With a little more free time on their hands than usual, many singles have felt compelled to up their dating game during this period of social distancing. The catch? As witty as someone might be on Bumble, there’s only so long you can swap memes before both silently agreeing you’ll probably never meet in person (especially during these unique times). But if you’re eager for a little social interaction and potentially some romance, there’s an app for that.
Filter Off helps people connect romantically via 90-second FaceTime-style video chats while social distancing. Every night, the app hand-selects three dates for you that match your preferences. You’ll view your dating queue for the evening, add the appointments to your calendar (if you’re a calendar person) and connect with a potential romantic match at the scheduled time. You’ll have 90 seconds to chat via live video and swap stories about how you’re passing the time (aka what puzzles you’re crushing and what you’re currently binging on Netflix). Once the date is over, you can decide whether you’d like to take it a step further and go on a real date, which at this point in time means FaceTiming for longer than a minute and a half.
You can, of course, cancel a date if they don’t seem like a good match or you’re experiencing Zoom and FaceTime fatigue from all your new remote socialization and meetings.
Aside from the fact you’re able to connect with people while flattening the curve, Filter Off makes catfishing basically impossible and gives you a better idea about whether you can actually form a connection with a person. It also means you can avoid awkward dates (anyone can endure 90 seconds) and—let’s be honest—save time.
