Have you ever wanted to take a friendship to the next level? Well, a developer in California thinks that he may have solved the dilemma of admitting a crush on a friend without all the awkwardness. With a new type of app called ‘Mutual,’ you may be able to show someone close to you that you caught feelings without going over the perfect conversation on how to break the news in your head for hours on end.
Josh Wolk developed Mutual as a way for people to anonymously confess they have a crush on a friend. When someone receives the notification a friend has a crush on them, they can admit they also like someone on their list. They can then decide that they want to connect with the person. If the feelings aren’t mutual, the two friends may be able to still continue their friendship and avoid the awkward denial of a relationship.
As Josh found, many people choose not to pursue a relationship with a friend. It presented a risk to the friendship. Though many romantic partners find a future together that started first as a friendship, this is not always the case. Josh said of his app, “I made an app so you can ask your friends out without making things awkward.”
The app will only notify both parties if they chose each other and matched after confessing their feelings. Josh went on to explain his thoughts behind the development of the app, “The closer you are friends with someone, the higher the potential for a high quality relationship. But also, the higher the perceived risk of ruining that friendship by expressing your feelings.”
The comment section on the big reveal of Mutual was not totally on board, unfortunately for Josh. Though some people sounded genuinely excited, many others despised the idea from the start. One commenter said, “Men used to wage war and conquer lands. Now we use apps to ask girls out because we’re scared.” It’s a fair point. At least other dating apps don’t make you anonymous, whereas Mutual does.
Women also seemed to reject the idea of being notified, preferring men to just ask them outright. One person said, “Immediate ick if a man didn’t have the balls to just ask me out and I found out via APP.” Others said that they would intentionally try to match with all of their friends and confuse them for fun.
However you feel about Mutual, we can all agree there doesn’t need to be another dating app. There are plenty out there already. And guess what? Rejection comes with the territory, no matter what app you use. Mutual sounds like it would simply stunt your social skills.
