Click here to watch a video on how Date.fm works 

Most people don’t like online dating.  It’s an odd, unnatural process, it usually costs money, and feels really embarrassing.  What to do?

Here at Secret Monkey Science, we think we’re now fairly savvy at iOS development, having built around 30 apps for the App Store.  We’ve had some relative success with FaceJack, and our Dinosaur Fun! app sells pretty steadily.  We’ve also worked on a lot of social stuff, and have learned plenty from these experiences.  We know how to wear a lot of hats, and know how to build a really solid service on a shoestring budget.   

The Current Online Dating Landscape

We chatted about why we disliked the popular dating sites, and why we felt most people would never use them.  Could we do better?  Would it be worth the effort?  

We thought about how most people meet.  Generally, a person will see someone, be attracted to them, and then approach to say hello.  If the other person is interested, a conversation might follow.  From there, it’s in these two individuals’ hands, and up to them to see if it’s a good fit.  

By allowing a dating service to sift through users based on an extensive list of criteria, you’re doing something that rarely has a counterpart in the real world.  It can be argued that this sifting is beneficial for some users, but they could also be throwing out many potential matches that might have flourished in real world scenarios.  How many people have met others from different religions, and still fallen in love?  Or met people who smoked, who later gave it up for their partner?  We’d like to think that a simpler format such as Date.fm allows for these issues to get worked out naturally, if users are willing to invest the time and energy to get to know someone. 

Fix it

We started discussing how we might “fix” it.  What might most people want out of a dating app?  We think it’s simple:  They want to meet people who they’re interested in, who are also interested in them, and then have a way of starting a conversation.  And they want it to be really easy. And free.  

Maybe we could do for online dating what Twitter did for blogging, a sort of “micro-dating.”

Planning our new app

Here’s what we decided to build:  An app where users create an account with the bare-bones basics (location/age/looking for ages/pic).  

Users go through a stack of pictures, and like or dislike them.  When you like someone they’ll get a notification.  They can like you back if they want, and that creates a “match.”  The ‘chat’ tab in the app provides an SMS-like chat interface for each match, where users can strike up a conversation and get to know each other.  

We’re taking a difficult part of the dating process, the ‘finding out if you’re interested in each other’ part, and putting it into a painless app.  And as soon as a “match” is made, you can start a conversation and let it progress naturally:  you can reveal information about yourself as you feel comfortable.  Maybe take the conversation to a phone call, video chat or a coffee shop.  

Building a user base

For several reasons we decided to build a completely isolated ecosystem.  But who wants to use a “dating service” if no one’s in it?  We realized that the inclusion of push notifications would really help get things rolling.  Here’s how:  ‘User Zero’ creates their account, and no one’s in it.  Bummer.  But they’ve created their account now and will receive notifications if signed in.  When a potential match signs up, sees User Zero and likes them, User Zero gets a push notification.  They can then like or dislike this person, and if it’s a match, maybe strike up a chat.  The app improves and offers more potential matches as more people create accounts.  

Free

The app has to be totally free.  But some revenue needs to be generated to offset server costs and other expenses.   So we’ve integrated an iAd bar (which can alternately load an AdMob bar when iAds fail) to generate revenue.  

In Conclusion

We’re hopeful.  There are a ton of online dating apps and services out there, but we think that shouldn’t deter us from trying to do a dating app right, when we feel that the other services are truly broken.  

Date.fm is available now for free in the App Store.  Download it now.