Here we go, an update on how we’ve fixed the shenanigans our junior dev (it’s an AI called Lovable, but we call it Lovey) Lovey has got up to this week!

🎤 New Mixer Discovery & Queue System
Smart queueing: Join interest-based queues (e.g. Coffee Lovers, Tech Enthusiasts) and see real-time progress toward starting a mixer.

Auto-scheduling: Mixers launch automatically at the next quarter-hour when 8+ people are queued.

Live city matching: Queues and mixers are city-specific (7 cities supported).

Three discovery views: Live, Soon, and For You for instant joins, upcoming mixers, and personalised recommendations.

🗺️ Advanced Location Features
Onboarding city selection: Choose your city during signup.

Privacy controls: Hide your city from others while still matching locally.

Location prompts: Gentle reminders if you haven’t set your city.

Smart defaults: London for international users...

Hey y'all, it’s your friendly neighbourhood founder, Natalie, here! Today, I want to talk about onboarding people. I know, thrilling stuff!

I’ve worked as a Product Manager in tech for over 7 years, and let me tell you… onboarding people to ensure they know what they’re in for, how to use your software, and how to keep them sticking around has been my obsession for that entire time. And it will continue to be so!

In the biz, we call this “user interface and user experience” (aka UI/UX). I read somewhere one time that tech is a really weird place, because how they refer to the people who use their software (“users”) is also how drug dealers refer to the people who buy drugs (“users”), so in this article I’m going to refer to you as “people”, because it’s what you are, and also likelike is trying to move away from that really off-putting “dopamine addiction cycle” that most dating apps...

Hey crew! It’s Natalie, your friendly neighbourhood founder at likelike.

Let’s talk about dating apps for a second. There’s no shortage of big names out there: Tinder, Bumble, Hinge (you know the drill… no pun intended ;)!).

And lately, even more quirky newcomers are popping up (Feeld, for the adventurous, Thursday, for the spontaneous, Tame, for the meme-savvy introverts).

So how does likelike plan to stand out in a sea of dating app marketing?

We’re doing it by turning the clock back… just a little. Remember when dating meant butterflies and slow-building anticipation? When love notes were actual notes? That’s the energy we’re tapping into.

To kick things off, we’re handing out something special (leaving it on park benches, putting it through mailboxes, handing it out at events). It starts with a black envelope, using our signature nostalgic orange-and-purple colour palette, and...

Oh boy, everyone’s favourite type of blog, a technical one. Hopefully this one isn’t too bad, but we always want to be transparent and tell you what we’re working on. Here’s all the madness we’ve done this week!

🎨 UI/UX Improvements
Beta Feedback Widget Enhancement

• Redesigned beta feedback button as a subtle, minimal circular badge
• Changed to light orange color scheme (bg-orange-200, hover:bg-orange-300) for better visual hierarchy
• Reduced size to 10x10 with a simple ‘β’ symbol
• Positioned in bottom-right corner with proper mobile spacing
• Added hover tooltip for better user experience
• Significantly reduced interface noise while maintaining accessibility

📝 Content & Navigation Updates
Blog Integration - “Modern Love Letters”

• Replaced “How It Works” page with integrated blog functionality
• Updated page title to “likelike blog: modern love letters” (all lowercase for brand consistency)
...

Hey y'all, it’s Natalie! As you’ll know by now, I’m the founder of likelike, and I’m here to try to make dating suck less.

I’m writing this on day… gosh, I’m not sure. Day 20 or so? We’re early days here at likelike. It started with an idea that genuinely my partner and I drew on our kitchen cupboards after a night of neurodiverse hyper-focus. What a time to be alive!

Gosh, where to start. Here’s a brief history of likelike so far since starting in June last year (2024), in no particular order (well, maybe some particular order):
I reached out to a few product designer friends for help, got a few meetings in, and then I lost focus on the app.
I created a brand guide (check it out here!), an early pitch deck (check it out here!), and some basic marketing.
I reached out to a sociologist (more on this later) to ask sociology students who had written theses on dating apps what they...