Before they became inescapable digital prisons, warped corporate reflections of our hellish reality, social media was just a cool way to share stuff and hang out online with friends. Despite its thoroughly modern appearance, social media app Vero feels like a throwback to those simpler times, and is all the better for it. We doubt it will ever be as big or relevant as the services it most directly resembles, but Vero elevates independent artists in exciting ways that other apps should emulate.

Getting Started With Vero

Previously, Vero was only available on Android and iOS mobile devices, but now you can download the app for Windows and Mac, too. It's free to start an account. Vero says that might not always be the case, but getting a free account now locks you in as a lifelong Founding Member who never pays subscription fees. 

Once you create a bio and verify your account with your phone number, Vero can search your contacts to find and add friends already using the service. Beyond that option, though, Vero feels refreshingly unintrusive as far as social networks go. It’s independent, and doesn’t mine your data to create algorithms to push you toward ads. As part of a mission to be “true social,” it doesn’t have ads at all. 

Other social networks also push for this level of freedom from oppressive overlords, but they tend to be somewhat unwieldy open-source projects like Mastodon. What you give up in initial convenience you gain in security. However, Vero offers some of those benefits in a much more mainstream and user-friendly app package.

Socializing With Vero

If Instagram is YouTube, then Vero is Vimeo. Both place a large emphasis on visuals, with posts dominated by big attractive pictures. But Vero feels classier, more intimate and professional. Even the interface, a cool mix of blacks and blues, manages to pack in a lot of content and navigation shortcuts while never feeling cluttered. The video quality itself also seems high, although that might be due to the users Vero attracts rather than the tech itself. 

On Vero, socializing revolves around art, either the creators who make it or the creations themselves. The search page highlights featured photographers. Popular hashtags include #cosplay and #illustration. When you create a post, Vero prompts you to connect that post to something else, such as an uploaded picture or link to a personal site. You can also make your post a recommendation for a piece of media like an album, movie, book, or video game from Vero’s extensive database. I posted about playing Elden Ring on my Steam Deck, and how much I enjoyed reading YA novel Don’t Hate the Player by Mashable’s own Alexis Nedd.

I really enjoyed this system. It feels more focused than other social networks, which just give you a blank slate to fire off formless hot takes. By anchoring your post to an app you like or a place you’ve visited, Vero sparks imagination in yourself and hopefully the other users who see your posts. They’re natural conversation starters, and you can leave comments on posts (as well as like them). It reminds me of Blacktag, but it leverages existing entertainment instead of trying to build up an entire community from scratch. No social space will be free from bad actors, but on Vero I felt much less worried about stumbling into a paranoid conspiracy theory.

The Few, The Proud

Vero covers a wide variety of interests. That said, if you aren’t interested in creating or consuming the featured art, the app loses much of its appeal. Non-creators can’t access all the functionality, such as selling items on the digital marketplace. You’ll still have typical social media features. Send messages to friends or even video call them. But at that point you might as well go back to Facebook or Twitter and put up with all that nonsense in exchange for a larger community. 

As far as social networks go, Vero's health prospects aren't as dire as forgotten contenders, such as Ello or Peach, but the community isn’t huge. Vero currently has at least five million users according to sources I researched. Madonna has 55,000 followers. Zack Snyder, one of Vero’s most prominent members, only has around 400,000 followers (he has 1.3 million Twitter followers). This matters because, much like dating apps, a social network’s strength comes from its community, not just the app itself. Fortunately, the users that are here seem fairly engaged. While I didn’t have enough time to whip up a large following for my own posts, popular posts have plenty of discussion, hundreds of comments and thousands of likes. 

Holding Out for a Vero

If we’re going to spend so much time online, we might as well spend it in digital spaces we enjoy. From appreciating artistic photos to listening to emerging musicians to bonding over shared love of video games, Vero is an enjoyable space to inhabit. As other social networks chase quantity, Vero makes a strong case for quality.