Lesbians have oddly been invisible to the dating app industry. Whether it’s because most dating apps are coded by bros, or gay men, or gay bros, or because lesbians possess magical powers that make them invisible to the tech industry is an open question. Fortunately for lesbians with smartphones, that’s no longer the case, thanks to Dattch.
If you’re wondering why the lesbian dating app has such a terrible name, it’s because it’s an attempted portmanteau of “date” and “catch.” And it’s different from other dating apps because it’s essentially trolling a prospective date’s Pinterest, according to the Guardian:
Dattch allows users to create a kind of personality mood board, making profiles much more revealing. [App developer Robyn] Exton compares it to looking at someone’s Instagram feed: “You get a sense of who they are really quickly.” The second upshot of an image-heavy profile is that it does away with self-deprecation. Exton believes a lot of women habitually focus on what they perceive to be their worst traits in order to “manage expectations”.
We’re not really sure that Pinterest is the best model to follow for dating apps. Would you really want to date somebody who keeps pinning photos of recipes with dead links? Check the link before pinning, people!
Ah, heh. Moving on.
Whether Dattch will catch on is an open question; most dating apps crash and burn, or exist more for the comedy value than the actual use. Dating and hookup apps are popular, in the sense that anything that promises sex is popular. But few if any dating apps have taken off, and many are charitably described as disingenuous about their target audience and whether they work. Too often these apps are constructed around how, say, a Glasshole thinks sex and dating should work.
The real measure of Dattch will be whether it actually appeals to its core audience. On the other hand, it’s not like they’ve got options, so lesbians might at least give it a shot. Although we suspect that “spot the frat bro” will become a popular sport.