T listed below are a complete large amount of apps in the marketplace now for young people searching for love: Tinder, Bumble, and OkCupid, to call a few. Though their rationales vary—Tinder and Bumble are both in regards to the swipe, but on Bumble, women result in the very first move, in accordance with OkCupid you are able to get a handle on exactly how much information you reveal up front—they all have one or more part of typical: Possible mates judge each other considering appearance.
But Willow, a fresh application striking the App shop on Wednesday, is looking for a approach that is different. As opposed to swiping left or right in line with the first selfie the thing is that, you’re prompted to respond to a collection of three questions—written by users—that are created to spark a conversation up. What’s more, users 
decide when and in case they would like to share pictures along with other users; to start with, the responses to these concerns are typical dates that are future.
The app’s creator Michael Bruch claims Willow sets the “social” back in social networking
Bruch, now 24, had been fresh away from nyc University as he established the application year that is last. He claims he had been trying to fill a void he noticed when making use of dating apps that centered on swipes in place of that which you like.
“You can match with a number of individuals which you think are great searching however you don’t really understand much about them unless you begin speaking with them,” Bruch informs TIME. “If I’m going to invest time with somebody i wish to understand me. we have actually one thing to talk about–that’s what’s essential to”
Bruch is hoping that same desire for discussion is essential to numerous other young adults aswell. To date, Willow has gained some traction. Over 100,000 users downloaded the beta form of the app that launched in August, giving on average three communications per day.
What’s more, folks are deploying it for longer than simply finding love. “It’s be a little more about social development than strictly dating,” Bruch says. “If you want to can get on an have actually a laid-back discussion about video gaming it is possible to, and you may additionally put it to use to spark up an intimate discussion with some one that’s not as much as 30 kilometers away.”
The type of the software released also includes a “Discover” feature that helps users search what’s trending and better sort through questions they’d be interested in answering wednesday.
It’s an appealing approach provided the sensed shallow nature of today’s millennials—the Me Generation, as TIME’s Joel Stein pronounced in 2013. Today’s dating apps appear to feed to their internal narcissists. And it also’s much easier to turn some body down based on simply their face instead of once you’ve started up a discussion. To observe how users reacted to pages without pictures, OkCupid one of several biggest online dating sites, hid profile pictures temporarily in January of 2013 dubbing it “Blind Date time.” They unearthed that their people had been more likely to respond to very first communications through that time, however the moment the pictures had been turned right back on, conversations ended–like they’d “turned in the bright lights during the club at midnight,” wrote one Chris Rudder, among the site’s founders.
Some millennials are finding that the pressure of putting your face out there for the public to judge can be intimidating—and in some instances, dangerous despite that somewhat depressing result. Just one single glimpse during the jerky messages published to your Instagram account Bye Felipe (which aggregates negative communications ladies have online) provides a great feeling of exactly how irritating it may be for most people, but especially for females, wanting to navigate for the reason that space that is visual. Individuals could be aggressive, fetishizing, and downright cruel.
Apps like Bumble seek to assist females circumvent that by placing the energy of striking up discussion in entirely inside their arms. But Willow desires to entirely change the focus, from the way somebody looks as to the his / her passions are. “If your photo is certainly not being blasted around, the quantity of harassment and communications you’re likely to get from the break will likely be reduced,” Bruch claims.
The app’s mission sounds like a cheesy line from a rom-com: a hapless sap whining that they wish someone would take interest in their thoughts and not their looks on its surface. But, Bruch and Willow’s other founders are hoping it’s carved a spot one of the variety apps that focus on the millennial generation’s life online.