Reviews

It’s almost unfathomable: a dating app with no swiping and no ability to chat with other users. Is it possible for such a service to break into the crowded online dating scene? helloTruly hopes so.

The new Chicago-based app is taking the Goldilocks approach. helloTruly wants to give singles just enough technology to get the ball rolling, but not so much that they’re glued to the app and neglect actual, in-person meeting. Not too much, not too little - just right.

Father-and-son founding team Andy and Jack Kenoe describe the app as a “digital icebreaker” focused on connecting people in physical spaces like coffee shops and bookstores. Users of the free iOS and Android app are alerted when another user is in the same location and matches their indicated preferences.

If you are a millennial, chances are you’ve heard of an app called Venmo, even if you haven’t downloaded it. It’s a peer to peer app owned by PayPal that lets you split things like cab fares and utility bills, to make it easier to share expenses among roommates, family and friends.

But now, there’s a phenomenon reported by The New York Post that claims Venmo is being used by stingy daters to get out of picking up the check.

When you have a Venmo account, it can be linked to a bank account or debit card, or you can keep money directly in your Venmo account to draw from (much like PayPal). The app allows you to connect with people so you can easily split expenses for things like a birthday gift or sharing a hotel room with friends when you go on vacation together.

But daters are starting to take advantage of this app, too. Guys are inviting their dates out to dinner or drinks, paying for it initially, and then after the couple says their goodbyes at the end of the night, the guy sends a Venmo request to ask the girls to cover their half of the bill.

It’s a passive aggressive way of simply asking to split the check. The guy gets to look good buy pretending to buy the drinks while he’s face to face with his date, but then he backs out as soon as she’s gone. This is a good tactic for men who aren’t interested in a second date.

The good news? The dates who are sent the Venmo request for payment can refuse to pay.

Money and dating has always been a sensitive topic in dating. Many men wonder if it’s appropriate to ask to split the check, or if the woman should offer to go dutch. Guys also worry they will look cheap if they don’t pick up the tab, but if they can’t afford this ritual 2-3 nights per week, it can get awkward.

Still, Venmo makes it easy for people to get away with some bad dating behavior. Instead of being upfront and honest about splitting the check, they are avoiding any type of direct confrontation or conflict. It would be much simpler to avoid any confused, hurt feelings if he was upfront and asked his date to split the check before they part ways.

It is similar to the influence texting has had on dating behavior. Texting has made avoidant behavior easier. Instead of having a difficult or uncomfortable conversation in person or over the phone, daters are instead choosing to “ghost” their dates by simply not returning any messages, hoping their dates get the hint that they aren’t interested.

Using Venmo is another avoidance tactic in dating – please, just ask to split the check.

Pokemon Go took the world by storm when it launched this summer. The app has successfully gotten people up off their couches to explore new neighborhoods in order to play, so it’s only natural that its positive momentum to connect people can influence the online dating sphere, too.

And now thanks to Project Fixup, a US-based dating and matchmaking service, you can sign up with a new service dubbed PokeDates in order to find your “PokeMate.”

PokéDates aim is simple: it offers single Pokémon Go players a chance to meet up at a prearranged "PokéStop” or "PokéGym" before exploring their city for various Pokemons, adding a social – and potentially romantic – element to the hugely popular game.

Here’s how it works: Pokémon Go players answer a few questions about themselves and what they’re looking for in a potential date, plus whether they have any deal breakers. Next, players/ users add in dates and times when they’re available to play the augmented reality game with a potential date. Then the Pokédaters each get an email with all the details about when and where to meet their match. After that, it’s up to the players to see if there's chemistry.

Sounds great, right? You can play the highly addictive Pokemon game, which had crowds at Central Park last week searching together madly for a rare Pokemon, and potentially meet the love of your life while doing it.

There’s a catch, however.

The first date is free with Promo code POKEDATES2016, but after that, it costs $20 per date to play, which is kind of pricey by online dating standards. It’s currently available in the US and Canada, but only for players 25 and older.

Sarah Press, Project Fixup CEO cofounder, said in a statement: "Pokémon Go has taken the world by storm and it’s more fun to play with a companion. We hope PokéDates will bring singles together to experience the joy of the game and explore their city while getting to know one another."

Of course, you could just meet other Pokemon Go players while you are out playing, as long as you take some time to strike up a conversation. But where’s the fun in that?

According to Business Insider, PokéDates claimed to have over 2,200 new signups within eight hours of being live, with 10-15 new ones occurring every minute.

And according to US Weekly, Since Pokémon Go launched in early July, it has broken records as the fastest mobile game to hit 10 million downloads.

