You know how this goes
- Match with someone.
- Swap a few messages.
- It turns, before you have met.
- You steer it back.
- It turns again.
- You stop replying.
None of that needed a villain. An app whose only room is a message thread makes the pace something you have to negotiate with a stranger before you have even met them — and "not yet" is a hard thing to say to someone who has not done anything wrong.
Two ways to start
- Be interesting in a message firstBe yourself in person first
- Ask for the pace you wantThe pace is already the rule
- A conversation that turns at midnightNo conversation to turn
- Photographs nobody asked forNowhere to send one
- Your photos are a marketing campaignYour photos just help them spot you
- Hundreds of matches that go nowhereFewer matches, real dates
- Plan the first date yourselfTime and place are arranged for you
- Wonder whether they will show upTurning up is what earns you a good badge
- Decide from a profileDecide from when you are both free
- "How do I say I want to go slowly?""What should I wear?"
What you actually do
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Tell us when you are free
Sunday afternoons. A fortnight on Thursday. Set how much notice you want and how far ahead to plan, and let us read your calendar so we never offer you a slot you cannot make.
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Get offered a date
Not a person to evaluate — a date. A time, and a place chosen to be a fair journey for both of you. You say yes or no.
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Turn up
Two hours before, you see each other's name, age and photos, so you can find each other. That is what the photos are for.
There is nothing to compose in between, and nothing to deflect. The first conversation happens standing up, in daylight, with somewhere to walk.
So what do you know about them?
Not their photos. Not a bio you would read as advertising. You get the time, the place, and the things they have actually earned.
- Verified A government ID checked against their face. Everyone has this one — it is how you get in.
- Reliable They have not cancelled or rescheduled on someone.
- Positive feedback The people they have met said it went well.
- Active Five levels, set by the exercise they share from Apple Health or Google's Health Connect. Share yours and your own level rises.
- STI reported They have shown a real test document. We keep the fact, never the result — and it sits on a badge so that it is not a conversation anyone has to start on a first date.
It is a smaller set of facts than a profile, and a more honest one. None of it can be written by someone trying to impress you.
Somewhere public, chosen on purpose
Every meeting point is picked by a person, not generated — public, easy to find and easy to leave. It is fixed once the date is set, so nobody can move it somewhere quieter, and you never have to be the one who says no.
The app will show you the way there, let you say you are running late without opening a conversation, and — if you want — let you share your location so you can find each other in a crowd. Then you can put your phone in your pocket.
And then, if you want, another one
You will be asked how it went, whether you felt safe, and whether you would see them again. If you both would, the app finds you another evening — and another after that, with no thread to keep warm in between.
Swap contacts whenever you like. Plenty of people here will take several evenings before they do, which is rather the point.
Not launched yet
Peony launches in London at the end of October, on iPhone and Android. There is nothing to sign up to yet; when there is, it will be on this page.
How safety works Who is building it
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