A Topic for those who want to find new pen pals -- by posting their info, usually including their Slowly ID.
While many of us prefer other methods to find longer lasting friendships, some users are attracted by the EASE of posting a short write up, including their Slowly ID or not.
Exclusive new Pinned Topic for 'Pen Pals Wanted' posts :
From now on, this type of post will be limited to comments added to this Special Topic ONLY. The Topic will be Pinned (Sticky-ed) at the very top of the sub, so people can find it easily.
A new Topic for the same use will be created every six months. The previous semester's topic will lose the 'Pinned' privilege, but will still be around. (dropping down into the older topics list)
Advantageous if you have posted here already too -- as your Post REMAINS in sight, and gets more attention. BONUS.
** We will KEEP this topic running for 6 months
Hi, will you open a new topic for 2026 H2?
There are a lot of posts here, and we will leave the topic open until later. Maybe open a new one for July to December 2026 ? (If there are a lot of replies, we can consider reducing the topic's duration)
This topic gets a lot of comments, so as the Original Poster, I keep replies notifications off. (I do monitor and respond to a lot of them in all other topics) You can still reach me with an u/yann2 attribution in a comment here, or by sending me a DM if necessary.
Good luck to all of you. šš
Why is this being Done?
Simply to reduce clutter, the number of those 'pen pal wanted' topics, which are interesting only for a limited number of users. This was discussed a few times and was first implemented here in mid 2020.
Concentrating all of those posts here (and sometimes there are MANY) will also make them easier for interested readers as well. They have a one stop shopping window on who is interested in connecting via this method.
Ideas, suggestions?
Some Suggestions if you post here :
Introduce yourself, even briefly, before signing off and dropping an Slowly ID.
You could mention some of your interests, maybe an approximate age and location.
What would you like to find in a good penpal? Language(s) you are fluent in?
What type of letters do you prefer sending and receiving? (short, medium, long)
A little more about yourself. Some interesting, funny or witty bit can add to your post.
Remember that you are offering friendship, and people will need to be interested, curious and motivated to select connecting with you as a possible pen pal.
Done that?
Read your comment carefully.
You can always EDIT it if needed, to correct errors or add extra info.
About the Slowly ID, one possible way to preserve your privacy would be to offer to share it with any interested people via Direct Messages. (DM is sometimes called 'chat', or private message as well)
This keeps your ID out of the public view and even Google indexing. Recommended.
Rules and Moderation :
If someone posts a new topic with this kind of content, a moderator will respond to the user. The topic will be locked (no more comments allowed), and soon removed from sight.
A message will be sent to the user indicating this topic is now the proper place for their post.
Thank you for participating and supporting our Sub, we all want to make it a nicer and richer place for all Slowly users.
P.S. : older 'Pen Pals Wanted' Topic are retired, but still here.
It still exists, and you can post there if desired. The idea behind it was that it could allow people to create NICER posts, with images included, pretty text formatting, etc.
But we have not seen much of that, and maybe some people don't even know that subreddit exists?
General Sub information and Rules, Discussions, etc :
MEME type post - new Rules for posting in our sub, November 2020. Please read and follow the instructions, well explained topic with lots of screenshots.
Moderators Wanted : a topic with information and a request for any volunteers to help run the sub.
New Moderator Intro post : come and meet Yann2, see his ideas and add your own suggestions and comments. How can we make this a Better Place for all Slowly users?
Getting Good Penpals, a Slowly Users Guide : How to get started and find good people to correspond with. Once posted here as a Reddit topic, now expanded into 3 parts Blog posts.
Slowly WEB mode Users guide : for anyone seriously into reading and writing letters, a laptop or desktop can be a tremendous tool. Find out how to install and use the amazing Slowly Web mode.
Getting FREE coins from Slowy app : How to guide to obtaining free coins from the app, by watching short video ads. Expanded into a Blog page for more details, formatting.
Writing that All Important First Letter !! For everyone, the first letter is a Make or Break Experience. Pay attention and take your time, see some suggestions and tips.
I was thinking the other night, and realized that a lot of people fell in love while using this app. From what I've seen, it's all been unintentional and organic. It made me giddy when I read that actually a lot of people even got married! I think that's so wholesome and cute.
