Having never owned a smart phone I am curious if you need an app for this, or could you simply have an old school forum and people visit it on their phones browser? Is that even feasible? Too much friction?
Apps like that are always a little clunky, especially if you want to use native features like the GPS or the camera -- both of which a dating app will want. They are accessible in the browser, but it's not quite seamless.
The experience isn't a forum. You want something a bit more tailored to dating. But it's entirely within the realm of a browser.
So why package it as an app? More than anything I think it's because people expect it. The experience is tuned towards interactions on a mobile device. That isn't a huge difference, but you're trying to compete in a tough market, and they want to feel perfect.
Like the difference between Tinder's "swipe" interaction (left for no, right for yes) versus a couple of buttons. The usability difference is small, but it's iconic. You could mimic it with a browser, but you really want to nail it.
Similarly, having the app right on your front screen rather than as just another bookmark... it makes it feel important. Small things that make a big difference when you're trying to sell an experience.
Experience is critical for a dating app. It's kind of a winner-take-all (or most) situation: the more users you have, the more likely a user will find somebody they want and who wants them. The better it looks, the more likely you'll be the one people want to spend time on.
The problem is that the extra few steps to install a PWA (which is really just a webpage bookmark you put on your home screen plus some local caching) are a lot of friction. The hilarity after Parler got pulled was non techies trying to describe installing a PWA to each other and failing at it.
You also lose a lot of "organic" search results with a PWA. You don't get the app marketplace searching/related results like Google Play or the Apple Store has if you aren't in the marketplace. If you do both marketplace apps and encouraging people to install PWAs instead of your app, that's now less downloads in the app store and therefore lower rankings. It's doable to make a PWA instead of or in addition to an app, and that means you're still a usable service if you get pulled from stores, but it's not straight forward or perfect right now. The push to make Google and Apple let apps stay in their stores is the wrong push -- instead the push should be for more straight forward PWA support.
This allowed you to have separate accounts searching as a solo, double, or as a couple as well as built in chat and matching systems, traditional apps and forums are not exactly well poised for searching nor focused enough for these sort of relationships especially as most people are against* polyamory in most cases. Most typical forums on the subject only cater to the sexual aspect, even if not intended, and tend to bring in less than stellar users. This was an attempt to focus more on the relationship aspect (definitely more than the approved Grindr)
There certainly needs to be an app in this space.
Yes. No smartphone will make people think you're a creep. /somewhat s
> Be kind. Don't be snarky. Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine. Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community.
> Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith.
> Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something.