INSIGHTS | February 13, 2013
This Time of Year, Love is in the...App?
Couple (formerly known as Pair), along with a host of other similarly functioning and looking apps, is hoping to be your go to for mobile communication with your significant other.
love appsThe idea is that you couple up through the app, and use it to send messages, share photos and sketches, and share tasks, so that the app becomes a self-contained communication platform for you and your other. Sure, you guys could just text each other, like you do with everyone else, but what fun is that?
There are two reasons we think apps like Couple (and Avocado, Between, Duet, SimplyUs) provide added value:
1. Sharing to-do lists with your significant other can be an empowering, productive experience. No more leaving notes around the apartment, sending random texts or emails the moment you think of something, and sitting around waiting to see if said things get done. By using the in-app to-do lists, you can add, check off and comment on tasks together. Warning: if you’re the type to spy on just how quickly your significant other gets things done – and get on his/her case if it’s just not quick enough – app may cause fighting.
2. The one-to-one nature of the app helps you filter through the silent noise of your daily life. A busy day can mean many personal messages and emails going unread for hours at a time. Using one of the pairing apps means the inbox is separate, so you can easily know when your sender is your significant other, and open/read/respond to their notes without dealing with the rest of your junk inbox.
The apps mentioned above are remarkably similar, though they do have their own touches. For example, most allow only one pair, but Duet allows users to be in multiple pairs at once. Duet with your boyfriend, your BFF, and your mom, if you want. SimplyUs synchs with your phone’s calendar, taking the joint to-do list to the next level. And Avocado just launched a web app and an API, asking developers to make new features for the app – so, who knows what will come next?
And that’s the point, really. Couples' communication apps are springing up everywhere, but they have barely yet hit their stride. Over the past few years we’ve seen digital, with much help from mobile, conquer our social graphs and enlighten new ways of connecting with close friends, acquaintances, and some people we kind of wish we were never connected with in the first place. Now that digital has conquered our vast web of relationships, will it move on to our most intimate ones? Are one-on-one relationships the next frontier?
It’s almost Valentine’s day, so the timing is perfect. Pair up. Be in a Couple. Duet. Keep things Between you. Make it about SimplyUs. Eat an Avocado?