces get a private layer on top: Communities. Each site has its own space, walled off from the public feed — a safety feed where non-emergency alerts carry a real severity, from Info to Heads-up to Urgent, and run from Active to Resolved; a place map with severity-coloured pins; a member list with a verified star; direct messages that open only after the other person accepts your request; and a group chat. Any member can flag an open alert to the community's own officials. Once you've joined, Face ID gets you back in — no code to retype. City University of London is live now, with more launch partners rolling out.

One idea runs through all of it: you don't get your things back by asking nicely. You get them back by knowing something about them a stranger couldn't.

What you can do:

• Report a lost or found item with the one private detail that verifies a real claim
• Browse reports near you by real location, or switch to Everywhere with no distance limit
• Post a sighting and notify the owner instantly
• Get notified on your phone when someone spots your item, claims one, or messages you
• Join a private Community for your campus, venue or workplace, and get back in with Face ID
• Follow a Community safety feed with severity levels, an Active-to-Resolved lifecycle and a place map
• Flag an open alert to your community's officials
• Message another member directly, once they accept your request
• Check a claim through private chat before anyone meets up
• Report or block unsafe interactions
• Confirm when an item has actually been returned
• Earn points for helping out and redeem them for badges