The First Audio Only Dating App Launches this Summer
Contributed by: kellyseal on Thursday, June 10 2021 @ 10:01 am
Last modified on Wednesday, May 24 2023 @ 12:35 pm
Blink, the first audio-only dating app, aims to shift attention away from swiping and towards getting to know each other through conversation.
According to its website, matching over Blink is a two-part process. First, you sign up and provide only one photo for your profile, along with a few timeslots that you are available for ten-minute audio-only speed dating rounds. There’s no algorithm matching people on the app - instead it’s left to coinciding schedules and chance. During the 10-minute speed dating rounds, participants enter online “rooms” where they chat with a blind date, and then when the ten minutes are up, move to the next room and the next date.
If you’re interested in someone you can take advantage of the app’s “Glances” feature, where you can take a peek at your blind date’s photo and see if there is some physical attraction. If you both agree there’s a spark, you are matched and continue the conversation on your own, either through the app’s messaging feature or offline if you’re ready.
The app’s tagline is “Love is Blind” meets Clubhouse, a nod to both the popular reality show and the newest craze in social media platforms. It resembles the tv show because the participants aren’t allowed to see each other and must rely on their conversations to connect. Clubhouse is an audio-only social media platform where participants can host and drop in on “rooms” where topics of interest are being discussed.
Blink founders Laura Ciccone and Taly Matiteyahu were looking for a “paradigm shift” in dating apps, according to their interview with website BuiltIn[*1] . Matiteyahu said: “We’re used to swiping and looking at a profile and making decisions based on that. And I think people are rethinking that strategy for online dating.”
The app is launching at an interesting time, when people are becoming more comfortable with audio platforms like Clubhouse and podcasts, but are also experiencing Zoom fatigue after a year of virtual dating. In other words, Blink thinks it might be a good time to move away from photo-based dating.
Still, a recent study revealed that people are more likely to choose their online dates based primarily on attractiveness and race after scrolling through a couple of photos, and often in less than a second.
Blinked hopes to change that, as more daters are focused on finding someone to connect with, especially in the wake of the pandemic.
“Unlike most apps, which offer a binary, yes-or-no rating system, Blink allows users to say ‘maybe,’” Matiteyahu told BuildIn. “This allows for matches that might otherwise not happen, including when the conversation was amazing and the person falls somewhere in the middle of our attraction spectrum (as opposed to the top), or the conversation was good, but nothing to write home about, and the person is at the top of our physical-attraction spectrum.”