Glimpse: The Least Superficial Dating App Around [NEW Dating App 2021]

I’m not gonna lie, being a dating coach and matchmaker has its perks.

Apart from having a packed calendar come wedding season and a standing excuse to watch Hitch and Swingers for “research purposes” I’m also granted early access to the newest and most unique dating apps.

The app that most recently fell into my lap is called Glimpse.

Glimpse claims that it’s found a smarter way to date. And judging from its unique features, they might just be on to something.

Let’s dive into what makes Glimpse one of the least superficial and most recent dating apps of 2021.

New Dating Apps 2021: Glimpse

Is Glimpse More Feminist Than Bumble?

Many see Bumble as the feminist version of Tinder.

There are three reasons for that.

1) Bumble’s founder, Whitney Wolfe, is also a co-founder of Tinder. She left the company after having been sexually harassed.

2) Bumble looks and feels similar to Tinder in regards to its swiping feature.

3) Women MUST message first.

But despite these three things, Bumble doesn’t really feel like the feminist app that many want it to be.

Glimpse on the other hand, has an impactful aspect that was designed specifically with female users in mind.

Ya see, every Glimpse user must verify that they’re currently enrolled in college or are a college grad.

I can feel your eyebrow beginning to raise as you attempt to connect the dots behind this requirement and female empowerment.

Here’s the thing, 66% of colleges and universities conduct background checks. By requiring users to confirm their collegiate status either via college email, college ID, LinkedIn, diploma etc, Glimpse is making the attempt to only allow users with no criminal record on their app, thus creating a safer place for women.

I can only assume the founders made this a requirement with women in mind seeing as how according to Pew Research 53% of women are say that dating apps aren’t a safe way to meet people.

That being said, just because a guy doesn’t have a criminal record doesn’t make him a saint.

Plenty of guys with Liberal Arts degrees are fully capable of sending an unwanted private-part pic or opening a conversation by asking a woman to do something overly sexual. Let’s also acknowledge that those that are punished for crimes after having graduated will still be allowed to use the app.

Although admittedly while Glimpse’s college-only defense mechanism is porous it’s better than just about every other app’s attempt at creating a safe online environment.

Smarty Pants

While only admitting users that are enrolled or boast a college diploma is intended to offer a safeguard against admitting users with a criminal background, it also creates an unintended byproduct.

That byproduct is that Glimpse is full of educated individuals.

I haven’t used the app long enough to say for sure, but that can only lead us to believe that Glimpse users are all-in-all more well-read, educated, and perhaps better off financially than users from just about every other dating app (apart from maybe The League).

This is an attractive aspect to a lot of users.

As you well know, the maxim “opposites attract” only applies to magnets.

In reality, we’re most likely to end up with someone that shares a similar socioeconomic background. We like people that share similar backgrounds, have similar interests, make around as much money as we do, and have the same level of education.

Sure you can call what the Glimpse is doing a bit elitist, but at the end of the day they’re creating an online dating environment of people that you’re most compatible with.

Online Masquerade Ball

Nearly every dating app is superficial.

Even an app like Hinge that claims to “be designed to be deleted” and that requires users to fill out extensive profiles still places outsized importance on looks.

There is no other app that I can think of that goes to such an extent to get users to focus on personality rather than looks.

After a match is made, this is how a match will show up in your match inbox.

No name, no images, no nada.

Just a CPU-generated moniker and a brief bio.

Glimpse clearly places great value on who a user is rather than what they look like. Instead of just hoping that users aren’t judging books by covers, Glimpse rips the covers off and replaces all of them with their cute little infatuated speech bubble.

So what other information do you get from your new match?

As you can see from the photo below after a match is made you’re able to view the user’s written bio along with their interests.

After you’ve matched, the app gives you zero indication of what your match looks like until both parties have exchanged 10 messages each at which point the curtain is lifted and photos can be accessed.

