Five minutes exactly
Long enough to know whether there is a conversation, short enough not to get stuck.
Masked dating
Masked dating: who you are first, what you look like after
Dating apps taught everybody to decide in half a second from one photograph. A masked date reverses the order: five minutes of conversation with both sides hidden, and faces revealed only if you both want it.
The problem with the half-second decision
Show somebody a grid of photographs and they stop choosing and start filtering. That is a different act entirely. Filtering works on deviation from an average, so it punishes exactly the people worth meeting: anyone who looks unusual, anyone who does not photograph well, anyone without a friend who owns a good camera.
Plenty of people who do perfectly well in real life get almost no chance on an app, for the simple reason that they are not photogenic. That is not their failure. It is a failure of the interface.
How a masked date runs
The system pairs two people who are both looking for a masked date at that moment. A five-minute video call opens with both sides hidden behind a mask, and you can talk and also type.
While you type the picture shrinks and moves up rather than disappearing, so you keep seeing the person in front of you.
At the end of the five minutes each side decides separately. If you both chose it, the masks come off and a chat opens. If not, you part and nothing remains. If the other person leaves partway through, you get a no-match notice and go straight back to searching.
Who this suits particularly well
Anyone tired of being judged on a photograph, and anyone who knows they are better in conversation than on camera. Also anyone who simply wants to start an evening without the pressure of how they look right now.
And from the other direction: anyone who attracts too much attention on other apps and wants one conversation where they are listened to rather than looked at.
What makes it different
Reveal by consent only
The mask lifts only if both sides chose it. Otherwise nothing remains.
The picture stays while you type
It shrinks and moves up instead of vanishing behind the keyboard.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a masked date last?
Five minutes. You can end it earlier at any point, and if the other person leaves partway through you get a no-match notice and return to searching immediately.
What if only one of us wants to continue?
Nothing happens. Revealing requires both sides to choose it. If only one did, the call closes with no reveal and no chat, and nobody is told who chose what.
Is recording or screenshotting allowed?
No. We do not record the call, and recording or photographing another person without their consent breaches the terms of use and may break the law.
Do I need a profile photo to take part?
Yes. Every game in the app requires a profile photograph with a real person in it. That is what keeps empty accounts out of a game that depends entirely on there being a person there.
The app is almost here. Want to know when?
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