Start Here: The Complete Guide to Using Gasper

Gasper is a horror-only film logger. You tell it what you watched, you answer a few "which was scarier?" questions against films you already ranked, and it places the new one in your personal ordered list. No typed numbers, no star count to agonize over. This guide walks through the whole app, from the first download to the privacy settings, so you know what every tab is for before you need it.

Download and sign up

Gasper is free on the App Store and runs on iOS 18 and up.

Sign in with Apple, with Google, or with an email address. Signing up sends no email, so you are in right away; if you forget a password later, recovery works by a code sent to your email. There is no cost. Everything in the app is free, with no subscription and no paid tier.

Turn on notifications if you want the daily pick at 6pm and a nudge when your streak is frozen. You can leave them off and nothing in the app breaks.

Log your first film

Tap the Rank tab, the plus in the middle of the tab bar. It asks "Watch any movies recently?" Search for the film, pick it from your watchlist, or choose something from what is new this season. A film's own page has a Rank button too, and so does the daily pick card.

A few rules about what you can log. Only horror, because the whole point is that every number in the app is comparable with every other number. Film data, posters, credits, trailers and where to watch come from TMDb, so if a title is missing or a poster is wrong, the fix usually lives on TMDb. Unreleased films can sit on your watchlist, but their page says "Not released yet" and they cannot be ranked until they are out. You have not seen it yet, so you cannot know what it did to you.

If you are stuck on what to log first, start with the film that comes to mind when someone asks what the scariest thing you have ever seen is. Everything else will be ranked against it.

Rank it: scare verdict, then head-to-heads

Ranking has two stages. First, "How scary was it?" You give a quick verdict: Terrifying, Some scares, or Barely flinched. This decides which films it is compared against and the range its score can land in, so a film that terrified you can never end up below a film you slept through. It is a coarse sort before the fine one. Between the two there is a card for anything worth remembering: a review with a "Contains spoilers" switch, who you watched with, tags, the "Loved this?" heart, and "Stealth mode" to keep the rank off the feed. All of it is optional.

Then the head-to-heads. The question is "Which was scarier?" Each time, Gasper shows the new film against one you already ranked and gave the same answer. Tap a poster, or drag toward the scarier one. Every answer narrows the remaining space, so even a long list only needs a handful of comparisons. The first few films you ever rank take almost none.

Answer with your gut. The comparison is between your two experiences, not between the films' reputations. If a cheap slasher from 1981 rattled you more than the most respected prestige horror of the last decade, say so. The list is yours. The full mechanics, including what to do with a tie, are in How the scare score works.

Your scare score, the heart and tags

When the comparisons end, the screen says "Added to your rankings" and the film's scare score appears, a number out of 10 with one decimal shown with skulls, along with its place in your list, something like #10 of 49. The score comes from where the film sits among everything you have ranked. You never type a number, and you cannot edit one directly. Gasper scores a film by comparing it to the others you have ranked, so it needs 5 ranked films before it shows numbers at all, and blurs them until then.

Scary and loved are separate on purpose. Hereditary (2018) can sit near the top of your list and get a heart. Shaun of the Dead (2004) can sit near the bottom and get one too. That is not a contradiction. It is the whole idea.

So, the heart. Tap it on the result screen, or any time from a film's page, to mark a film as Loved. Loved films get their own filter on your profile's Rankings tab, independent of the score, and the film page counts you in the percentage who loved it. This is for the films you adore even though they never scared you. As the FAQ puts it, saying otherwise is a disservice to the Scary Movie franchise.

Finally, tags. Each rank can carry built-in notes: Jump scares, Slow burn, Disturbing, Creepy, Atmospheric, Mind-bending, Tense, Gross, Twist ending, Rewatchable, plus any you make up with "Add a tag". Tags are how you remember why a film sits where it does. If you plan to rank a backlog, Building your horror rankings covers how to keep that list honest over time.

Your taste: Scare Tolerance and your fear stats

Every film page shows the Community Scare, the average scare score of everyone who ranked it, next to the percentage who loved it and your own score. Your rankings feed that community figure only as an anonymous aggregate.

Once you have enough films ranked, open your Profile and the Taste tab. Scare Tolerance compares your scare scores with the community's on the same films and names where you land. Score films higher than the crowd and you are Easily Spooked, or Terror-Prone; score them lower and you are Hard to Rattle, or Unshakeable; land within a point of the crowd and the app calls you a Steady Nerve. It is a reading, not a verdict, and it changes as you rank more.

The rest of your fear stats sit alongside it: hours watched, your Hottest Take (the film where you differ most from the community), your Deepest Cut (the film in your rankings the fewest other members have ranked), your top subgenre, your top watch partner, and your fear twin. All of this is all time, not yearly, and the button at the bottom, "Show your Bloodwork", turns it into a tap-through story.

Friends, the feed and lists

Horror is better argued about. Follow people and the feed fills with what they ranked and want to watch, each with the film, their scare score and a review. Like, comment, share. When you rank, tag who you watched with. Feed and friends has the details.

To find people you know, let Gasper check your contacts. Only SHA-256 hashes of emails and phone numbers leave your phone, and they are matched against members who signed up; your raw address book stays put. In person, scan a friend's profile code. Trending, the feed's second filter, surfaces posts from the wider membership.

The leaderboards have two boards on one switch: Films, the scariest films on Gasper by Community Scare, and Fans, members ranked by films watched. The top three wear gold, silver and bronze.

Lists are curated collections, built alone or with friends as collaborators. Save other members' lists, keep a list private, share one with a link, or browse the featured ones. For the social side in full, read Ranking with friends.

Streaks, the daily pick and Bloodwork

The streak is weekly. One rank a week keeps the flame alive, on a fixed seven-day grid from your first rank. Miss a due date and the streak freezes for three days; rank inside that window and it climbs again; still nothing on the fourth day and it drops to zero. Three cards can follow a rank: a new week on the streak, your first film from a director, and your first film of a subgenre.

The daily pick is one film a day once you have ranked five, drawn from what you ranked and from what other members ranked alongside the same films. Thumbs up or down tunes future picks. If you would rather browse, subgenre shelves cover everything from Slashers to Cosmic Horror, with Scariest on Gasper, New this season and International horror alongside.

Bloodwork turns your fear stats into a tap-through story: tolerance, scariest watch, favorite film, hours, dominant fear, streak, Hottest Take, Deepest Cut, top watch partner and fear twin. It is all time, it unlocks at five ranked films, and every slide can be shared.

Privacy and your account

Every rank can go into Stealth mode, which keeps it off the feed and out of Trending while the film stays in your rankings. Turn on Private account and new followers must be approved by you. Block any account and they are not told. Report any post, review, comment, list or profile and it is reviewed within 24 hours. All of this is covered in privacy controls.

Analytics are a small set of product events. If you want out, Settings has Delete account: type DELETE and your rankings, follows, comments and likes are erased and cannot be recovered.

That is the whole app. Rank the scariest thing you have ever seen, then the second scariest, and the list takes care of itself.