Move over Tinder, Bumble, and Raya! A new dating app just launched that takes an entirely new approach to dating: it’s designed exclusively for people who absolutely hate going on adventures.
The app, called ShutIn, was created by friends Elena Shaw and Gordon Harris.
“Something we noticed about the traditional dating apps is that almost everyone on them loves adventures,” explained Harris. “How? It sounds so exhausting.”
Subsequent research into the apps lead Harris and Shaw to some startling conclusions. 95% of profile pictures include images of someone surfing, climbing Machu Picchu, feeding a koala, or squinting gamely into the distance in front of a palm tree.
A shocking 99% of bios include the phrase “let’s go on an adventure ;).”
“I’m more into, like, overanalyzing my lunch order than spontaneously hitchhiking to Spain, or whatever,” explained Shaw. “We designed ShutIn for people like us who don’t live life to the fullest – people who have never even seen a fish, let alone caught one.”
Within its short time on the market, ShutIn has found a large audience. Its profiles swap out more traditional outdoorsy pics for images of men and women cradling mugs, rearranging their cabinets, and sheepishly avoiding eye contact with the camera. The app’s profile prompts range from “what’s your favorite thing to stare meditatively at?” to “where’s your favorite place you’ve been (in your house)?” to “who’s your favorite op-ed writer?” A typical ShutIn meetup might be a wordless movie date, a cyclical conversation in a coffee shop, or lazy sex.
“I never thought I’d meet someone who makes as many pros and cons lists as I do,” explains Lora D, who has gone on four dates with a man from ShutIn. “But finally, I found a guy who is happy to sit silently next to me as we think our separate thoughts.”
The app has also hit its fair share of snags. Many dates are cancelled and the app hastily deleted at the last minute, after one or both parties start imagining potential bad date scenarios. Additionally, many users have complained about arriving at stalemates in which neither person is willing to go to the other’s neighborhood.
“Our userbase doesn’t like doing things, and unfortunately that includes dates,” laments Shaw. “So basically we invented a chat room, which honestly we’re fine with.”
