The INSIDER Summary:
- I tried an app that allows you to search for people on dating apps who look like celebrities.
- It worked with some mixed results.
- I found out a lot of people use celebrities as their dating profile pictures.
If you've ever dreamed about swiping through Tinder and finding your favorite celebrity, you may just be in luck (sort of).
A new app called Dating AI allows you to search through dating apps to find people that look just like the celebrity of your choice. You can then view their profile and see if you could really be as compatible as you might hope you and your favorite A-lister would be.
It's a really strange concept, which is exactly why I had to try it for myself. With my boyfriend's blessing, I downloaded the app and went searching for my real life Chris Pine.
The app is really simple to use at first.
In the free version, you have the option of pre-selected photos of a few dozen celebrities. Some I recognized and some I didn't, but the biggest thing I noticed was how old and kind of "off" the photos were.
Most were taken at least a few years ago (think Khloe Kardashian pre-weight loss and Beyoncé during her "Crazy in Love" days) or were pictures of the actors in costume during TV shows. If you want Kit Harington, for instance, you're actually choosing Jon Snow and if you want Ariana Grande, the picture is of her rocking pink hair during her Nickelodeon days.
I decided to start with Kit Harington — well, Jon Snow — to see if I could find anyone that could be my King in the North. I clicked his photo and it automatically pulled up profiles. I wasn't able to choose an age range or a gender preference in the free version.
The first thing I saw was just how many people were using Jon Snow as their Tinder pic.
Turns out a lot of people are using Kit's face for their profile pic. As for the people who didn't use Harington or Jon Snow's visage to represent them, we've blurred them out for their own privacy, but I just can't see the similarities. I think this app focuses a lot on facial hair, so mostly, it was just some impressive mustaches.
I wanted to see how a lady would stack up, so next I chose Selena Gomez. While a few people also chose her photo as their profile picture, these matches proved a little more accurate, in my opinion. I wonder how much that has to do with the fact that the people in the photos have a similar makeup style and eyebrows.
In the full version of the app, you have the option of taking a photo, uploading a previously saved photo, or searching your Facebook friends' photos. I noticed that Chris Pine wasn't on the list of celebs in the free version so I quickly remedied that and uploaded a photo of him.
An initial search of my beloved Chris Pine was a total dud.
After doing a cursory glance through their profiles, most of the people it matched his photo with were people who identified as female. Though they all had beautiful blue eyes like Chris, this was where the similarities stopped.
In the paid app, you can choose the gender and age range of people who you want to search so I narrowed it down to people who identified as men (though I don't know if they're interested in women, the app doesn't let you choose that).
These men actually looked a lot like Chris Pine! I was shocked and pleased and actually debated if one was really a photo of him. This particular set of results was great, and through clicking through some other celebrities, I found a lot of people who shared similar features with the stars. It really does just vary by person.
I also had to search myself for fun, and was pleasantly surprised with how much I think the people looked like me. They all had great eyebrows, so I'll take that as a win.
This app is really fun to play with but it's not without some limitations.
To search by photos, specify gender, and actually see the profiles, you have to pay the steep $10 a month subscription charge, although they offer a one-week free trial.
With some apps like Match.com and Plenty of Fish, you can find and message the person. But with apps like Tinder where it requires a mutual match to message them, there really isn't much incentive to find them on this app.
If you have a spare $10 a month and a burning desire to find a guy who looks like Chris Hemsworth, this may be the app for you. It'll sure make for an interesting opening line, at the very least.
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