ALLURE - Feb 24 - Lex, the text-based dating app, launched in November of 2019. The app was inspired by newspaper personals. "Language is really key in queer communities", says Lex's founder Kelly Rakowski. Instagram photos aren't loaded into Lex profiles.
4 posts categorized "Lex"
Lex Is the Lesbian and Queer Dating App That Puts Language First
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Personals Instagram Account Became Wildly Popular for Its Queer Personal Ads
WASHINGTON POST - Dec 27 - After starting in 2017, Personals Instagram page became a hugely popular place for people to meet a partner or to make a friend, attracting 60K followers. Last month, founder Kelly Rakowski took the next step of turning it into its own app, Lex, creating a rare queer-centric platform for romance and friendship. Lex was financed by a Kickstarter campaign that raised $50K. The profiles look similar to those on Personals - minimalist, no photos - but users can message privately and set geographic boundaries.
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Dating Apps Are Turning to Message-free Meetups
INSIDER - Dec 2 - Dating app creators are experimenting with old-school dating methods. Video "speed dating" features, text-only profiles, and apps that ban in-app messaging have emerged recently. The League, which launched in 2014, recently announced League Live, a feature where users can go on two-minute video "speed dates" with potential matches. People who use League Live are four times more likely to match with someone than people who use the non-"speed dating" version of The League, according to an emailed statement from the League. The new app Bounce also emphasizes face-to-face meetups. It allows users to "check-in" at specific locations as a way to say they're interested in going on a date around that geographic area. Lex, a new dating app for the queer community, takes another old-school approach by allowing people to scroll through a feed of personal ad-style call-outs. People who use Lex can't post photos, so the connections have to go beyond physical appearances.
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Lex - New App That Offers Text-based Personal Ads
THE CUT - Nov 12 - Last year, Kelly Rakowski started Personals, a modern reimagining of dyke-centric ads from the pages of the '80s and '90s lesbian erotica magazine On Our Backs. In early November, she announced Personals would be making a major move, launching its own app with a new name: Lex. After months of beta testing from Kickstarter supporters, Lex (as in "lexicon") is now available for free download, offering the same text-based personal ads and missed connections. Rakowski says an app was necessary based on the number of ads she began receiving. A 2018 Kickstarter campaign raised ~$50K, which all went to the development of Lex. Anyone who donated to the campaign were early beta testers of the app, providing crucial feedback. On launch day, Lex saw 6K downloads.
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