Love Donald Trump or hate him, there’s no denying he ignites passionate responses from both sides. But could the Republican presidential candidate ignite a passion of a different kind? Two new dating sites think the answer is yes.

In the pro-Donald camp is TrumpSingles.com, founded by a 35-year-old Republican hailing from Santa Clarita, California. Goss was inspired to create the site when he realized how difficult it can be to date someone with opposing political views.

“I think there’s a special stigma when people say they’re supporting Trump, because of some of the brash things that he’s said,” Goss told the New York Post. “That immediately gets [projected] on his supporters, and it makes it hard for them when trying to date.”

More than 500 users have reportedly joined TrumpSingles since it went live in May, primarily located in New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC. Goss expressed fears that people would think it’s a parody site, but so far enough seem to understand his original intentions.

“People have told me that they’re so happy they can finally go on dates without worrying about political differences,” he said.

On the other side of the political spectrum is MapleMatch.com, a site that hopes to make dating great again by helping Americans find a Canadian partner in the event of a Trump presidency.

A 25-year-old Texan named Joe Goldman is the brain behind Maple Match. Goldman told NBC News that he was inspired by repeated threats from friends to flee the country if Trump wins the election in November.

"I have always been fascinated by Canada," he added. "So I thought to myself, 'Given the current political situation, this could bring Canadians and Americans closer together'."

His hunch may have been a good one. In just a week, a reported 13,000 people have signed up for the site. "The response has been tremendous,” Goldman said. "I'm getting people from all over, but the strongest responses have been from Seattle and New York City.”

Trump isn’t the only presidential candidate inspiring love. For Democrats, there’s BernieSingles.com. The site promises to “connect progressives beyond social media to inspire chemistry among folks who share similar visions of the future.” It also comes with the most memorable tagline of the bunch: “The 1% are not the only ones getting screwed this election season.”

Trump? Check. Sanders? Check. Hillary - it’s your move now.

Despite criticism every time it surfaces, there’s at least one app idea that refuses to die. Stroovy is the latest in a long line of apps for rating and reviewing people - especially your exes. What makes this one different, however, is that it’s limited to people who use dating services.

“Finding the perfect mate can seem impossible,” reads the app’s website. “Stroovy provides serious online daters a community-led platform for peer-to-peer dater review.” The app encourages singles to “authenticate before you date” and “Stroove before you groove” - ostensibly for the purpose of making online dating safer, but it’s hard to believe users won’t be more attracted by the possibility of pettiness and scandal.

The idea is similar to Lulu, an app for women to review men, which stirred up plenty of controversy when it launched. Lulu has since transitioned beyond its original intent and Stroovy vows to be different by accepting reviews from users of all genders. Stroovy also promises to help users:

There seems to be a new dating app launching every week. In such a crowded market, you’d think investors and developers would shy away from creating something new, but it seems everyone is trying to take a piece of the dating market away from Tinder.

However, I came across a new app trying in a more interesting way to differentiate itself from the popular app – not by being more “female-focused” or offering profile verification as other competing apps are doing, but by focusing on what the actual goal is – the real-life date.

Dating app Dine offers users a chance to match not only through common interests, but through restaurant preferences. According to the company, the goal is to get you from an online match to an actual date – dinner or drinks – as quickly as possible. (Avoiding the Tinder problem of messaging endlessly with no results.) The app is integrated with Yelp to offer local eating choices.

Dine is owned by Mrk & Co., founded by veterans of Japanese gaming giant DeNA, which Nintendo partnered with to bring its games to Smartphones last year. But Dine isn’t incorporating the game-like elements of Tinder or its parent companies' popular games in its dating app. Its premise is similar to dating website How About We, where people can search for matches based on ideas they come up with for a first date. But Dine is all about the eating experience.

The concept of Dine is simple: After filling out your profile, you pick three restaurants or bars where you’d want to meet for a date. Dine offers you 2-5 potential matches per day, along with which three places they chose, so you can request to go on a date at a particular location.

When you send someone a date request and they match (accept), you can message each other. However – Dine provides users with suggested messages ready to go, with the language focused on scheduling a date and time for your meet-up. Of course you can erase their suggestions and add your own message, but the app is focused on getting you to set the date and meet in person.

According to an article in Business Insider, about half of accepted requests lead to actual dates within a two-week period, at least for the beta phase of the Dine app launch.

Dine has now launched all over the U.S. and Canada. Also noteworthy: Apple was impressed enough with the concept to feature it on its list of "best new apps".