Creators are hoping that an award-winning dating app will break fresh ground as the first of its type designed specifically for lesbian women.
As The Guardian is reporting, the British lesbian dating app Dattch made its highly anticipated U.S. debut at San Francisco's Lesbians Who Tech Summit, and nabbed a design award at the Launch Festival.
Of course, dating apps focused on lesbians are nothing new. Brenda has been called a "Grindr for girls," while the multi-faceted Wing Ma'am emphasizes social networking for lesbian, transgender and bisexual women. But Dattch founder and CEO Robyn Exton told The Guardian that the new app differs from its counterparts in that it doesn't mimic those aimed at heterosexuals or gay men.
"We've found that girls often need a helping hand to get talking," Exton is quoted as saying. "Guys will see a picture, send a girl a message and see what happens, whereas girls will look at a picture two or three times before deciding to send a message."
She also told ReadWrite that she sees Dattch as the "polar opposite" of Grindr which nonetheless taps into the "natural behaviors" of women. In fact, TechCrunch described Daatch as having more in common with Pinterest than Grindr or Scruff in that it emphasizes photos but not proximity-based social networking.
"I don’t envy any straight dating product -- I think that must be really difficult, to try to bring those two different user behaviors together," she said, according to ReadWrite. "You can’t just take Grindr and make it pink and give it to women and say 'Ta da!' It’s a completely different experience and product -- and I think no one seems to have taken the time to do it yet."
Exton told The Telegraph last year that Dattch was introducing extra steps to identify and thwart users on lesbian social apps who are actually straight men.
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