Revel Dating
Revel is a dating app developed for Dr. Amie Gordon and Dr. Elizabeth Bruch to study and improve romantic connections using scientific methods rather than profit-driven motives. Unlike typical dating apps, Revel aims to track and understand the full lifecycle of relationships, not just the dating stage. The app is tailored for university students, allowing researchers to gather comprehensive data and insights to benefit relationship science.
Key Benefits to the Lab
- Developed in close collaboration with researchers to tweak, maintain, and define study goals
- Designed to be user-friendly and engaging for participants to actively interact with their matches
- Includes data visualization tools for researchers to share trends in their findings
- Features an interface for providing users research surveys and additional studies to participate in
- Has chat functionality for matched users to communicate within the app
Details
The labs involved wanted a way to see how relationships that begin online progress. As such, Revel is designed as a scientific tool: every feature, from matching to messaging, is built to help researchers gather meaningful data about attraction, connection, and relationship development. The app is currently available only to University of Michigan students, allowing the team to focus on the unique experiences and needs of the Michigan community. Users can create profiles, connect with others, and participate in optional surveys and studies, all while knowing their privacy is protected and their data is used solely for research purposes.
Revel uses React Native for its cross-platform mobile interface, a Flask backend to handle authentication, matchmaking, and messaging, and AWS for secure image hosting. It has been featured in The Atlantic and The Michigan Daily, and is available for iOS and Android.
