What Is The Unsent Project? How It Works, Safety, and Why Millions Participate

Ever think about how people feel after going through a heartbreak or breakup? Well, this popped into my mind a few days ago and then I started doing research on it. Eventually, I came across The Unsent Project, an initiative to allow users to say whatever they want without showing their identity.

Guess what?

Millions of users have shared their unsent messages on this platform, which they want to send to their favorites but couldn’t. Rora Blue, the mystery girl, has started this website and gained immense popularity as it directly connects with a larger audience base.

In this guide, I am going to share details of The Unsent Project website, how it works, is it safe to use, why people use and the best alternative sites.

The Unsent Project is an online website where you can post the texts that you want to send to someone but are unable to do so. The best part is that your identity will remain anonymous.

Here’s how it works: participants submit three pieces of information:

• The first name of their first love
• The unsent message they wish they had (or hadn’t) sent
• The color they associate with that person

Think of it as a digital museum of unspoken feelings. You can search by any first name (like “Sarah” or “Michael”) and read through dozens, sometimes hundreds, of unsent messages to people with that name. Each entry appears in the color the sender associated with their first love.

Artist Rora Blue launched The Unsent Project in 2015 as a college thesis project at Arizona State University.

Blue’s original concept was simple but powerful: explore the relationship between color and emotion through the lens of first love. She started by asking friends to submit their unsent messages, expecting maybe a few hundred responses.

Instead, submissions exploded. Within the first year, thousands of people from across the globe contributed their stories. What Blue discovered was that people desperately wanted a safe space to express feelings they’d kept bottled up, sometimes for decades.

The project touches on something deeply human: the gap between what we feel and what we say. Blue told interviewers that she was fascinated by how color associations vary wildly between people, yet the emotional themes remain remarkably consistent.

The Submission Process

Submitting to The Unsent Project takes less than two minutes:

1. Visit theunsentproject.com
2. Click “Submit“
3. Enter your first love’s first name
4. Type your unsent message (no character limit)
5. Select the color you associate with that person
6. Hit submit, your entry goes live immediately

No email required. No account creation. And no identifying information collected.

Your submission appears anonymously in the archive, searchable by the name and color you selected. That’s it.

Searching The Archive

The real magic happens when you search the archive. Type in any common first name, and you’ll pull up hundreds of entries. You can filter by color or scroll through them all.

This creates unexpected moments of connection. You might search for your own first love’s name out of curiosity and find messages that mirror your own experience exactly. Or you’ll read submissions that give you insight into how your ex might have felt.

The search function makes The Unsent Project more than just a submission platform, it’s a tool for processing emotions through the experiences of strangers.

Yes, The Unsent Project is completely safe and anonymous.

Here’s what the platform does NOT collect:

• Email addresses
• IP addresses
• Location data
• Any personal identifying information
• Contact details of any kind

Your submission is permanently anonymous. Even Rora Blue can’t trace submissions back to individual users.

Privacy Considerations

That said, keep these points in mind:

What you submit is public. Anyone can search the archive and read your message. Don’t include identifying details if you want to maintain privacy (like specific locations, mutual friends, or unique circumstances that could identify you).

Once submitted, it’s permanent. There’s no delete function. The project’s entire purpose is to create a lasting archive, so think carefully before hitting submit.

Your message appears exactly as written. There’s no moderation for content (within legal bounds). The project intentionally preserves the raw, unfiltered nature of these confessions.

For most users, this level of anonymity provides enough safety to be vulnerable. The public nature actually becomes part of the appeal, knowing others will read and potentially relate to your words.

This is where The Unsent Project gets interesting: the colors mean whatever you want them to mean.

There’s no predefined color guide. Blue intentionally left color interpretation completely subjective. When you submit, you choose the color based on your personal association with that person, maybe it’s their favorite color, the color of their eyes, what they wore on your first date, or just an abstract feeling.

Common Color Patterns Users Report:

While meanings vary, certain patterns have emerged in how people choose colors:

Emotional Catharsis

The most common reason people participate is simple: closure without confrontation.

Writing an unsent message allows you to express feelings that might be inappropriate, impossible, or simply too late to share directly. Maybe your first love is married now. Maybe they passed away, or maybe you just never got the chance to say what you needed to say.

The Unsent Project provides an outlet that feels more meaningful than journaling alone because your words join a collective experience.

Connection Through Shared Experience

Reading through the archive creates unexpected moments of recognition. You realize the specific, seemingly unique pain you felt is actually universal.

Thousands of people have written “I think about you every day” to someone named Alex. Hundreds have apologized to someone named Sarah for not being brave enough. This shared vulnerability builds connection without requiring direct interaction.

Artistic Contribution

Some people view their submission as participating in a collaborative art piece. Your message becomes part of something larger, a digital tapestry of human emotion that future visitors will experience.

The project gained mainstream attention through several channels:

Social Media: Screenshots of particularly moving or relatable submissions spread across Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. Users would share submissions that resonated with their own experiences, driving traffic back to the site.

Media Coverage: Publications like Teen Vogue, Buzzfeed, and Cosmopolitan featured the project, introducing it to millions of readers who immediately connected with the concept.

Word of Mouth: The project’s searchable nature created a viral loop. People would search their own first love’s name, find submissions that stunned them, then tell friends to do the same.

TikTok Trends: In 2020-2021, TikTok users created videos reading submissions from The Unsent Project, sometimes adding context or reactions. These videos garnered millions of views and introduced the project to Gen Z audiences.

Considering the interest of the users and the connection they feel with the unsent messages, The unsent project provides you with an opportunity to buy your favorite message in original hard copy. You can shop:

• Unsent Project Sticker for $2
• The Unsent Project Sticky Note for $5

The project works best as a symbolic release valve, not as indirect communication or a substitute for actual closure conversations when those are possible and safe.

Despite having a brilliant purpose and easy to use interface, some people look for other apps like Unsent Project. The reasons may be different, but there are many options available on the web. As a result, you can easily find more websites like the Unsent Project that best suit your preferences.

Here are some websites like the Unsent Project:

• Dear My Blank: A Tumblr based platform where people submit anonymous letters they will never send.
• Letters Anonymous: A site for posting emotional and unsent letters anonymously.
• PostSecret: A long-running community art project where people mail in secrets on postcards.
• Penzu (Private Journal): A secure online journal to write unsent messages or personal reflections privately.
• Not Always Right: A website where you can share everyday happenings randomly.

The Unsent Project won’t solve your relationship issues or bring back your first love. It won’t provide closure in the traditional sense or deliver your message to its intended recipient.

What it does offer is something quieter but still valuable: a space to acknowledge feelings that matter, even if they never got sent. A digital archive that says “your experience counts” without requiring you to bare your identity. An artistic framework that transforms private pain into collective understanding.

Seven million submissions later, the project continues because people need that space. They need to say “I loved you” or “I’m sorry” or “thank you” or “I wish things were different” into a void that acknowledges without judging.