Contacts & friend requests
How to add someone by username or QR code, what "Request Sent" means, how accepting and declining work, and how request notifications behave.
Why Stitch uses contact requests
Stitch connects people by username rather than phone number, and adding someone always goes through a contact request. This means a stranger cannot simply drop into your contacts or start a full conversation with you unannounced — you decide who you add, the same way the other person decides whether to accept you.
Sending a contact request
There are two ways to find someone and send a request:
- Search: open the Contacts tab, tap the add/search button, and search for their exact username.
- QR code: open their profile from a scanned QR code or a shared profile link — see the Profile QR Codes guide.
What "+ Send Contact Request" does
Open the person's profile and tap + Send Contact Request. The button shows a brief loading state while the request is sent, then changes to Request Sent, along with a short note that you will become contacts once they accept. You cannot send a second request to the same person while one is already pending — reopening their profile later still shows Request Sent, not the original button, so you always know where things stand.
If sending fails — for example, you lose your connection at the wrong moment — Stitch shows a clear message and leaves the button available so you can try again. It never just fails silently.
Accepting or declining a request
When someone sends you a request, their profile shows Accept and Decline instead of a Send button if you open it, and Stitch also notifies you separately (see below). Accepting adds you to each other's contacts immediately and opens the door to messaging and calling. Declining removes the request without notifying the sender that you said no.
Request notifications
Stitch notifies you when someone sends you a contact request, and again when someone you sent a request to accepts it, so you do not have to keep checking manually. These notifications follow your normal notification settings — if you have turned off notifications in general, or for the account sending the request has blocked you, no notification is generated.
Once you are contacts
After a request is accepted, that person's profile switches from request actions to Message, Voice, and Video, and you can start a conversation or call the same way as with any other contact. Removing a contact later does not delete your existing conversation history — you simply return to needing a new contact request before you are connected again.
Profiles opened from a QR code or link
A profile you reach by scanning a QR code or opening a shared link behaves exactly the same as one you reach by searching a username — the same Send Request, Accept/Decline, or Message/Voice/Video actions appear depending on your existing relationship with that person.
If you cannot send a request
- The button does nothing and no error appears: check your connection and try again — a failed send now shows an error message rather than staying silent.
- The profile shows no Send button at all: you may already be contacts, you may have a request already pending, or the account may be unavailable (for example, if it is blocked, deactivated, or restricted).
- You want to add someone but do not know their username: ask them to share their QR code or profile link instead.