Announcing Fresh Enigma Profiles
The team has been hard at work the last few weeks, wrapping a bunch of new features for Enigma's users. We’re excited to explain what has changed, why we did it, and what it means for you and our community.
The problem
Enigma’s goal has always been to make UFO/UAP reporting and discussion frictionless, which has helped us grow into the largest real-time reporting network of sightings on the planet. We recently flew past 57K submissions and 700k skywatchers -- and our volume of user comments has also ballooned.
With this growth of the comments section, we realized that while a few active users had customized their profiles, most of our community members were still using their original system-generated handles like e-48213, and had lifeless gray silhouette avatars (sad!) Not only is this no fun, but it also makes the comments section incredibly hard to parse, as all the users' names and avatars looked the same. It was hard to see who was saying what, including when the sighters themselves were weighing in. And we were also not sharing any signal with readers of the comments section on which profiles were longtime, helpful, trusted voices in our community.
What we did
Usernames and Avatars: We went through every comment and found users who had never actively customized their username or avatar. For all of those accounts, we assigned a generated username and an avatar, so that every voice in the community now shows up as a person rather than a placeholder.
Your username and avatar can be customized at any time from your profile.
Public profile pages: Next, we built out full public profile pages. Tapping any username, whether that be the sighter or someone else in the comments section, takes you to that person’s profile. There you can browse their published sightings, upvotes, comments, badges and contributions to Enigma.
Badges: Finally, we rolled out a new achievement-based badge system to reward our most avid users with exclusive in-app badges. We’re honored to have a dedicated community of investigators and these badges are just one token of our appreciation.
All of your completed achievements and badges are visible in your Profile page. Check it out to see which badges you’ve already earned and which ones you can win next!
Before: Accounts showed up as e-XXXXXX-style handles, many with a generic placeholder avatar. Profiles were not easy to browse, usernames didn’t go anywhere, and there was no way to see someone's contribution history at a glance.
After: With these changes, every account has a more human-friendly username and an avatar. Usernames lead to profiles showing more sightings and activity. For those who’d rather remain private, you can flip your profile to private at any time from the Settings screen.
What about anonymous submissions?
None of this changes how reporting works. If you prefer to remain anonymous, you can still submit a sighting on the web without signing up. If you choose to sign-up later and want to claim a past submission, just reach out to support@enigmalabs.io and we’ll be glad to help.
Why it matters
To build a credible eyewitness network, trust and community are critical. Trust is easier to extend to a name and a face than to a string of digits. This update makes the Enigma community feel like what it actually is: real people, sharing real experiences, while still leaving the door open for anyone who wants to report anonymously or not have a profile at all.
We hope this change will make Enigma a more human and welcoming experience for members new and old. If you have any questions or feedback about this change, please reach out to us.