Follow your Fitbit heart rate to find love with this dating app

By Saqib Shah January 15, 2016

Once - Heartbeat

Once, a dating app that takes a more human approach to online matchmaking, has introduced Fitbit and Android Wear integration to help users follow their hearts.

Currently available in the U.K., France, and Spain, and claiming a user base of 600,000, the app can now be sync with the aforementioned fitness trackers to display the user’s real-time heart rate in reaction to each potential match. Future updates will allow users to opt-in to a function that sends their heart rate to a counterpart or potential suitor, reports TechCrunch. For the time being, however, only you will be able to see your true heart rate’s desire.

Aside from its integration with wearables, Once also takes a unique approach to the matchmaking side of things. The service currently employs a team of 120 matchmakers that trawl through member profiles to create combinations; a single handpicked match is then offered for users to like or dislike each day. The company’s employees choose prospective suitors based on profile history, such as previous matches.

once-xlarge_trans++7d-rgPQbzFLCmlzSAJLC_7faChs3bJDgJM8n1y90GAw — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Once founder and CEO, Jean Meyer, says the service offers a relaxed dating option. “[Other] dating platforms are too complex, aimed toward an older demographic, or…focused on casual dating and hook ups,” Meyer told TechCrunch.

Meyer claims that his app’s single daily match-up methodology and human (and hormonal) heart-rate feature sets it apart from the pack. A U.S. launch date for the app has not been disclosed.

Fitness fans who like the sound of Once can also seek out Sweatt, a dating app for regular gym-goers that launched in December.

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