French app Happn has just launched in London, and has a fresh take on location-based matching.
Throughout the day, Happn accumulates and saves all the profiles of people you have passed by.
Whether on the train, in the gym, or at a bar, it uses location technology to pick up the profiles of users you have been in the vicinity of, for you to pass or like at a later date.
These profiles are saved in the home screen, and you can view them multiple times before deciding, unlike Tinder where you only get one shot.
A user profile is built from a few photos – pulled from Facebook – basic information like name, age and time last active on the app, and a Google map of the general area “your paths crossed”.
If two users like each other, they can chat in the app.
Happn bills itself as a dating app “completely based on reciprocity”, and arrives on British shores after launching in France.
The app was founded by Fabien Cohen and Didier Rappaport – a French entrepreneur who was a co-founder of DailyMotion.
Happn is free to download, and offer both a premium and a free service for men – women get an unlimited free service.
Men can pay for a full €27.99 subscription, which gives them complete access to features such as showing their availability on a map for a date, or sending charms.
Alternatively, men can pay for packs of credit to use these features, which range from 10 credits for €1.79, to 100 credits for €12.99.
Happn marketed their London launch with ads on Twitter and Facebook.
The app is available on iOS here.