Your feed is full of people you don't know.
Ads, suggested accounts, viral videos: you have to scroll a long way before you land on your best friend's photo.
Private social network · made in Quebec
Social media taught you to talk to everyone. Ozu brings you back to your friends.
Photos, Moments, Flashes and end-to-end encrypted messages — hosted in Canada, no ads, no strangers. Free. By invitation from a friend only.
How to join Ozu →- End-to-end encrypted messages
- Content hosted in Canada
- 0 ads · 0 data sold
It's not you. It's the app.
Big social networks aren't built for your friends. They're built for your screen time.
Your "private" messages aren't really private.
On most platforms, the company can technically read what you write, analyze it, and store it outside the country.
Everything is public, measured, compared.
Views, followers, replies from strangers. A photo turns into a performance — and what you post at 16 can still be floating around at 26.
Ozu started from a simple question: what if a social network was just for staying close to the people you actually know? No audience. No ads. No data crossing the border.
The 12 criticisms of social media. And what Ozu does differently.
45%of teens say they spend too much time on social media
45%say social media hurts their sleep
39%feel overwhelmed by the drama on it
Source: Pew Research Center, “Teens, Social Media and Mental Health”, April 2025 — survey of 1,391 U.S. teens aged 13 to 17 and their parents, Sept.–Oct. 2024.
Addiction
No infinite scroll: “You're all caught up since your last visit.” Optional break reminder. Streaks with no alerts and no guilt trips.
Privacy
End-to-end encrypted messages. Content hosted in Canada. No data sold, no advertising profiles.
Mental health
No public counters, no popularity rankings. Night mode on by default for 16–17-year-olds.
Cyberbullying
No public replies. Strangers land in a “Requests” inbox, with no photos. Block and report everywhere.
Misinformation
No reshares, no public posts: nothing can go viral on Ozu.
Manipulative algorithms
No recommendation algorithm. Your feeds are in chronological order, with only the accounts you follow.
Intrusive advertising
Zero ads, zero sponsored content. Ozu runs on donations.
Social comparison
Likes, views and followers are visible only to you. Everyone else sees “Liked by Léa and other friends.”
Fake accounts and bots
Sign-up by referral only, limited invitations, verified email, and we always know who invited each account.
Polarization
No content from strangers, no trends, no echo chamber: just your friends.
Inappropriate content
16 and older (age declared at sign-up). Moderation, reporting and a word filter on shared content.
Superficial relationships
Built for the people you really know: whoever invites you automatically becomes your friend.
Ozu doesn't claim to fix these problems on its own: it's designed not to cause them.
Everything to stay close. Nothing to keep you hooked.
The features you actually use, without the rest.
End-to-end encrypted messaging
One-on-one or in a group: photos, videos, voice messages, reactions, audio and video calls. Only the devices in the conversation hold the keys — Ozu can't read your messages.
Moments and Flashes
Moments visible for 24 h to your followers, then deleted from the server. Flashes sent to a friend, visible for a few seconds, then erased — and you'll know if they took a screenshot.
Photos, Clips and Streaks
A chronological feed of your friends' photos, their short videos with sounds you can reuse, and Streaks that count the days you've been messaging — no alerts, no pressure.
The map, in Ghost mode by default
Share your location only if you decide to, only with mutual friends, rounded to about 100 metres. Never in the background.
$0
No ads to pay for it, no data resold. Ozu runs on donations from the people who believe in it.
Facts, not promises.
The beta is just starting, so no testimonials yet. Here's what the code actually does instead — described in detail in our privacy policy (in French).
Your secret's safe with me.
- 60digits in the security code that lets you check, in person, that no one has slipped into your conversation.
- 60 safter a Flash is opened, its image is erased from the server.
- 24 hthe lifespan of a Moment, after which it's deleted.
- ~100 mthe maximum precision of your location, if you choose to share it.
- 🇨🇦photos, videos, messages and calls go through our server in Canada. Only notifications go through Apple, without the content of your encrypted messages.
What changes, in real life.
- Day 1
A friend sends you their invitation code. You sign up, you're already friends, and your feed only shows people you know.
- Week 1
Your crew lives in Ozu: a group chat, a few Flashes, a first Streak getting started.
- Month 1
You open the app for your friends, not to scroll. You check the security code with your best friend, just because you can.
- After
Your memories stay between you. Nothing was analyzed to sell you something, nothing left the country.
For parents
- 16 and older. Ozu isn't meant for younger kids.
- No strangers by default. Messages from people you don't follow land in a separate “Requests” inbox, with no photos allowed until they're accepted.
- Block and report everywhere, with a moderation team.
- Location off by default, never tracked in the background.
Questions
How can I join Ozu?
Only through a friend who's already a member: they create an invitation code in the app and send it to you. There's no waitlist and no public sign-up — that's on purpose.
Why referral only?
Because Ozu is made for people you already know. Every member is invited by someone who knows them, the number of invitations is limited, and it lets us grow at a pace where we can moderate properly.
Is it really free?
Yes. No ads, no selling data. If you like Ozu, you can donate.
Can Ozu read my messages?
Not in end-to-end encrypted conversations: messages, photos, videos and voice messages. Flashes are protected in transit and erased once opened, but they aren't end-to-end encrypted yet — we'd rather be upfront about it.
Where is my data?
On our server in Canada (OVHcloud). Notifications go through Apple, like for any iPhone app, without the content of your encrypted messages.
Android?
Not yet: Ozu is iPhone-first.
You can only join Ozu through a friend.
- 1Ask a friend who's already on Ozu to invite you.
- 2They create a code in the app and send it to you (valid for 14 days, single use).
- 3You sign up with that code: you're automatically friends.
No friends on Ozu yet? That's normal: we grow one circle at a time. Private beta on iPhone, 16 and older.