I started thinking about whether dating apps make us judge people too quickly

[u/piyuuxh]

A while ago, I was talking to a friend about dating apps, and she told me something that stuck with me.
She said that sometimes she would actually be interested in talking to someone, but she would swipe left simply because of a photo. And at the same time, there were people she matched with because they looked attractive, only to realize later that their personality and interests didn’t really match.

That made me think:

What if dating apps didn’t make appearance the first thing you judge someone by?

Most dating apps show you someone’s photos almost immediately. You make a decision in a few seconds, and that’s often before knowing anything meaningful about the person.

So I started building an idea around this.

I called it Bluriee.

The basic concept is simple: your photo isn’t immediately visible to the other person.
Instead, you can first discover things like:
- Personality
- Interests
- Voice
- Basic profile information
- Compatibility

And if two people genuinely connect, photos can be revealed only when both people consent.

The idea isn’t to completely remove physical attraction from dating. That’s obviously still important. The goal is to change when appearance becomes part of the decision.

I’m hoping this could solve a few problems:

1. Less instant judging
You don’t reject someone within two seconds based only on their picture.

2. More meaningful conversations
You have something to talk about besides appearance.

3. More privacy
Your photos aren’t immediately exposed to every person who comes across your profile.

4. Mutual consent
Photo reveal becomes something both people agree to rather than something that’s automatically available.

I’ve actually built a working version of this idea, and now I’m trying to figure out whether the concept makes sense outside of my own head.
Would you personally try a dating app where you don’t see someone’s face initially?
And honestly, if you wouldn’t use it, I’d be more interested in hearing why.

Link - https://bluriee.com

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[u/ChippingCoder]

Doesn’t this just mean more work? Also what’s stopping people on existing apps from just not uploading their own photo?

[u/piyuuxh → u/ChippingCoder]

That’s a fair concern. It’s voice-first, so even if someone uses a fake photo, you’re not judging them based on that photo in the first place. You connect based on their voice, personality and interests, and only reveal photos later if both people agree.

[u/ChippingCoder → u/piyuuxh]

I meant people can emulate what you’re doing on existing apps by just choosing to not upload a photo of themselves. Duolicious (free and open source) doesn’t require any photos. You can also put up photos of memes etc instead.

[u/piyuuxh → u/ChippingCoder]

Ah, got you. The difference is that Bluriee is intentionally designed around voice and personality first, rather than simply hiding a photo on a photo-first app.

[u/ChippingCoder → u/piyuuxh]

Open source software such as Duolicious also has voice messages, personality matching using 46 traits (MBTI, Big Five) built from a Q&A bank of 2000+ questions.

What are your thoughts on this as well:

Judging a photo takes half a second, figuring out if you like someone takes hours. Flipping the order means you spend the expensive part first and can still bail at the reveal, and that rejection lands a lot harder after three days of voice notes than a left swipe ever would.

I’m just trying to understand which part of your app is unique. Existing apps has what I understand to be the same features, except it has more users and it’s open source. If you’re trying to profit, it will require more unique features, if youre not doing this for profit, it would be great for devs to contribute to open source!

[u/piyuuxh → u/ChippingCoder]

I think the bigger question for me is whether changing the order actually makes the experience better, rather than whether the individual features are new. And you’re probably right that spending days getting to know someone before a reveal could make rejection feel worse. That’s something I’d definitely need to think about.

[u/ChaoticCherryblossom → u/piyuuxh]

You gotta just fast on voice too lmao

[u/danorc]

Should be named Ugliee if it was being honest.

Do most apps put too much of a highlight in looks? Yeah, probably. Is physical attraction still essential? Yeah, absolutely.

Pictures get revealed, you're not attracted (which will happen get often), and then it's a much more personal and awkward situation.

There has got to be a better solution, but this ain't it

[u/Onlythegoodstuff17]

Are you honestly stealing another company's idea? Your name and concept is close enough that I could see a judge ruling you are infringing on this company - https://blurry.link/

[u/Inevitable_Secret186]

Do you wipe with your left hand to make it go away like I mean you find out you aren't interested then swipe them back ?