Keepler, a new app for daters to receive expert advice, officially launched today to give users the skills and guidance to confidently navigate the dating scene or improve their current relationship.
Keepler is both a marketplace for coaches to grow their practices and earn revenue as well as a social community app for daters to consume content, ask questions and get free support. While Keepler is free to join, experts can also sell courses, books, downloads and sessions through the app. Plus, the company plans to eventually introduce subscriptions for users to follow their favorite experts, attend events and get exclusive discounts.
Experts are hand-selected by the company based on coaching experience, professional certifications or degrees, and client references. Keepler is also granting stock options in the company to the first 100 experts who join.
Additionally, there’s a peer-to-peer support tool, “Ask ‘n’ Give,” where members select which topics they would like guidance on and which topics they are confident about. Topics include polyamory, heteroflexibility, interracial dating, long distance, political differences, religion, setting boundaries, learning love languages and dating with kids, among others. Users can interact one-on-one in private chats or share their personal experiences by commenting on posts.
Another feature is the “Wheel of Life” or pie chart that users can add to their profile. This shows which areas in their lives — such as romance, career, friendships and family — they are most/least fulfilled with.
“This kind of self-assessment helps members think holistically about their lives and observe how dating and relationships affect and are affected by the other ‘slices’ of life,’” explained Rachel Abramowitz, founder and CEO of Keepler. It also functions as an icebreaker tool since users can relate to each other’s unsatisfactory love lives.
For many of us, the modern dating process is overwhelming. The abundance of choices on dating apps can feel paralyzing, and it can be hard to transition from texting behind the screen to an in-person date. Ghosting is also a common problem nowadays. According to the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, two in three people said they’ve experienced ghosting, yet have also done it to others.
Keepler aims to help people deal with these challenges, whether someone is swiping on apps, meeting people out in the wild or already in a committed relationship.
“For thousands of years, people relied on their communities to provide the ‘checks and balances’ of behavior toward partners,” Abramowitz said. “The isolation created by our modern world, the pandemic, and dating apps have ripped away that community support and experienced guidance.”
“There’s an assumption that everyone is just supposed to know how to date. But dating is a skill like any other, and relating is a skill that needs to continuously be honed,” she added.
Keepler launched its beta in June, garnering around 400 users. There are currently more than 6,000 people on the waitlist. The app is available on iOS devices; an Android version is in the works.