PING: A New App for Offline Dating
PING is a new dating app that fosters offline and local connections. The platform looks to address issues of choice overload, superficiality, and catfishing, through its innovative system for matching singles in their local area.
Founded by brothers Noah and Hiob Feller, the platform uses geo-location technology to help provide an alternative to the established ‘swipe culture’.
With PING, users see people that are within a 300m radius, rather than swiping on endless profiles in a large database. Noah and Hiob explain that this decreases the ‘choice overload’ that other apps bring, as well as fostering local connections.
They also highlight that many dating app profiles represent curated, unrealistic versions of users. In contrast, PING profiles only contain a verified selfie and a name before a connection happens.
Noah and Hiob share that “we aim to recreate the romantic occasions when two strangers get to know each other in everyday life, just by being attracted to their real appearance. Whether they really match, they may find out over a coffee”.
Rather than trying to create an algorithm that understands the complexity of human relationship compatibility, they’ve taken the approach of simply enabling singles to say ‘Hi!’ to a person they saw across the street.
And when it comes to catfishing & safety, PING takes a firm stance. All profiles on the platform are verified, and users have the ultimate control when and where they want to be seen.
Overall, they highlight that fostering offline connections brings quality over quantity, restores the spontaneity of dating, and encourages intentional dating rather than just mindless swiping right.
On the business side, PING is currently working on its go-to-market activities in Germany to prove its product-market fit. Supported by company builder P-ton AG and two business angels, PING is currently growing & raising funds to expand throughout the DACH region and major cities in Europe.
“We are optimistic that PING will deliver exactly what users want today: less algorithm, fewer matches, but more human-to-human interaction within their dating-journey”, Noah and Hiob shared.
You can find out more about PING by visiting its website here.
