Come
Valentine’s Day and the single hopefuls are bombarded with hi-tech dating tools that can help them find prospective partners. And this time around, here’s a
homegrown dating app that helps one find his/her match on
Facebook.
Krush is an
Android app that introduces you to the single
friends of friends on the social media site. Simply put, it uses your Facebook data and takes in several points such as age, gender, profession, interests, etc., to find a ‘suitable’ match who is right there among the friends of your FB connects (which means he/she is not exactly a stranger and you have at least one common connect).
The app has been developed by a three-person tech start-up from Bangalore and the beta version has been launched in January this year. Krush can be
downloaded for free from
Google Play Store and the
iOS version will be released on the Valentine’s Day (February 14), according to
Rajat Rao, the co-founder and CEO of Krush. He also claims that the app has been downloaded over 8,500 times since its beta launch and the Windows version will come up in the near future. To download Krush, you will require
Android 2.3.3 or up. Last we checked, the
app rating stood at 4 on
Google Play.
How Krush works It’s pretty simple, really. Just log in using your Facebook account and the app does the rest. Think of Krush as your
personal matchmaker that understands who you are, going by your Facebook data (age, location, likes, interests, activities, etc.), and subsequently matches you with compatible friends of friends. The app sends you 10
daily dates and you can ‘
like’ or ‘skip’ those – anonymously. If you like a ‘match’ and the other person also likes you back, Krush breaks the ice and introduces the two of you. But unless there is a ‘
like back’ and the feelings are mutual, users can’t contact each other, thus ensuring privacy and safety.
There are other premium safety features as well, which make Krush stand out. For instance, every date suggested by the app also features at least one mutual friend. This goes a long way in ensuring that you only see people who come from a
similar background. Moreover, Krush never shares your phone number, exact location or other personal details. Finally, the ‘likes’ and ‘skips’ happen anonymously – so there’s no feeling of rejection either.
We came across a small hitch as well and found that the app also picks up matches from the list of
FB friends, instead of limiting itself to friends of friends. “That only happens when Krush can’t find a
suitable match among friends of friends,” explains Rajat. It does not really matter, though, and makes us feel that the ‘surprise’ element has not really gone out of dating even in this age of technology. Chances are some of these ‘friends’ never got down to expressing their feelings and Krush may just provide that freak chance to get them going this V-Day.
But even the default premises of the app keep the surprise element alive. There are friends of friends who didn’t even know that their matches existed until they used Krush. In fact, quite a few users are surprised to discover so many interesting people (via Krush) who are just one degree of separation away, but practically invisible.
Right now, the focus is not on
app monetisation. But going forward, revenues can be generated via
user fee and also through partnership with
food & beverage chains, so that couples have plenty of options for going out. User fee will be charged for unlocking the names of all the people who have liked one back; however, the first five matches will be free. One may have to pay some extra bucks if he/she wants to be immediately found on the app by some specific user/s.
Making of Krush Krush is developed by a trio comprising a
college dropout (Rajat) and two
ex-Googlers who worked on a wide range of products including
YouTube, Search, Blogger and Google Plus. But ask Rajat why the threesome opted for a
dating app instead of a utility app and pat comes the reply – it’s the need of the hour. “People want to date but can’t muster enough courage to meet people, especially if they are strangers. But Krush being anonymous, one can safely express interest without compromising on safety and privacy,” he explains. The idea came to Rajat when he was in college and had to tactfully ward off requests for introduction to girls he happened to know. “Sometimes, I had to ask for introduction and suddenly realised there had to be an easier way to
connect with friends of friends. That’s how Krush started,” he adds.
So what’s next? The big vision for Krush is to help you assemble the perfect date in the same way you’d choose the toppings of a pizza. Imagine specifying that you want someone with person A’s eyes, person B’s sense of humor, person C’s inclination towards fitness and someone whose favourite band is The Beatles. The team behind Krush is now working on some
advanced facial recognition,
social context and personality-based algorithms which will be rolling out this year. Till then, enjoy
dating on Krush and have a fabulous Valentine’s Day.
