Breaking Ice: A Canadian Dating App
That Was Years Ahead of Its Time

Net Solutions adopted an Agile methodology to first build a backlog and wireframes for the product. Next, they had James review and sign off on the concept, confirming that Net Solutions shared James and Regan’s vision for the platform.

Net Solutions’ Sprint-based development meant that the team gave regular updates to James, demonstrating their progress at every step as they moved toward the anticipated launch date. In the end, they produced an app with the following features.

Private profiles: Each user could create a complete profile of themselves, but most of their information would remain private until two users matched.

Geolocation-based searching and matching: A user could narrow the search for other users by their geolocation, limiting the search to the immediate vicinity (e.g., a bar or nightclub) or expanding out gradually. They could also choose to search someplace far away from their current location, allowing them to find a match with users in another city they planned to visit.

Powerful filters: Users could filter results to find a specific match by searching for, or weeding out, specific criteria. This delivered users relevant results and increased the probability of finding a better match.

Advanced privacy controls: Way ahead of its time, and largely thanks to James’ own working experience in the data protection industry, the app protected users’ privacy with features like “Invisible Mode” that hid their location. It also allowed for anonymous chatting until both users agreed to disclose their complete profiles to each other.

Spam & abuse blocking: Net Solutions implemented an algorithm to detect spamming on the platform and automatically block spammers. The system then generated an alert to the admin so they could investigate the problematic messages. The admin could also manage a profanity dictionary, which the app used to mute abusive language. A user could add more words to the profanity dictionary themselves, identifying any words they wanted to hide from the conversation.

Attaboy Productions launched the app on the Apple store in 2012, and it picked up a significant following in a short time. Users all around the world began signing up and enjoying this new dating app and its groundbreaking features.