He built a dating app just for himself — and got a girlfriend out of it, NC man says
Aaron Smith built an exclusive dating app — so exclusive, in fact, that he’s the only guy on there.
No matter how many times users swipe left, another photo of the 32-year-old from Greensboro, North Carolina, pops up with a pithy description.
To name a few: “Highly eccentric goofball,” “Is this guy REALLY doin’ it for ‘ya?” and “I usually tell people my type is socially anxious cat ladies which is kind of a joke but not really.”
Somewhat surprisingly, the app — called “Singularity” — worked.
Amid the media frenzy that followed the app’s launch in late September, WFMY reported a woman 2,800 miles away sent him an email.
It read: “Who is your future wife, you ask? Lucky for you, I’m an eccentric, socially anxious cat lady.”
From the beginning
Smith describes himself as Singularity’s co-founder and CEO on his YouTube channel — where he posted a quirky 1-minute, 25-second advertisement for the app on Sept. 19.
“Don’t worry if you accidentally swipe past your future husband’s profile,” he says in the video. “They’re pretty much all the same.”
The ad then flashes to a confused woman sitting on her bed. “This doesn’t help anyone,” she says.
To which he responds: “You’re welcome.”
WFMY in Greensboro picked up the story a month later, sparking similar reports from Bored Panda, People.com and Newsweek.
The YouTube clip has been viewed more than 100,000 times.
“Since launching in late September, many news outlets across the internet, radio and television have covered Singularity — making my ego even more unbearable,” Smith said in a follow-up video posted Jan. 21.
The video captures a notable development: Singularity helped him meet someone.
A planned encounter
In late November, Smith said a woman named Abi sent him an email and “wasted no time trying to sound clinically insane.”
In addition to referencing one of his jokes on the app about liking cat ladies, Abi — whose last name goes unmentioned — had also named their future children Terror and Nutmegan, Smith said.
He called her love language “stalking.”
The pair began video chatting, WFMY reported. Smith agreed to visit Abi in Eugene, Oregon, at the beginning of January, according to the video.
What follows is a nearly 20-minute “director’s cut” inside their first date.
Some of the highlights
- Abi takes Smith to a Zumba class. He has never done Zumba before. It shows.
- Abi gives him a candy bracelet that’s supposed to be indicative of how much they like each other. “If I make you mad, you can eat one, or you can shoot it at me,” she says. Smith eats all of his by dinner.
- Abi chooses the 1964 hit “Chapel of Love” by The Dixie Cups as their song.
- Smith politely declines her offer of cannabis edibles (recreational marijuana is legal in Oregon).
- They go on a hike. It rains, so the pair eat a picnic consisting of kombucha, quinoa and tempeh topped with hemp seed, nutritional yeast and wheat grass, with a side of kale chips and seaweed. “It’s like a potato chip but it’s leaves,” Smith says of the kale chips. He does not love it.
- Abi plays Smith a song on her Ukulele she wrote for him. The opening lyric is “the first time I saw your eyebrows on your face, I knew you were the one.”
- They get Indian food for dinner.
- Abi asks Smith how long his “heavy metal phase is going to last.” He doesn’t seem to like this question.
- Smith finds out he is not Abi’s “type.” They talk about their future children.
- They try to fall in love by staring deeply into each others’ eyes.
After 19 minutes, the date is over.
“OK clearly she’s amazing,” Smith says in closing. “So what’s next for Singularity, you ask? Who cares. Also do you have any frequent flier miles that you’re not using?”
This story was originally published February 12, 2020 at 4:59 PM.
