When Whim was launched two years ago, it was based on a simple idea: what would happen if a dating app focused on activating real dates rather than chatting? ?
Of course, Tinder and his imitators give a lot of real dates, but it can take a lot of clumsy messages to get there. Whim gets rid of these preliminaries.
Eve Peters, the founder and CEO, said that the idea appealed to users, but there was a problem: Whim also asked you to identify the days of a week when you would be free for dates.
"Planning ahead was difficult for people," Peters said. "With our culture becoming more and more spontaneous, asking what nights are you free for appointments this week … was stressful and overwhelming."
(For what it's worth, when I used Whim, I found that scheduling a possible but unsecured date was a challenge.)
So, after raising money through equity crowdfunding, Peters and his team launched a new iOS app called Tonight. The application preserves the most distinctive part of Whim – as soon as two people show interest in one for the other, the application tries to set them up to a date, no message required.
The big difference? You no longer plan these dates in advance. Instead, you log in when you are free for a date that evening. If you and one of your matches is free, the app will give you a time and place to meet.
You will need to log in before 6:00 pm to have an appointment that night, which, hopefully, will discourage people just looking for a connection. In addition, users are penalized for being eliminated, and they are eventually withdrawn if they continue to do so.
She added that she wanted users to see Tonight as their personal assistant. For starters, the app and its push notifications have a talkative style, as if it's a friend who walks you through all the steps needed for a date. Over time, Tonight could become more useful with features such as Lyft integration and recommendations of customizable places and activities.
Tonight it will be in New York. The application is available for free at the moment, although the plan is to monetize either through subscriptions or a template by date.
Whim, meanwhile, will continue to exist for the moment, even though Peters said she's aiming to get everyone going tonight. As to why she is launching a new app in the first place, rather than just redesigning the existing one, she said, "We went back and forth, but eventually decided to rebranding. It's such a new experience, and [the name] is already helping to explain what is the application. "
Hotel picture: Tonight