Speed-dating app uses facial recognition to analyze response

Heystax is a gamified dating app that uses 30-second video calls and facial recognition to match potential lovers.

Dating apps are now an integral part of many people’s love lives, using apps and sites as a means of meeting new potential partners. As facial recognition software becomes more sophisticated, it was only a matter of time before the tech is applied to the online dating industry. Software developer Krush is making use of their facial tracking technology through Heystax, a new mobile dating app.

The app sets up potential connections and starts a 30-second video call between the matches. Both partners only have this small amount of time to convince the other person to stay in touch, and the app uses facial recognition to read the expressions of each user, and examine how impressed they were. After this initial video call, love-seekers can decide whether they want to keep talking — if both say yes, they can chat over the app.

Heystax wants to bring a level of gamification to the saturated industry of online dating. The app scores daters’ chats via what it describes as a “digital wingman”, and uses the information to try and set up better matches in the future. The launch date for the app has yet to be confirmed.

We have already seen dating apps that reward well-behaved males, and apps hosting only photos that are less than six hours old, but how could video matches disrupt on-demand dating?