New App Prevents You From Texting Your Date by Accident

We've all been there: You get back from a date and grab your phone to text your best friend all about it, only to realize you accidentally messaged the guy/girl you were just out with. And depending upon what you said, you may or may not see this person ever again. But enter WhoNow, a new app that allows you and your friends to privately share and post about your dating life.

Miami local Austin Cohen created the app because he grew tired of having to repeat himself over and over when sharing information about his love life with friends. With WhoNow, instead of having the same conversation multiple times, you preselect to whom you want to send information and avoid texting mishaps in the process. The 37-year-old founder says the application's biggest competition is the group message feature on your phone, but what's unique about his app is that unlike group texting, there's no social footprint. Comments are anonymous on the app, and if you take a photo using WhoNow, it's stored only on the app and not your camera roll. 

For Cohen, WhoNow's ultimate goal is to help people become better daters, because he believes it will be used primarily to get advice from those they trust. He says that dating is really challenging these days due to the sheer number of options that exist online and offline and that people need all the help they can get. In the same vein, the Miamian explains the app is just as much for people who are married or in a relationship because everyone can benefit from dating advice. Cohen says you can use the app to get tips on what to wear on a first date, how to behave when meeting someone's family for the first time, or what to do when you suspect the other person is cheating. 
"You get to watch the relationship evolve," Cohen says. "It’s like a real-life soap opera. I've been using it for a few months with friends and testing it, and I’m getting a peek into their lives and seeing some of their choices on Tinder and Bumble and who they're meeting at clubs, networking events, etc., and it’s really interesting."

Once you download the free app, you get to set up your profile and choose which of your contacts belong in your inner circle and which ones belong in your outer circle. Cohen says your inner circle comprises your friends "who know everything about you and still love you for who you are," and your outer circle consists of "friends you do things with in real life and who you want to be a part of your dating life but not necessarily every single moment." 

WhoNow also has a dating hotline where users can post anonymously and get unbiased opinions from anyone who has the app. There are some things you may feel embarrassed asking even your closest friends. Some questions asked on the hotline are "Should I give my number out on Tinder?" and "I've been dating someone for a year and feel like I miss being single. Is this bad?"

Cohen splits his time between Miami and Los Angeles and has been in a relationship for about a year with a woman he approached at a café. Growing WhoNow is the University of Miami graduate's full-time job, and luckily he has friends in high places, such as the rapper Nas, who performed at the app's soft-opening party at Soho Beach House. 

"I see WhoNow as a place where people will have a trustworthy experience and as a place where people can share their fun dates, not-so-fun dates, and to get support," Cohen says.

WhoNow 
Download the app on your mobile device's App Store or Google Play, or visit whonowapp.com. 

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