A brand new female-founded courting app known as After is launching in Austin, Texas on Thursday with the mission of tackling ghosting and holding folks accountable.
What units the app other than the remainder of the courting app scene is that After requires customers to share why they’ve unmatched an individual earlier than they’re allowed to maintain swiping. The thought behind the characteristic is to eliminate abrupt disconnections and confusion.
Based in October 2023, After is the brainchild of Katie Dissanayake, who got here up with the thought for the app after spending a decade within the courting app business. Previous to founding After, Dissanayake labored at Hud, the place she fell in love with tech and discovered about every part from belief and security to product growth.
With After, Dissanayake needs to deal with issues round courting app fatigue, and do one thing completely different from what the foremost courting apps which are at the moment in the marketplace supply.
“Our standout feature is anti-ghosting, which I think holds people accountable,” Dissanayake informed TechCrunch. “On the flip side, it gives people closure.”
If two folks match on After and begin a dialog, however one individual stops replying, they are going to be nudged to reply. If the individual nonetheless doesn’t message the opposite person, the match expires. Earlier than they’ll use the app’s options once more, they want to decide on a purpose for why they let the match expire.
Customers can select from a listing of causes to clarify why they determined to cease responding. As an illustration, they’ll say distance was a problem or that the vibes didn’t match. After will then create a sort message and ship it to the opposite individual, and remind them that this isn’t a illustration of who they’re or their price.
Plus, if two folks match however neither of them messages one another, the app will immediate them to speak to one another. If neither individual sends a message, then After will finish the match. So as a substitute of getting an inbox stuffed with matches such as you would on different courting apps, After is concentrated on solely surfacing matches you’re interacting with.
The app additionally contains courting guides to assist customers have a greater courting expertise. As an illustration, if somebody is having bother getting matches, After will recommend that they modify their picture or spruce up their profile.
Within the pursuit of transparency, After options “visitor” and “local” badges in order that matches are conscious of whether or not somebody truly lives in Austin or if they’re simply visiting.
After will quickly embrace opt-in psychological well being check-ins the place you’ll be able to replicate in your temper and emotions. And if the app thinks you may have been utilizing the app an excessive amount of, it can recommend that you simply take a break.
After operates on a freemium mannequin, letting free customers get fundamental entry to the app. The app options “petals,” which is After’s in-app foreign money that permits you to purchase additional options, akin to boosts and tremendous likes. Whereas free customers can earn petals by doing issues like filling out their profile, paid subscribers get 500 petals per thirty days and full entry to limitless chats and likes for $19.99 per thirty days.
When it comes to increasing past Austin, the corporate plans to launch the app throughout Texas earlier than providing it in a distinct state.
“I’m really passionate about growing a little community first before moving on because nothing is worse than opening an app up and then you have, like, one user in each state, and it just doesn’t work for anybody,” Dissanayake mentioned.
After is on the market on each iOS and Android.