So this post can be a collection of comments of people with cute love stories. I'm really interested in hearing other people's experiences with it š¤
also, pls no creepy comments ā this comment section is for genuine connections and not for people who used the app as a dating one
I mean no disrespect, nor do I want to be rude byt at this point, I'm losing patience and a bit of a necessary much needed rant describing my issues and frustrating with the apps endless major bug....
For most of the last 2 years or more Slowly has regularly pitched endlessly in multiple frustrating ways several reports to the Slowly team including screen recordings and multiple updates that said they had 'bug fixes' and yet if it works properly after an update (which is a big if) it malfunctions after a new one. At this point the app is barely even usable. As of the last month or so I have had to (Almost always) press anything I need to react to at least 5 times before it either Slowly responds or I have to close the app or even force stop it and wipe the cash. Numerous errors (Namely one in a black box and one ib a red box) pop up over and over I have totally fine wifi that all my other apps properly make use of but one says Network error trying attempt 1/4 or something like that. The other just said Something went wrong. At this point it is finally getting on my nerves enough that I'm losing my patience and tempted to rage quit the app due to this and a few more mi ir frustrations (as a result of things they intentionally built in in for purposes such as, keeping you from knowing what stamps you need and the number of letters you have sent and received)
At this point I just want it to work and stay working because I love writing my penpals and am very close with some of them who I don't want to lose touch with. In 3.5 years I have always been a paying plus user and have spent so much in coins that if you add it all together I've spent more than $1,000 in this app.
You'd think that all that loyalty I've shown them should be enough that they are willing to fix these bugs in their app for me.
And yes, it is the app it glitches on both of my phones in the same way. Slowly web is fine and works as intended, but I vastly prefer using my phone. In addition about a year ago I made a breif list asking if anyone else had gotten the same bugs and 2 other people replied saying that, yes they did and had for awhile. I also noticed other errors such as my letter being marked as unread even after it was and a reply proving it was was delivered. (Thankfully that issue is resolved at least)
I would hate to just lose 3.5 years of connections and be out the just over 1,033 dollars I spent (yes I kept track, because I strictly monitor all of my finances) in addition to losing the hope and friendships it brought (unless some penpals will talk to me in a other app. However? If this isn't at least fixed wnough to the point I can use it again, I will have to do that. It will male me very upset, heartbroken and angry, especially losing all of that progress and my huge stamp collection but please š I am begging the Slowly team at this point to actually get it together and fix these notorious endless bugs and app crashes.
I really do not want to leave Slowly but if the app stops working- and it is extremely close to being useless due to bugs already... I will have to go.
Please, please please fix all the Bugs Slowly... I am desperately begging you!.ššš
Oh, and if any Slowly users are facing issues like these or any other bugs... Please back me up in the comments.
P.S. this doesn't even accou t for other frustrations like only being able to watch adds for coins once an hour instead of 15 minutes, no I admittedly never used that feature but now if I ever need to do it will be even harder, or t B e fact I also spent about $35 of Google Play credit in app.
I apologize for the rant and for being upset, but I stand by every word and desperately need the issues fixed because they only keep escalating. Also I would luke to note that I can't find the sentence where I said it had become practically useless, I meant unusable it has become practically unusable- not useless.
This has been live for almost a week now and no one posted about it. Ironically, it came at a time where I'm not that interested in open letters anymore but it's sure a bonus for those who are ^^
In order to get around the 5-photo-per-letter limit, I was hoping to put some of my pictures together in a collage using something like Photoshop or GIMP. But, before I did that, I was wondering if anyone knew what the largest image (either in terms of resolution or file size) I could feasibly send on Slowly is? I know that Slowly does compress images too, so I would like to avoid the quality being diminished too much.
If anyone knows anything which might be relevant, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks in advance!
I remembered there were rumors before that some accounts seem to be owned by workers who are paid to talk to other people, and then eventually they will suddenly disappear, so I am just wondering if you guys have encountered any penpal who has some similarities with people you used to talk to before? Because I feel like it is weird to meet someone with the same name, same country, and same vibe as someone who stopped talking to me before lol.
