Tencent Launches New ‘Anonymous’ Dating App, Dengyu Jiaoyou

Tech giant Tencent has released a dating application called Dengyu Jiaoyou. The WeChat owner has been facing slow growth on its platforms, recently launching a number of social products in a bid to revive its presence in the social media scene, especially among the younger demographics.

Dengyu Jiaoyou is a video chat app that allows users to post images and text in a plaza that is accessible to other users on the platform. The other users in turn can respond and begin a private conversation. Once the video chat is prompted, a mask filter is applied to both users and at the end of the five-minute call, the man’s mask is removed to reveal his identity. If he wishes to send a friend request and chat again however, the lady may choose to remain anonymous.

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The app requires users to register their accounts with their phone number, gender and date of birth, that will be used to assign each user a Chinese zodiac animal. As for the username, a randomly generated one is assigned to each, with an option of one profile picture out of the four different images provided on the platform, for purposes of anonymity.

Dating app Dengyu Jiaoyou is only available on third party android stores in China. A quick scan through the app however reveals that a majority of the users are male thus a majority of the notices on the ‘plaza’ are complaints addressing the lack of females on the platform.

The move comes after a decline in daily users and new subscribers onto the popular app, Wechat. Hours spent per month on WeChat fell from 35.4 to 32.4 in a matter of 6 months, from December 2018 – June 2019 according to research company, Quest Mobile. The dismal performance may be attributed to a rising popularity of short-video platforms particularly among Generation Z internet users.