Got love on your mind? These apps can help you on your journey of finding a life partner!
In the digital era, the internet has become a popular spot where people have resorted to finding love. By 2024, it is expected that global online dating services will have 276.9 million users. Whether it’s looking for love, a date or someone to hang out with or talk to, it’s obvious that people are actively seeking connections with other beings. Unfortunately, people aren’t always honest on dating profiles. People can lie about their interests, their jobs and, in some cases, can also completely catfish you into thinking that they are a different person.
Wasting time, money and all that effort getting ready for a date with someone far different from what you imagined can leave you feeling dissatisfied and frustrated. Finding yourself doing it over and over again could even convince you to swear off online dating entirely! If you are eager to make all of these a thing of the past, these companies are right here for you. Here is a list of futuristic technologies (and the companies behind them) that we have seen. While some of these are no longer in business, they do give insight into what the future of online dating is shaping up to be.
Dating on the blockchain
The blockchain is the modern answer to any problem of transparency. Blockchain allows users to be vetted in ways they were never before. One of the companies incorporating blockchain into their business is Luna. Founded in 2017, Luna is an online dating app that gives users cryptocurrency rewards for performing actions on it, like completing their profile. Users can contact profiles they are interested in by spending the cryptocurrencies they have earned. As it is powered by blockchain technology, the anonymized data is open to researchers, who can then design algorithms to match profiles.
Other blockchain-based dating platforms, like Viola AI and Hicky, use voice recognition and face scanning to confirm the identities of users. This information is then encrypted and stored on the blockchain. Although there haven’t been any updates on these platforms in the recent past, they do point to the possibility of more blockchain-based dating platforms in the future, given the growing popularity of crypto.
AI matchmakers
With the issue of fake profiles out of the way, the next point of concern with online dating is ending up matching with someone you have nothing in common with. If you are tired of scrolling through profile after profile to find the right person, why not let artificial intelligence (AI) make the choice for you?
Well, the closest we come to an AI that gives us an accurate match is the AIMM matchmaking service—kind of like the “Coach” device in the “Hang the DJ” episode of the tech dystopian series Black Mirror. AIMM asks you a series of questions and listens to your voice to match you to the right partner. After that, it sends matches to you one at a time and helps you set up a phone call with your match. The AI coaches you through the first call and even advises you on what to do on your first date. If you feel like something went amiss, the AI can also give you feedback on what you might have done wrong so that you can avoid it in the future.
Collecting matches in AR like Pokémons
Another thing that could help remove this whole catfishing problem would be if you could just see people in person before you match with them. This might actually be possible if you use Flirtar, the world’s first augmented reality (AR) dating app. Using the app’s facial recognition software, you can scan those around you. You will be able to spot those who use the app around you because bubbles representing them will begin to crop up on your screen (exactly how you can see Pokémons in real-life locations when playing Pokémon Go). You can then like their profiles and find out more about them in real-time. The idea behind the app is to cut down the hours you spend trying to find the right person and help you have immediate conversations with those who have the apps on their phones, be it virtually or in person.
DNA-based matches
Finding someone with common interests is one thing, but what would it be like to find someone that is genetically inclined to fall in love with you? The dating app DNA Romance uses the information present in people’s DNA to match those with the highest romantic chemistry. To find their perfect match, users receive a DNA testing kit, which they must spit into and mail back. The app matches partners with opposite immune system genes. According to founder Dr. Tim Sexton, people are more attracted to those who have different immune systems than us so that future generations have higher chances of survival.
The problem with mixing technology and romance
All of these companies are trying to hack love and make it easier and faster for their users to find the “one” for them. But when companies are picking out people for you based on science and algorithmic data, is love really factored into the choice of romantic partners? Or, are we all just getting disillusioned with the idea of ever finding the one?
The disillusionment only grows when you realize that there could be more than just one person that is right for you. Many others who share similar attributes and interests as you could be your perfect matches. That there are so many choices out there can be really overwhelming, as it can leave people feeling like there’s always someone better out there instead of trying to make things work with the people they have connected with.
If you were hoping for some miracle cure to end up being in the perfect, all-smooth-sailing relationship, that might be an inaccurate way to approach online dating. What is also important to note here is that some of the dating platforms we mentioned have not been updated in a long time. This should tell us that finding connections algorithmically might not always be the best way to go. Technology can and will continue to make things easier for us, but it will always be in our own hands how we carry relationships forward.
Also read:
- Cheating on Your Partner in the Metaverse
- Is It Time to Dump Your IRL Boyfriend for a Metaverse One? Find Out
- Black Mirror Technologies That Have Been Invented
Header image courtesy of Unsplash
