Revealr
Founder Guy Harrington is on the left and Paul Laight is on the right.
Most programs require users to set up a profile with an attractive picture, which is used as the only indicator to meet with a potential match.
However, one startup has created a new app to remove the superficial aspect of mobile dating.
Revealr is a dating app that's structured like Tinder, but has one key difference: it uses your voice to find a match instead of a hot photo.
The founders, Guy Harrington and Paul Laight, are London-based entrepreneurs who built several apps before, but decided to tackle the superficiality of dating based on a random photo appearing on your smartphone.
"After hearing of the date stories from Guy one morning, it was clear there was an opportunity to be looked into," Laight wrote in an email to Business Insider. "Both being entrepreneurial, people we came up with a few ideas that would allow people to get a feel for others personality before deciding to connect; allowing people to 'reveal' their personality, hence the name and idea."
To set up your profile, you have to log in through Facebook. Then you record 20 second audio description of yourself. After all these steps, the app will match you up with someone. If the other person likes what they hear, the pictures become un-pixelated and you can start texting each other within the app.
"On other apps, a user could write in their bio that they are outgoing and confident, yet when you meet them they are the total opposite," Laight said. "Using the voice you can gauge the persons personality before even starting a conversation."
Laight and Harrington didn't disclose how many people are using Revealr, but they feel the voice function helps them stand out against competition. They emphasized that a voice forces someone to showcase their personality which is easier to do compared to using a picture.
Although they acknowledge that Tinder is their closest competitor, Paul and Guy want to create a new type of mobile dating market. Apps have created a slew of new ways for people to talk to each other, but Paul and Guy want to make these interactions more personal in an increasingly digital age.