Aly finds these apps can be as much about making friends as looking for love, with Peekawoo’s founder saying this change of focus also allows women to take back control
While dating apps developed in the West encourage one-on-one, often no-strings-attached meetings, many in Asia are as much about old-school courtship or friendship in a region where meeting a stranger in a bar can still be a taboo.
“My upbringing was very close to my parents, religious, traditional and old-fashioned. You couldn’t go on dates if your parents didn’t know the guy,” said Valenice Balace, who developed the Peekawoo service in the Philippines two years ago.
“I grew up with chaperoned dates and even when I was in college my kid sister was always with me on dates.”
Too shy to make eye contact in bars as a singleton, the 26-year-old turned to apps similar to Tinder, which boasts tens of millions of active users, where photos of potential matches are instantly liked or rejected.