Drink Buddy

Five a day, and why the ceiling is argued rather than apologised for

That a quota caps the worst-case cost of running the product is trivially true and is not the interesting part. The interesting part is that scarcity does something to a friends-only feed that no amount of ranking can: it raises the median of everything in it.

Two rules, one number

The rule you will notice is the calendar one: five publishes inside your local day, resetting at midnight where you are. It was chosen as the primary rule for a specific reason — it is the only version anybody can predict without being taught it.

Behind it sits a rolling twenty-four-hour ceiling, also five. On an ordinary day you will never meet it. It exists so that the predictable rule cannot be turned into an exploit by moving across a timezone boundary and collecting a second midnight.

What the ceiling is actually protecting

The cost argument is real and is not the reason this is documented as a product feature.

Scarcity produces intentionality.: Five slots make the question 'is this one worth it?' unavoidable, which lifts the median quality of every check-in in every feed. It is the cheapest available way to keep a feed worth opening.
It protects the feed from one enthusiastic friend.: In a friends-only feed of ten people, one person posting forty times in a day is not an edge case — it is the end of the product for the other nine. The quota is social fairness wearing the costume of a limit.
It makes the app safe to put down.: Someone who has spent their five has permission to stop. A product with no ceiling has no natural end to a session, and the documentation lists finiteness as a design goal rather than an accident.
It sets an expectation that can only move in the generous direction.: Raising a limit later is a gift; lowering one is a betrayal. Five is deliberately conservative so that any future movement is the first kind.

What to do when you meet the ceiling

Situation	Choose	Why
You are out of slots and something genuinely worth recording happens.	Photograph it outside the app and check it in tomorrow, or let it go.	There is no overflow, no queue and no borrowing from tomorrow. Backdating does not exist, so a late check-in would be a false timestamp rather than a recovered moment.
You published the wrong drink or a caption with a typo.	Edit it rather than deleting it.	The note and the drink identity remain editable for twenty-four hours. Deleting costs the slot permanently; editing costs nothing at all.
You want to record a long evening properly.	Spend the slots on the moments rather than the drinks.	The environment photograph is the part anyone will want to look at later. Five well-chosen moments read better as an evening than fifteen glasses would.
You are wondering whether paying would raise the limit.	Nothing to buy, and nothing planned that would.	Monetisation is deferred by decision. No tier, price or entitlement exists, and the supporter control in the app does nothing.

What this page does not cover

Each of these has an answer elsewhere, or deliberately has none.

Exactly how many slots you have left right now. The count is server-side and answered in the app at the moment you ask.
Whether the ceiling will ever change. No date, threshold or intention is recorded, so none is offered here.
Why both photographs are mandatory, which is what makes each slot cost real effort.
What happens to a check-in you delete, which is covered alongside blocking and account deletion.

Questions

Does the limit reset at midnight?

At midnight in your stored local timezone, yes. A rolling twenty-four-hour ceiling of the same size sits behind that rule, so moving across a timezone on the same evening does not produce a second allowance.

If I delete a check-in, do I get the slot back?

No. Refunding the slot would make the daily limit decorative, because anyone could publish, delete and republish without end. If the problem is a typo or the wrong drink, editing is available for twenty-four hours and costs nothing.

Can I pay to raise the limit?

There is nothing to pay for. Monetisation is deferred by decision, no tier or price exists, and the supporter control visible in the app is inert.

Do non-alcoholic drinks use the same allowance?

Yes, one allowance covers every drink. There is no larger budget and no exemption for high-frequency non-alcoholic entries, which is the honest cost of keeping one rule instead of two.