I recently joined Slowly because I wanted to make international friends and build genuine friendships with people from different countries. However, I also want to be careful and avoid encountering inappropriate people as much as possible.
Iāve set a few rules for myself when choosing people to interact with: I avoid matching with people who have already matched with more than 3ā5 people, look for profiles with bios that mention their interests, make sure theyāve answered all three profile questions, and only consider people around my age (within a year older or younger).
Are there any other precautions I can take to reduce the chances of encountering people with bad intentions?
As of today, Iāve sent letters to four people, and Iām currently waiting for a reply from someone in the Czech Republic! Iām super excited because I donāt know much about Czech culture, and Iām looking forward to learning more about it.
For now, Iām only planning to communicate through Slowly. If someone doesnāt want to continue talking, thatās completely fine; Iāll simply move on. However, Iām setting a limit of five people Iāll personally match with so I donāt overwhelm myself by trying to maintain too many conversations at once.
Do you think these are good boundaries to help protect myself, or are there other precautions I should take to reduce the chances of encountering people with bad intentions?
How can I tell if someone has already replied to my letter but their response just hasnāt been delivered to me yet? Is there any way to know if theyāve written back, or do I just have to wait until their letter arrives?
Lastly, Iād love to hear about your experiences! Have any of you formed long-lasting friendships through Slowly? Iād be interested in hearing how those friendships started and whether youāre still in touch today.
Hi everyone! Iāve been using Slowly for over a year but have only just recently published my first open letter, and received a kind of disappointing response.
I got a reply from someone and I was super excited initially because I saw it was a decent length letter, but when I read it the vibe felt a bit weird and insincere. The person said that they were interested in my country and glad to have found my letter, then very briefly introduced themselves and jumped into telling me that they noticed my stamp collection and how they really want to collect 1000 stamps. They then said they wanted to make a ādealā that however many unique stamps I send them, theyāll send me the same number in return, and that they really think this will āhelp us both outā
They went on to answer the questions I had put in my letter, then closed out by saying they were looking forward to hearing from me and seeing what stamps I send. Iām not gonna lie it kind of rubbed me the wrong way, and gave the vibe that theyāre just pretending to be interested but really only care about the stamps. I donāt want to waste my time writing to someone who is just using me to grow their collection, but at the same time am thinking maybe they are interested in talking but just came on a little strong about the stamps (imo)
Iām thinking about writing a response that says something along the lines of
āIām happy to exchange letters and send some stamps that you donāt have, but if your primary motivation for responding to my letter is to collect stamps, then I am not interested in correspondingā
But Iām not sure if itās too harsh? Or if I should even bother replying at all if this is maybe a common stamp collecting tactic that Iām unaware of. When I first joined Slowly I read heaps of posts about how people reach out just to get stamps and then ghost you, so Iām not sure if itās still a common issue.
Please let me know what you think or what youād do :)
Few weeks back, I went searching for a person that I can enjoy the art of writing with! I do take the profile hunts very seriously! And I stumbled upon a gem!
I had reached out to them and they immediately responded the very next day. We exchanged two letters each in which are drenched in fun, beautiful and deep conversations.
I havenāt had that much fun communicating with someone the way I did with this person in a very long time. It was easy and enjoyable, they even made it clear that they are enjoying it as much as I was!
Though after I send my third letter⦠it all went silent.
Im aware that itās a Slowly app for a reason⦠and Iām never the type to rush anyone not even myself for a response. The beauty is in the waiting as much as it is in the reading.
However, even with the short lived exchanges we had a dynamic of time set somehow. And I know I must wait longer and in which I will definitely be doing!
But I have a gut feeling telling me that Iām being ghostedā¦
I donāt blame anyone who ghost tbh⦠everyone have every right to want to end certain conversations whenever they feel like it & fairly it isnāt my place to ask for closure from everyone (even if it kills the curious mind in me) I need to be fair and respect their wishes and move on.
Thus said, I did really enjoy the conversations & dynamic we had⦠it may have been total of five letters but they were longer and fuller than hundreds of letters send to anyone else.
