happn, one of the leading dating apps, announced it was developing a range of voice features in June. The idea is to give singles a new and increasingly immersive and sensory online dating experience. The new happn voice features will be gradually launched on the app starting today, first in France and Argentina, followed by the rest of the world.

The voice: the start of a Crush

In the age of online dating, voice-noting and tiktok-miming, who we are speaking to and what they sound like is of more interest than ever before. In fact, a new survey of 2,000 Brits, commissioned by leading dating asiandating tips app happn, reveals that 8 in 10 people across the UK agree that being attracted to the sound of their partner’s voice is important. What’s more, over half (53%) alter their own voice in some way when speaking with someone they find attractive – 1 in 5 of whom play down their own accent because they feel self-conscious.

The findings also offered an insight into the types of voices Brits are attracted to – the huskier the better for 2 in 10 (16%)! And when it comes to accents around the world, Italians come out on top with a third (31%) finding their voice the most attractive, closely followed by the language of love itself, the romantic French (28%). In Britain, The Scots take the lead with 21%, leaving those from Essex at the bottom with only 3% of the vote.

“Dating keeps reinventing itself every day,” says Karima Ben Abdelmalek, CEO of happn. “We’re sure that the next major development will be to offer singles more emotions in their experience, enabling them to truly recreate the feeling of a real-life encounter. These voice features are another step in the process, and we are continuing to innovate in this direction.”

happn voice: 3 key features

In the coming months, singles will be able to gradually discover new features which will help them get to know their Crush in brand-new ways. They include:

• The audio note: happners will be able to add an audio note up to 2 minutes long to their profile. The idea is to introduce other singles to a different side of their personality. They will be able to talk about a subject of their choosing or, for those with less inspiration, use one of the in-app suggestions such as “Explain your favourite scene in Friends,” or “Hum your favourite song.”
• The audio call: just like video calls, audio calls enable happners to keep talking to their Crush directly via the in-app messaging service.
• The audio feed: happn will offer a feed of profiles in which users will first be able to discover the voice of their potential Crush before seeing the rest of their profile (photos, bio, etc.). They will have the chance to fall for a resonance or an emotion and take advantage of the opportunity to get to know someone in a completely different way.

“These features will be naturally and intuitively integrated into the app,” says Julie Prieur, Chief Product Officer at happn. “We have designed them to be compatible with the profile features already available to users. We have also added lots of suggestions to guide them and we are sure that singles will adopt these new audio features in no time.” These features will be free and available to all happners.

About happn happn is a leading international dating app, which benefits from the unique concept of real-time geolocation. Because everything starts in real life, happn allows users to find the people they have crossed paths with, in real life. When walking down the street, sitting at a bar, at work, or during a night out, we’ve all had that experience of making eye contact with someone who leaves a lasting impression and with happn, you can find the people you cross paths with. happn acts as a meeting facilitator at a time when the pace of life and social new habits can make it difficult to approach strangers and meet new people. Created in Paris in 2014, happn today has more than 109 million registered users around the world with more than 3.3 million users in the UK. happn is available to download at the App Store and Google Play.

About the research An online survey was conducted by Atomik Research among 2,002 respondents from the UK. The research fieldwork took place between the 27th and the 30th of . Atomik Research is an independent creative market research agency that employs MRS-certified researchers and abides to MRS code.