
Show HN: 8Yet? An iOS app to find lunch buddies - dingquan
https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1031452258?pt=117277253&ct=HackerNews&mt=8
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Joof
Okay we're going to sit down and talk about the interface for this.

Tinder is a dating app, we judge quickly based on pictures and meet people
solo. It's awkward but physical attraction is largely the criteria we judge
love interests by. Currently it's effectively a dating app but we aren't
encouraged to go outside of our comfort zones (new is interesting when it
comes to dating). It's competing with tinder directly even if that's
unintentional. Plus you are forced to meet people immediately one-on-one; some
people never meet anyone they meet on tinder and are perfectly happy with
that. Why bother with this when everyone else already uses Tinder? It just
doesn't fill a niche.

But it feels like this app wants to solve a completely different problem:
meeting people as friends in a casual manner. I think it would be much more
successful as a sort of pick-up group deal (for a buffer against all that
uncomfortable). Don't even bother showing people's faces until after they've
joined the group, shopping for friends isn't as much about looks. Keep related
interests, food they like and such. Maybe build in an icebreaker kind of
question that displays below them. If you want to stick with the food thing,
getting people little group deals at restaurants would be epic. Hell, it might
be handy to have a friends only feature so I can plan food dates with my
existing buds.

Edit: To differentiate from say meetups, limit group sizes and make it really
easy to just have it be a thing you can say, I'm gonna do Chinese today here
(or in some general area); come join me.

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dingquan
I agree with what you said in your second paragragh and the edit section 100%.
That's almost exactly what I was planning to do next.

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supercoder
Why do I see one of these apps appear every month.

Are they solving a real problem ?

I find it weird you don't want to interact with someone enough to ask them to
lunch, but then have to interact with them over lunch ...

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sdrothrock
> Are they solving a real problem ?

I think they are. There are a lot of people in big cities who don't have a lot
of friends or don't have friends who match up on the same schedule, so it'd be
nice to find someone else who wants to get a bite.

The only problem is that to solve the problem, any app needs to have a large
userbase in the same areas.

> I find it weird you don't want to interact with someone enough to ask them
> to lunch, but then have to interact with them over lunch ...

That's not the issue, though -- the issue is finding someone who's available
in your area at the same time you are.

Edit to add:

> Why do I see one of these apps appear every month.

Because this is a problem that nobody's been able to solve in a dominatingly
satisfactory way, yet.

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dingquan
that's exactly my problem right now... finding enough users that are within
foot distance

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natch
...and on top of that, users who relish being rated and pre-judged by people
looking at their photo.

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blondie9x
So many of these apps it's unreal. All have a similar idea. To meet new
people. Honestly saying its for lunch doesn't really change anything. It's
still meeting new people.

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seivan
A bit late, but I read somewhere that you can't order a single dish in Korean
restaurants. If you're alone you have to order two minimum.

This could help?

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aakilfernandes
The fb requirement is a bummer.

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nolim1t
Yep I deleted it the moment I saw that I couldn't sign up another way.

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realworldview
Finally, an app to solve the considerable problem of world hunger.

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nolim1t
Nothing different to tinder really..

