Having made my rounds of all the major dating apps in Singapore ever since I turned 18, you could say I’ve swiped, tapped and messaged my way to a roadblock over the past couple of years.
After a while, the profiles sort of blend into an indistinguishable blob where every dude has the same set of photos. A changing room mirror selfie, a group shot of him with his bros, perhaps a portrait of his time in NS… you get the idea.
So when I heard about Klick, a new dating app that operates on an Instagram-like premise, I was excited to give it a whirl. On top of just profile pics, users are able to fill up their personal “feed” with posts and photo updates over time. This allows for a more authentic collection of posts showcasing your interests. They say a picture’s worth a thousand words; so for those who are stumped by what to write for your bio, you can now let your photos do the talking.
From there, you’ll also be able to meet like-minded individuals and have a better idea of what your “entrance message” should be, as compared to a mere “Hi, you’re cute”.
Setting up my profile with a set of pics plus detailed responses to the bio prompts
I kick-started my latest online dating journey by crafting a profile, pretty standard stuff. What sets Klick apart is how thorough the profile “survey” is, getting into the nitty-gritty of the things that the user is into.
Besides listing out the things you like, which will help other users find common ground to strike up a convo, some preferences are good to express in your bio for the sake of streamlining potential matches and filtering out deal-breakers.
This is especially so for touchy subjects such as height, race, religion and lifestyle choices like smoking. Personally, I’ve learnt from previous dating experiences that I can’t be with a heavy smoker, or someone who’s not a minimum of 10cm taller than me. So why compromise?
Without the questionnaire feature, you’re stuck with 2 options to suss out whether or not users fulfil your criteria, and neither of the methods are that ideal. You either slap a disclaimer on your profile—running the risk of sounding picky, arrogant and holier-than-thou—or spring it on them through conversation like a gate-keeping initial message.
When it’s all clearly listed out on your bio, everyone’s on the same page and they can see your preferences and requirements at a glance. If they filled up their particulars with something that doesn’t align with what you like or what you’re looking for? No hard feelings. Thank you, next!
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Unlike most dating apps, which present profiles to you like a “deck of cards” that you have to individually swipe through, Klick truly resembles an Instagram-feed-scrolling experience. Straight off the bat, I was able to seamlessly browse through loads of photo updates and intriguing captions from the various users online.
Some of the “social media-style” updates posted by users, both guys and girls
I wasn’t expecting it at first, but I enjoyed being able to check out female profiles and posts as well, even though my match preference was set to “Female Seeking Males”. It offered an eye-opening glimpse into the dating “market” from a perspective that I’m not familiar with. Plus, it never hurts to potentially make a new gal pal with similar interests just by hitting her up with a quick message!
Speaking of which, bless the good folks at Klick for making Message Requests a function. There’s no need to swipe endlessly and still wait on the match to take place before you can talk to someone you’ve set your sights on. But at the same time, you’ll also have to approve the request first to prevent a flood of unsavoury messages from individuals you might not fancy.
Definitely swoon-worthy for a fellow wanderlust-stricken individual like myself! Plus, a self-expressive man who has a strong grasp of the English language? Excuse me while I deep-dive into his inbox right now.
A sample screenshot of how chats appear on Klick
After trialing the app over a couple of weeks, I would say my favourite aspects of Klick are the ability to filter my preferences based on the users’ bio and lifestyle choices, along with the ease of sliding right into the DMs of somebody who’s tickled my fancy.
Connections aren’t formed simply through finding someone with a carbon-copied set of likes and dislikes as you. Sometimes it’s refreshing and intriguing to meet someone enthusiastic about something you haven’t the faintest clue of!
I can only imagine how vibrant my “feed” is going to get over time as the user base grows, and the variety of posts become more and more diverse. Instead of subscribing to posts that only fit your interests, you’ll be opened up to a whole world of potential matches with colourful backgrounds and passions to discuss.
The level of self-expression from Klick’s Instagram-esque posting model means you get to beef up your profile with as many updates as you want, from a particularly sumptuous meal you’ve had to a trip that you’d like to revisit with a special someone. Overall, the profiles gain so much more depth and personality as compared to a curated slideshow of thirst-trapping pics followed by a bio limited to 140 characters.
Or even worse, no bio. Just the link to their Instagram handle. *barfs*
Hopefully, that will now become obsolete, since Klick is pretty much a happy marriage between Insta and online dating apps. Hooray! Hope it’ll lead to my marriage as well! Just kidding… but not really.
Klick is available for download on iOS and Android devices.
This post is brought to you by Klick.
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