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In this week’s issue, we’ve rounded up new, alternative ways to date in the city, from literary speed dating to conversing with paper bags over our heads. It's tough to date in this city, and it would be cruel to send you out to flirt without first making ourselves the guinea pigs, so six single Time Out New York staffers signed up for new apps and tried to make love (or at least like) happen. Each day this week, we’re bringing you our experiences. So far, we've tried JSwipe and Distinc.tt. Next up: Glimpse
Glimpse more or less turns your Instagram feed into a dating profile. You choose one large profile photo and beneath that, you can display up to nine additional photos that you feel best represent you. You then swipe through potential matches just like you would on Tinder.
The difficulty with judging someone based solely on their Instagram photos is that they’re generally not the best representation of what a person is actually like. To make matters worse, it seemed like most of the guys I saw on Glimpse had just stuck with the default setting displaying their nine most recent photos. It’s hard to judge whether or not someone is date-worthy based on two photos of an omelet and a really rad sunset.
I did end up messaging a couple of guys I thought looked cute or had witty captions, but that presented a whole new problem. The only way to communicate with other Glimpse users is to “start a conversation” around one of their photos. When all you really want to say is, “You’re hot,” that can feel unnecessarily strenuous.
“Nice filter,” I messaged one guy. “Cool photo. I love San Diego!” I sent another. It was an uphill battle.
It didn’t seem like there were many other users on the app in my near vicinity (I reached the end of the profiles featured under “local” in a few minutes) but a majority of the guys I swiped through did seem to be an attractive, well-traveled lot. Then again, it could have been the filters.