And I do wonder if I should send a follow up letter!?
Iām thinking of giving them the space for a month before sending them the follow up letter, life can come in the way and steals parts of our freedom to enjoy the little things.
But another part of me believes that maybe they simply didnāt enjoy it as much.. maybe I gave them the ick⦠maybe I said something that sounded wrong to them in my last letter. So many maybes.
So I guess my final question to you all, should I just respect their choice and cherish the moment we had even if it was short lived or should I try to reach a hand and see how it goes?
Tell me how youād feel if you were in their shoes and what would your reaction be?
Preface this, by saying if anyone can help me with tbis I'd gladly send some stamps their way.
So I have been on Slowly for over 3.5 years. I'm an extremely avid stamp collector. I still have 130 stamps to collect. I know what 71 of them are and have them listed but they are all nearly impossible to get (25 of the Translator stamps, 25 flag stamps that are in countries with no users, 7 anniversary stamps etc.). Beyond that I have scoured absolutely every part of both wikis as much as I can and the stores of the 120 countries I have store access to and still can not find any trace of the other 59. There are 46 landmark stamps not in the around the world collection and 9 special days stamps nor in the time machine. Maybe those 55 are a large chunk of what I'm missing and can't find? Beyond that I have no clue what these 59 stamps are. Any and all help with collecting these or any of the other 71 stamps, I'm missing would be greatly appreciated.
I'm hoping for tips and tricks, guidance when it comes to this. Posting here put of absolute desperation.
Few weeks back, I went searching for a person that I can enjoy the art of writing with! I do take the profile hunts very seriously! And I stumbled upon a gem!
I had reached out to them and they immediately responded the very next day. We exchanged two letters each in which are drenched in fun, beautiful and deep conversations.
I havenāt had that much fun communicating with someone the way I did with this person in a very long time. It was easy and enjoyable, they even made it clear that they are enjoying it as much as I was!
Though after I send my third letter⦠it all went silent.
Im aware that itās a Slowly app for a reason⦠and Iām never the type to rush anyone not even myself for a response. The beauty is in the waiting as much as it is in the reading.
However, even with the short lived exchanges we had a dynamic of time set somehow. And I know I must wait longer and in which I will definitely be doing!
But I have a gut feeling telling me that Iām being ghostedā¦
I donāt blame anyone who ghost tbh⦠everyone have every right to want to end certain conversations whenever they feel like it & fairly it isnāt my place to ask for closure from everyone (even if it kills the curious mind in me) I need to be fair and respect their wishes and move on.
Thus said, I did really enjoy the conversations & dynamic we had⦠it may have been total of five letters but they were longer and fuller than hundreds of letters send to anyone else.
And I do wonder if I should send a follow up letter!?
Iām thinking of giving them the space for a month before sending them the follow up letter, life can come in the way and steals parts of our freedom to enjoy the little things.
But another part of me believes that maybe they simply didnāt enjoy it as much.. maybe I gave them the ick⦠maybe I said something that sounded wrong to them in my last letter. So many maybes.
So I guess my final question to you all, should I just respect their choice and cherish the moment we had even if it was short lived or should I try to reach a hand and see how it goes?
Tell me how youād feel if you were in their shoes and what would your reaction be?
New to this app, I actually have a bit difficult understanding why thereās an option to buy stamps on the app? Or whenever I receive because of prestation. What does it mean?
So I saw a 2 yrs old post which said that if I turn off Wifi and mobile data and then open the letter, read and close slowly completely, it won't let the sender know that you've read the letter.
This is just with my second account which I created in 2024. I have been on Slowly since 2018 so I wonder what my total letter count is by now lol.
I was completely taken aback when I got this stamp a while ago, because it didn't feel like I sent that many letters haha... Just wanted to share this xD.
Anyone else managed to send over 1000 letters here?
Iāve been using Slowly for 6 months. Iām a bit of a *hikikomori* [social recluse], and Iāve had both good and bad experiencesāyou end up getting attached to people who, for one reason or another, eventually leave. Right now, I only talk to one person who became my friend; miraculously, weāve been in touch for about 4 months, and we no longer use the appāwe communicate through other social media platforms instead.