Sapio, the dating app that wants to help smart people hook up
Think you're smarter than your average bear? A new dating app wants to help you find fellow intellectuals to love.
Sapio bills itself as a go-to community for people who are drawn to other smart people. Among other things, the free app allows users to define their orientation as sapiosexual, which is someone who finds intelligence attractive. Though it sounds a little... clinical? And presumably if you've selected this particular app, you've already identified yourself as at least sapio-curious.
Kristin Tynski, one of the app's cofounders, told the Huffington Post that being a sapiosexual isn't just about your IQ, it's about bonding over shared interests and having meaningful conversation. “For many, defining oneself as sapiosexual has become statement against the current status quo of hookup culture and superficiality, where looks are prized above all else,” Tynski said.
AdultFriendFinder — readers’ pick for casual connections
Hinge — popular choice for regular meetups
Fair enough. But the interface works in the same way as most swipe-based apps do, so looks and first impressions will still play a role. Though in addition to the standard profile features, you can also connect using the “Question Explorer,” which lets you offer answers to 300 open-ended questions from various categories like "Inside My Head" and "Achievements."
Sapio joins a wave of apps that have come out promising a more specialized membership in one form or another (think The League), but there's no actual proof required that you're especially smart or interesting. And that's not something that's easily quantified anyway, except by pretty pointless measures like IQ.
So it remains to be seen whether the connections you might form among your supposed intellectual peers will be any better than among the massive pool of potential mates offered by more general apps like Tinder offer.
Cassie Murdoch is Mashable's Culture Editor.. Before coming here, Cassie was Senior Culture Writer at Vocativ. She previously wrote for Jezebel and The Hairpin. Cassie spends most of her time thinking about and consuming cheese in all its glorious forms.
