It’s being called the “Tinder for finding girlfriends” by writers from The Guardian and Elle—a spot-on description of the app Hey! VINA. The app comes from parent company VINA, which is the Icelandic word for ‘friend.’
Launched earlier this year, the free iPhone and Android application allows women to go through other women’s profiles in search of a new lady friend.
Users are connected with women from the same city. If interested, a woman can swipe right and wait to see if the other woman wants to start a friendship.
If a woman feels like she won’t click with another user, she can swipe left to pass. When there is a mutual connection, the two ladies are then prompted to start chatting with each other in the app, where they can learn more about who the other person is and possibly even set up a meeting place.
Before users can begin making connections, they take a quiz to list some of their preferences.
Questions include whether they prefer indoors, outdoors or both, and if they think they are introverted, extroverted or ambiverted.
These answers will show up on a user’s profile for others to see. Users also include a profile picture, short description of themselves and answers to basic questions, such as “What do you love most about yourself?”
Creators Jen Aprahamian and Oliva June Poole started the app’s company, VINA, last summer, stating on their website they are “dedicated to building global communities of women who make each other feel supported, inspired, free and above all else, happy.” Along with the app, VINA also runs a website called ladybrag.com, which compiles women’s Facebook statuses highlighting their achievements.
The goal of Hey! VINA is to “empower women to tap into the power of their extended network to make new connections in the real world,” according to the app’s website.
Being a fairly new app, there are still some features that are being developed, and there are small glitches that are in the process of getting fixed, such as screen freezes and crashes. More quizzes will also be added for users to take so that profiles will better reflect their personalities.
The app is currently only available for use in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Those wanting to use the app from a different city will be put on an email wait list and will be notified when the app is available in their area.