| The most common question customers ask Tim Stokely, the chief executive officer of OnlyFans, is why he doesn't have an app. Some 130 million people use his service every month to follow fitness instructors, get cooking tips or access nude pictures. But they have to access the service using its website because Apple and Google won't allow OnlyFans in their app stores. That's all about to change. OnlyFans has created an app, called OFTV, that offers videos featuring many of OnlyFans biggest stars. There is a catch, however. There's no nudity. The app offers a library of more than 800 videos, including the original series "Unlocked," which features conversations with creators such as Mia Khalifa, Bella Thorne and Holly Madison. It also includes original videos from pilates instructors, chefs and podcasters. The app is available on all the major devices, including iOS, Roku and Amazon Fire. "OFTV provides a super convenient way for fans to watch content from favorite creators," Stokely told me this past week. "There's no adult content on OFTV. Because it's not being monetized and there's no direct impact on creators' earnings, we are able to be in the app store." OnlyFans first released the app in January, but hasn't promoted it at all. Starting this week, the company begins a push to target people who don't already use OnlyFans. The new app is part of the company's strategy to shed its reputation as a purveyor of pornography and rebrand itself as a vital tool for all online creators. I wrote about this effort last year, at which point the app was still in development. The company is walking a tricky line. It wants to sell a narrative that its technology and website can be used for far more than titillation. OnlyFans is one of several companies, alongside Patreon and Substack, offering people a way to directly monetize their most ardent fans. After seeing the popularity of these platforms, the biggest technology companies have tried to jump on the trend. YouTube, Twitter and Instagram have all created ways for their users to charge fans for posts. We live in a moment when everyone and anyone can be a creator, and many of us want to be paid for everything we say, do or think. The average person who has heard of OnlyFans still associates it with nudity. But OnlyFans believes the same people who'd use Patreon to charge their fans for exclusive access to a podcast episode should consider using OnlyFans instead. The more mainstream creators and celebrities it can bring onto its platform, the more accessible the company becomes in the mind of the consumer (and the investors). This is a key part of its message as OnlyFans tries to raise money at a valuation north of $1 billion, and Stokely said he hoped to close a deal by the end of the year. Yet OnlyFans doesn't want to alienate many of the people who made it popular in the first place. When I last wrote about the company, a few people criticized OnlyFans for trying to distance itself from the women that made it a success. The company doesn't hide what makes it profitable. It still makes all its money from its main service, which is used by a lot of people who take their clothes off. And many of the people on OFTV leave little to the imagination in their videos. This is what you see on OFTV under the podcast category.  Yet this app solves one of OnlyFans' biggest problems: showcasing its other kinds of talent. People who use the OFTV app can more easily discover new creators and shows than on the main website, which is notoriously difficult to use. The app also allows OnlyFans to reach people on more devices, like TV set-top boxes. The company doesn't plan to make any money from OFTV, at least not right away. The service is free, and doesn't include advertising. Instead, it's a marketing tool for the creators and for the OnlyFans brand. "People who have come on to OFTV to watch one video may go on to choose another," Stokely said. "It's a wider audience, and perhaps a slightly different audience." – Lucas Shaw | 
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