Cheers Puts Dating In Your Friends’ Hands

Cheers wants to reshape online dating by bringing back a tried-and-true tradition — letting your family and friends set you up.

Why It Hits: With young people valuing friendships over relationships, offloading matchmaking to their opinions seems like a natural step — potential dates are vetted by people they trust (nothing more attractive than a curated recommendation).

Between The Profiles: Cheers founder Sahil Ahuja says that Cheers is a mix of Hinge and Instagram.

• When users sign up, the app asks them several get-to-know-you questions, like if they drink and where they went to school.
• The Instagram part: Once onboarded, users can add their contacts, where they can then post pictures of you and tag you. People who follow your contacts can find and message you if interested.
• The Hinge part: Users can swipe independently, or friends can swipe on behalf of their mutual contacts.
• The app launched last month in beta on iOS, starting as a “New York City-focused, invite-only platform and focused for now on South Asian people,” per Fast Company.

The Closer: Nearly 80% of millennials and Gen Zers are burnt out with the frustrations of online dating — too many choices, too much ghosting, too few genuine connections. So, allowing mutual connections to… well… connect you adds a layer of accountability between both parties. No one wants to embarrass a family member or friend. Because of that, expect Cheers to take off with people looking for a serious relationship, not a hookup.