Cray Launches Online Dating Safety App to Spot Red Flags Early
A new dating safety tool called Cray has launched nationwide in the United States, built around the idea that early awareness of manipulative or deceitful behaviours can reduce emotional and financial harm in relationships. Cray offers users a series of guided assessments covering more than 70 red flags across 18 relational categories = spanning emotional manipulation, financial deception, love bombing, and avoidance behaviours.
Based on those assessments, two metrics are generated: the CrayScore™, assessing overall relationship risk, and SchemerScore™, which highlights behaviours suggesting ulterior motives. Information is stored locally and not publicly shared, allowing users to privately evaluate their relationships.
The app’s design emphasizes education as much as detection. In addition to scoring, Cray provides explanatory content about why certain behaviours matter, helping users see patterns before problems escalate. As the founder Justin Smith put it: “Cray turns a very serious issue into something approachable and informative to help people protect their hearts without losing their hope about love.”
Cray’s founding narrative is personal. Its creator, Justin Smith, launched the app after experiencing a traumatic betrayal in a long-term relationship. “After what I went through, I realized how easy it is to miss the signs until it’s too late and the damage is done. Cray exists to make sure no one else has to learn those lessons the hard way,” Smith said.
The app is designed for compatibility with modern dating culture: it offers different versions of the assessment (a quick scan, a medium version covering 37 flags, or a full 74-item screening). It also includes a “catfish check” that examines whether a phone number is tied coherently to a claimed name, location, or identity. Cray enters the market during a time of intensified scrutiny over dating app safety, especially given that a AI accounts, too-good-to-be-true matches and carefully-crafted scams are easier to create than ever.
