There’s pretty much an app for everything these days. EVERYTHING.
Dating and sex apps, in particular, have been all the rage recently on Android and iOS smartphones.. With Tinder spreading across London like wildfire and the Pure sex app attracting critics, we take a look at some of the most popular sex and dating apps available for your mobile.
1. Say Something
Say Something, currently heading for Indiegogo success, is an app that ‘wants to inject fun into online dating’ by letting users practice their small talk on other users before they actually go on real dates. Apparently, it’s because it doesn’t matter if you mess up on the app because it’s not the real deal, and if you’re faced with a barrage of embarrassing replies like LOL or EWW then I guess it’s helpful as you’ll avoid the lines that enticed them when it comes to the actual date.
So what is this? An actual dating app? A game? London-based founder and CEO Marian Gazdik says: "Our objective is to help people improve using our app and THEN go and meet people, using Match, eHarmony, Zoosk or whatever," he stresses.
2. Down (Bang with Friends)
Bang With Friends allowed you to sign into their website using your Facebook profile, and then anonymously register an interest in copulating with your contacts. It was pretty creepy and eventually was sued by Zynga for abusing the ‘with friends’ extension that the games maker uses for their products.
Last month a settlement was reached and the company is now rumoured to be changing its name to ‘Down’ with a current placeholder on the site reading ‘The Next Bang.’
Both companies said in a statement: Zynga Inc. and Bang With Friends, Inc. are pleased that they have reached an amicable resolution of their dispute. Although the terms of the settlement are confidential, Bang With Friends, Inc. acknowledges the trademark rights that Zynga has in its WITH FRIENDS marks and will be changing its corporate name and rebranding its services in the near future.
3. HowAboutWe
Located in Brooklyn, New York, HowAboutWe is "all about wonderful people (like you) going on awesome dates. Playful dates. Cultured dates. Magical dates. Surprising dates. You say, "How about we…" and fill in the dots with the dates you want to go on."
Users fill out their profile, upload a profile picture and propose a first date idea. Other users can then browse the date ideas, and if they’re keen, they can accept the date.
"Partakers can design both an elaborate or simple rendezvous, from meeting for coffee or sampling sushi to conducting a couples séance in hopes of connecting with childhood pets."
The site also has traditional features like chat, email and profile browsing, but the makers of HowAboutWe say that it puts the emphasis on real-life encounters.
4. Pure Sex
GetPure, a startup created by two entrepreneurs from Russia and Ukraine, has developed an app for Android devicesand the iPhone that "strips away the profiles, chats, and other features associated with online dating services to deliver sex on demand."
Hot on the heels of other ‘sex’ apps like Grindr and Tinder, ‘Pure’ just lauched and claims to help anyone using it find sexual partners "quickly, safely and without commitment".
The app used the phone’s GPS to locate prospective partners within the local vicinity, with customers matched solely on their sexual preferences and their ability to either host or travel.
A fee has to be paid to allow access to the service, such as 12 hours or 24 hours, and users can browse nearby members and select those who they find suitable by pressing ‘yes’ or ‘no way’ if unsuitable.
If a match is made, the two parties are able to swap contact details and arrange a meeting. Confidential user feedback is mandatory and is used to ban those who don’t show up for arranged meetings, use misleading pictures, or violate the terms and conditions.
"We believe it’s natural for someone to feel a powerful sense of attachment to a long term partner, while experiencing romantic love for somebody else and at the same time, feeling sexually attracted to a diverse range of people," founders Roman Sidorenko and Alexander Kukhtenko state in their manifesto.
"Government, society, and religion have oppressed human sexuality in the past and continue to do so today. It’s time to make a radical change and give people back the freedom to enjoy a regular and diverse sex life."
Although Sidorenko and Kukhtenko are currently based in California, but they plan to emigrate to the UK and launch the app here first because they consider Brits to be more "open minded."
5. Tinder
Tinder is one of the most popular dating apps in the UK right now. It lets users scroll through photos of single people in their ‘area’, swiping one way to say they like them, and the other to give them the thumbs down.
Its success lies in the way users can avoid the unwanted advances of the swarms of non-matches that they would normally get on a regular dating site.
