"Wingman" app makes meeting people at bars even weirder


So you’re sitting at your local bar with your friends, chatting about this and that, when in comes this lovely specimen of the opposite sex. Unfortunately, because the city you are in (let’s say Seattle) suffers from crippling passive aggression and antisocial tendencies, you do not feel up to smiling at this person or walking up and saying hello. What can you do?!

Why, hope this wonderful creature checks in on Wingman! —At which point you can send a tip that someone at that location is interested… but who? Wingman doesn’t tell. If your quarry indicates interest (via smartphone, 10 feet away) in the same person who they were contacted by, an app-based chat is initiated. That way you can get to know one another without the pressure of eye contact and other social conventions!

Okay, I don’t know about you, but it all sounds pretty weird to me. The app is being launched in Seattle only at the moment, where we do indeed have social troubles (the so-called “Seattle Freeze,” which is nothing more than timidity and over-politeness in my opinion) and the developers feel the community is more tightly knit than other metropoli.

I doubt it will ever reach critical mass, since no one wants to have to check in to more than one service, but if it were to get integration (opt-in, obviously) with an existing service like Foursquare, it might actually pick up a little steam.

It’s available for iOS now and an Android version is coming soon. Right now I may install it just to get the drink specials at Del Rey. Come by Thursday night and you can Wingman me.

[via TechFlash]