The gist: Dealing with people at work for eight hours is stressful enough as it is, and we don’t blame you if you don’t feel like spending your post-work free time stressing over your love life. Maybe your bad luck in relationships has made you bury yourself in your work and the thought of re-downloading a swiping app makes you want to throw up. We all have that one friend who’s begging to “Tinder” for us, and now there’s an app for that: Ship is the modern take on having your friend act as a wingman or wingwoman at the bar, but using swiping instead of an awkward “Hey, my friend thinks you’re hot.”
Why it works: Released in January 2019, Ship is the love child of Match Group (owner of match, Tinder, Hinge, and OkCupid) and digital media giant Betches. Since launch, it’s had some serious matching technology and a huge user following right out of the gate. Potential matches are shown to your group of friends via trusted algorithms from the veterans at match, while Betches takes care of the marketing and ensures that the blind date model feels hip and not lame.
To get started, a single user creates a group of people who will do the swiping for them. That group can send the potential dates to each other before it’s a confirmed “yes,” as well as send pictures and have a regular group chat. (If your friends in a relationship miss the single days of swiping, this is a chance for them to do so while using their expertise to pick you a winner, too.) Unfortunately, friends can’t talk to matches in order to groom them before introducing them to you, but hopefully that’s coming soon.
An idea this unique is bound to generate some hype, but does it live up to it? Absolutely. The app sees pretty awesome reviews in the App Store and has been covered by major publishers like The Verge and Elite Daily, although you’ve probably seen it before in the form of YouTube ads. Most complaints are about flaws in the app’s design and random glitches, but people seem really gung-ho about the concept.