There’s a new dating app for Charlotte singles. Only requirement? Must love dogs
In the roughly five weeks since Cindy Himmel launched Frolly, her new dating app for dog lovers has gotten press far and wide, from The Washington Post, from friend of Oprah Gayle King, even from websites aimed at audiences in England, India and Australia.
“I’m not complaining, and it’s wonderful,” Himmel says, as she curls into the living-room sofa in her Dilworth home, next to her own pint-sized pups — Lulu, a mutt, and Ruby, a Havanese mix.
But if Himmel wants to realize her dream of launching Frolly in other, larger cities and achieve her even broader dream of helping as many rescue dogs as possible, the 67-year-old Charlottean-by-way-of-Chicago knows she needs to first prove the start-up concept can take off here, in her adopted hometown.
Although Frolly can technically be downloaded by anyone, anywhere, the focus is fixed tightly on Charlotte for the time being; and as of the middle of last week, the app had reached about 2,700 users, the majority of whom are based in the area. (FWIW: According to the software and app development company Ptolemay, apps that are downloaded 500 to 1,000 times within a month of launching are considered to be “gaining traction.”).
In a recent interview with The Charlotte Observer, Himmel spoke about the obstacles she hurdled on the way to getting Frolly launched — including a sizable one involving the name — as well as the potential pitfalls that lie ahead.
The conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Q. Sorry to start off by stating the obvious, but: This is not the first dating app specifically designed for dog lovers. What would you say sets yours apart?
Well, I haven’t seen ones currently live that are as professional — or serious, maybe — as far as the human profiles. They’re more playful or cartoon-like. So I think what makes ours stand out is there’s a very serious human element. The dog piece is there — you create your profile and your dog’s profile — but it’s not just about your dog.
Q. What I found interesting is that people don’t even necessarily have to own a dog to look for love on the app.
Yeah, that was really important to me. People live in apartments where they can’t keep dogs. They might have gone through a divorce, and lost the dog in the divorce. Their dog might have passed away. There could be a million reasons why someone who’s a dog lover might not have a dog at the moment, but would love to find a partner with a dog.
It has been in all of my marketing of this app, to really get it out there, because some people mistakenly assume that you have to have a dog. You do not.
Q. How’s the launch going so far?
Well, running Frolly is almost like running a tech startup, in the sense that it’s making no revenue. It is part of the business plan that I will not be charging for the time being. (The first six months of Frolly are free for those who download the app and sign up before Dec. 31.) Once we do, we’ll be able to start fulfilling our other promise of donating 25% of the profits to Forgotten, Now Family Rescue in Charlotte. And I love the philanthropic piece of it. I hope that it does touch some people, and maybe even attract some people who are on the fence about trying the app.
But right now, there are not enough users to where it would make sense yet to ask for money. So I have to build the user base. I was hoping for 5,000 in the first few months. We’ll see.
The dating-app business in general is not great today. But the dog business, revenue-wise, is phenomenal. It’s remarkable what people will spend on their dogs. And getting into The Washington Post was terrific. It invited interest from all over the world, people emailing.
Q. What kinds of things are they saying?
Just, “When are you coming?” You know, “We love dogs.” Most of the comments we’ve received are positive overall. But there are a lot of comments like, “What about cats?” I mean, obviously it could easily be adapted for cats. For rabbits. Horses.
Q. Also, you said the dating-app business isn’t great right now. Can you talk about that a little more?
During Covid, people were only able to meet on apps. The research is showing that since Covid, young people have been seeking more “IRL” — real-life — connections. That made the dating-app usage go down.
There is also an “ick” factor to apps. People have been frustrated with them, and I recognize that. Part of the mission of Frolly is to bring the joy back into dating. Dating apps have not been bringing us joy, but our dogs bring us joy. So I thought, Let’s see if this idea could transcend and go into the dating-app world.
Q. Was there a more-specific inspiration for Frolly in the first place?
Yes. It was a simplistic moment my daughter had in the dating world. She’s married now, but about three and a half years ago, she had met a guy online and went out with him a couple of times. At lunch one day, I asked about him, and she said she’d already moved on, because “He wasn’t that into dogs.” And a lightbulb went off in my brain: I wonder if there’s something there, underneath that. So I went home, and did a little research and took it from there.
But it took me a little while to start it. There were breaks in progress, mainly due to some health problems my brother was having. And I had actually started the app under a different name — it was called Catch, and it was almost done. It had a whole different look. But the lawyer came back and said that Match.com has a trademark for a web page called “Catch of a Lifetime.” She said, “If the app doesn’t make it, it won’t matter. But if you actually made it, and it became something, they would take that name away from you.”
So I had to completely rebrand it. I went to a marketing firm, and they asked me a lot of questions about what I was looking for. I’m like, “Joy. I want to express joy in how it looks and feels.” Then I saw an Instagram video of two dogs frolicking in the snow. That led to coming up with the word “frolly” — sort of the combination of “joy” and “frolic.”
Q. Sorry if this is a stupid question, but: Have you ever used a dating app?
I have never used a dating app. I marveled, though, when I would see different people using them — a friend, or my daughter, or whoever — just because I find it unbelievably interesting and exciting to know that all these people are at your fingertips.
I know there’s the “ick” in it. I mean, everyone that I know that’s been on dating apps has at some point been like, “I’m getting off of them.” But I’m someone that hopes to bring the joy out in people, and this entire dating app is based on the joy that our dogs bring. I want to make the dating app a happy one.
It was the same with the bakery. (Himmel founded a popular bakery in Chicago called Sweet Mandy B’s in 2002; she still owns one-third of the business.) I was so excited about the sprinkles and the joy that they created. I really am just seeking joy in the smallest ways. It’s almost more about bringing joy to people than a dating app.
Q. I’m curious, when people ask you what you do, do you call yourself an entrepreneur?
No, I’m just a dreamer. The bakery was a dream — a total dream. The original vision for Frolly was just a happy dream.
Q. The Washington Post story quoted a relationship expert who was somewhat skeptical of the app. In a nutshell, she said people shouldn’t think the simple fact that they both own dogs is necessarily the answer to a healthy relationship. Any reaction to that?
I think they might have just wanted a contrarian opinion. I don’t know. Of course there are other key factors, whether it’s your religion, your politics, your education, all the things that are important to you. Of course, just having a dog is not going to mean that your relationship is going to be healthy. But it’s a starting point.
And there’s so much division right now, maybe this does transcend some of that — as a common, loving ground that transcends our different hatreds. I mean, it might be one of the major commonalities the two sides have: We’ll all come together to save our dogs!
This story was originally published December 8, 2025 at 5:15 AM.
