Controlling Who Can Send You Direct Messages
Replyd, Whistlr's direct messaging system, gives you control over exactly who can land in your inbox. Through message request settings, you can decide whether anyone can message you, only the people in your In Circle can, or no one can start a new conversation with you at all. Pairing that with how requests work for people you don't follow, you can keep your messages relevant and avoid unwanted contact without missing messages that matter.
Choosing Who Can Message You
Go to Settings > Privacy > Message Requests to see your three options. Everyone allows any Whistlr user to send you a message request. Followers Only, sometimes shown as In Circle Only, limits new conversations to accounts you follow back or that follow you, depending on how you've set up reciprocal following. No One turns off new message requests entirely, though conversations you already have stay open unless you end them yourself.
How Message Requests Work
When someone outside your chosen messaging circle sends you a message, it doesn't land directly in your main inbox. Instead, it appears in a separate Requests folder where you can read it before deciding what to do. Accepting a request moves the conversation into your regular inbox and lets the sender know you're open to chatting. Until you accept, the sender generally can't tell whether you've seen their message, so you can review requests on your own time without feeling pressured to respond.
Message requests exist so that people you don't currently follow can still reach you for a legitimate reason, like a creator you discovered through Discover or Nearby wanting to collaborate, without giving every account on Whistlr a direct line to your main inbox. It's a middle ground between fully open messaging and shutting out everyone you haven't already connected with.
- Accepting a request: Open it from the Requests folder and tap Accept to move it into your main inbox and reply normally.
- Declining a request: Tap Decline to remove it from your Requests folder without opening or replying to it; the sender is not notified that you declined.
- Deleting without opening: Swipe on a request in the list and choose Delete if you'd rather clear it out without even previewing the message.
- Reporting from a request: If a request looks like spam or harassment, you can report it directly from the Requests folder, which also removes it from your view.
Your inbox should reflect who you actually want to hear from, not just who happens to find your account — message controls exist so that openness to new connections never has to come at the cost of feeling safe in your own messages.
These settings work alongside blocking and muting rather than replacing them. If someone repeatedly creates new ways to reach you despite a No One or Followers Only setting, or sends a message that crosses into harassment, blocking their account stops them from messaging you through any path and removes the option for them to try again from that account.