Assuming both parties know they can’t see each other until they’ve had a lengthy discussion, it’s possible that the conversations err on the deeper side. Instead of touching on weekend plans or just messaging “hi” 20 times, the feature urges users to have genuinely interesting and revealing conversations.

If you have no idea how to talk to women on dating apps you should rub this blue button and wait for the genie.

Limited Matches

Many people don’t use dating apps for dating.

A LendEDU survey found that 44% of students in college use Tinder for “confidence-boosting procrastination.” A paltry 27% of those surveyed reporting using the app for romantic purposes.

From this study, we can extrapolate that many dating app users don’t the app for dating purposes.

Wouldn’t it be nice to swipe on a dating app that was actually used for its intended purpose?

Glimpse attempts to address this issue.

It does so by permitting no more than 3 matches in a user’s match queue at any one time. You’re allowed up to 6 matches if you opt to pay for a premium membership. Premium also enables users to view users that have already liked them much in the same way Tinder and Bumble do.

If the conversation isn’t flowing or if the person doesn’t seem like your type, you’re incentivized to unmatch them and find someone more compatible.

The fact that Glimpse doesn’t allow users to endlessly collect matches as if they were trophies, urges users to engage with their matches quickly in order to determine if there’s a connection or not. If like so many other young dating app users, you’re looking for an app that will give you a hit of confidence, Glimpse probably isn’t’ for you. The 20-message gratification chastity belt the app places on new matches doesn’t give ego-swiping singles the same confidence boost that another dating app would.

Even if a user initially uses the app for a non-romantic intention I believe the hurt caused by being unmatched will encourage users to interact with each other.

But before you start chatting it up with the young and educated ladies of Glimpse, you need to find a match.

How Do You Match?

Like Tinder and Bumble, Glimpse requires both users to like each other in order to match. Unlike Hinge however, you’re not able to like someone’s content or send a message without both users first approving each other.

Glimpse also uses the swiping feature to either, like, dislike, or super like a user.

Currently right swipes are capped at 100-a-day with super likes only available to premium members.

As far as filters go users are only allowed to search via distance and age.

Setting Up Your Profile

My team and I set our profiles up in like 2 minutes.

To get started you have to fill out some basic information such as your name and sexual preference before verifying that you’re in college or have graduated.

Once you’ve filled out the basics it’s time to create your profile.

The information that you fill out and that a fellow swiper is able to see includes photos, interests, school, and age.

I should note again that your bio won’t be visible until you match. This is interesting considering the app prides itself on making meaningful connections. Without a written bio the only meaningful thing a user can base their decision on is the photo.

In the future, I’d like to see Glimpse attach the written bio to a user’s profile pre-match.

As always be sure to choose the right photos and write a killer bio.

Who Uses Glimpse?

Considering it was only launched a few months ago, Glimpse doesn’t have a ton of users.

Its highest volume of users can be found in the Bay Area.

Although Glimpse was initially only available to some 300-odd universities, it’s reach has recently expanded.

Now, anyone that is a college grad or is currently enrolled can get their swipe on via Glimpse.

For the moment Glimpse is only available to students of alumni from the top 300 schools in the US as ranked by CollegeSimply.

Glimpse is estimated to have a little over 600 users with a target of 60k by the end of the year. But let it be known that their first user acquisition push is happening as I type this article (Q3-2021).

Pricing

You don’t need to part with a dime to start using Glimpse.

However, if you want to unlock the cheat codes and up your game it’s gonna cost you.

The prices for a premium membership are as follows:

— 1 month/$30

— 3 months/$60

— 6 months/$90

If you opt for premium you’ll have access to a few game changing features.

You’ll not have your match queue doubled from 3 to 6 but you’ll also have the ability to super like 5 users per day! Users are also given unlimited swipes.

My favorite premium feature enables users to see who has already liked them. In doing so they not only have the option to match with the user thus saving time, but they’ll also be able to pair the photo of the user to their profile. This completely lifts the veil and takes away the anonymity of your conversation — at least if you can remember what she looks like.