Online dating is getting a little too niche. There’s an app for vegans, farmers, rich people, Christians, the musically-inclined, and Christian farmers. So inevitably there’s a dating app for the chronically online, too. Available only on web or Android devices, Duolicious is the dating app for the “Based and true love-pilled,” according to its website.
Completely free and open software, the site is marketed towards Reddit and 4chan users and has gotten a rep online as the “femcel dating app.” (“Femcel” refers to a woman who’s an “incel,” involuntarily celibate.) I guess if you’re in the market for a GF who’s willing to put up with “ironic” racism and edgelord humor, then the “4chan dating app” is the best place to be. At least this app doesn’t require you to look like you have your life together.
Dating culture has become selfish. How do we fix it?
The first Duolicious user apparently signed up last August, according to the site’s anonymous creator on X (formerly Twitter). Earlier this month, the site went viral, rocketing its user base from 5,000 users to over 50,000, according to its website. However, like many other dating apps, Duolicious is overwhelmingly male, with 15 men to every one woman — so not much of a “femcel” app at all. This demographic insight comes from user data that was scraped from the website.
And while the app is indeed a big, online sausagefest, that shouldn’t stop you from seeking the cringe internet love you so desperately crave.
Who asked for Duolicious?
Duolicious (not to be confused with the language-learning app Duolingo) has gotten a decent bit of attention on social media, mostly from just how unhinged (content warning for offensive language, including slurs) some of the app’s users can be. The app’s website itself even includes facetious reviews from 4chan and Reddit like “utter garbage” and “Biggest psyop in 4chan history.”
4chan, for context, is an anonymous imageboard website infamous for its lack of moderation and the proliferation of offensive, illegal, and harmful material, including cyberbullying, harassment, and right-wing extremism.
With the app going viral, social media reactions have been mixed — either making fun of the existence of the app or the people who would use it. Either way, there are a lot of slurs involved unsurprisingly, and subsequent links may contain offensive language.
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Tweet may have been deleted
Tweet may have been deleted
Plus, with blog posts titled “Psychoanalysing ChatGPT using statistics to make a decent dating app,” it doesn’t help that the site itself feels like a giant troll. Another blog post leads off with, “Men and women on 4chan differ substantially in their views on vaccines, incest, and pub quizzes.”
Even the app’s creator said on X, “It was only meant to be a meme app.”
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What’s it like using Duolicious?
Credit: Chance Townsend
Using Duolicious is such a benign experience. The app itself is an amalgamation of other, better dating apps like Grindr and OkCupid. After registering and creating an account, you’re prompted to answer a series of questions that range from standard, “Would you date a robot if it had a great personality?” to rage-bait like, “Is cancel culture a threat to free speech?” or, “Would you give up some of your rights to stop terrorism?”
There are over 2,000 questions you can answer and for every normal one, there are five that seem designed to attract annoying “would you rather” X posters. Just like OkCupid, the more questions you answer, the higher your compatibility with other users.
Credit: Chance Townsend / Duolicious screenshot
Credit: Chance Townsend / Duolicious screenshot
If you don’t want to waste your time answering questions, you can directly message users instead. Profiles are made up of standard identifiers of height, sexual orientation, work, dating intentions, and a bio. Users can also add tags, called “Clubs” that denote hobbies or boards they participate in.
As the “4chan dating app,” Duolicious heavily encourages anonymity, so most profile photos are made up of memes, the occasional real human, and the one user I found catfishing as a Black guy.
Credit: Chance Townsend / Duolicious screenshot
Credit: Chance Townsend / Duolicious screenshot
Speaking of catfishing, if you’re worried the woman you’ve been chatting with is a Fed, then be concerned; nothing is stopping me (or anyone) from making a fake profile. There are no verification mechanisms on the app other than the code sent to your email when registering.
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With an AI face-tuning app and a dream, you too can chat with vulnerable young men online — which is exactly what I did by making a profile of myself but gender-swapped. It took less than 10 minutes to make an account, and I spent more time registering with the Facetune app on my phone than making this profile.
Credit: Chance Townsend / Duolicious screenshot
I didn’t stay long enough to see if I would get banned. Based on an X interaction with the site’s creator in which they advised a user to only use slurs when the audience is receptive, I won’t lose my account unless I get reported. “Acts of racism, intolerance, hate, or violence…are completely unacceptable” according to Duolicious’s Community Guidelines, but the rule goes on to tell users to report only if they believe the “guidelines have been violated.”
The general structure of Duolicious is just fine. Unlike other apps, everything is free so you don’t have to buy a subscription to swipe on more people or change your location. However, it doesn’t do anything special compared to other dating apps which is compounded by the inconsistent moderation policies and privacy concerns.
Duolicious is fun for the bit — just don’t be surprised when users on the 4chan dating app start acting like 4chan users.
