A new dating app wants users to put brains before beauty.
Willow, the latest entrant in the vast world of digital dating platforms, seeks to put the emphasis on less superficial ideals when it comes to finding a potential life partner. Forget how hot they look in jeans, Willow wants you to focus on personality. Via Elle:
Rather than swipe through images of potential mates or read curated personality profiles, Willow begins the dating experience through faceless questions. Its tag line: “Branch Out.”
“What I realized was missing from a dating app, or an app that is meant to be social, was an actual conversational aspect,” said 23-year-old Willow founder Michael Bruch. “I wanted to create an app that got people talking.”
“We were tired of new apps claiming to connect people in meaningful ways, only to find yet another bland, repackaged version of ‘Hot or Not’ hitting the market,” the company explains via statement on its website. “We wanted a positive way to get people engaged, talking, and getting to know one another.”
But if I can’t shallowly judge someone based on a few brief seconds staring at a profile pic, HOW WILL I EVER FIND TRUE, MEANINGFUL LOVE? you’re probably asking yourself right now. With Willow, the concept is similar to other dating apps such as Tinder, but instead of deciding who to select or turn down based on physical attraction, the new app forces you to interact with them before you actually know what they look like (“Talk first – Reveal photos later,” as the company puts it).
To start a conversation, you swipe through questions other users have posed and message them replies. Common questions include: “What is the first thing you would do if you won the lottery?” And Bruch’s favorite: “If your hair was a type of pasta, what kind of pasta would it be? (And don’t say angel hair because that’s a cop out).”
OK I will not say that, don’t worry.
I would definitely try it if I was still dating. However, my questions would be the kind of questions that would definitely either land me the perfect soul mate or land me on some FBI list:
“What do you think is the most pressing issue of our time—national health care or the impending invasion of the Lizard People?”
“If you could only take one member of the A-Team to Burning Man, which one would it be and why?”
“Who is your favorite Iron Chef of all time?”
“How is babby formed?”
Yeah, I could definitely get into this. What do you think? Would you switch to this kind of app or do you prefer just straight-up swipe left/swipe right based on the old “hot or not” system?
Image via Willow.