A Double Dating App That Mixes Friendship and Romance

The Short Version: Double dates are an excellent way to meet people, and they also help you feel safe and at ease on first dates. The Fourplay Social app blends online dating with in-person social events so its users can form both romantic and platonic connections.

Your yang's yin, your pepper's salt, your jelly's peanut butter. No, we don't mean your significant other. We mean your best friend! The two often turn out to be the same person, but all of us have had a platonic pal who's fun, loyal, and trustworthy. With the app Fourplay Social, you two can now act as each other's wingmen (or women).

I once went on a first (and last) date with a guy who couldn't even meet my eyes. The awkwardness was so strong that I could practically taste it along with my linguine. Could I have been repulsive without realizing it? Or was he simply shy? If my best friend had been with me, and his friend with him, the ice might have broken faster and the whole thing might have felt less uncomfortable.

Fourplay Social promotes singles events and playful double dates, so you never have to date solo.

Fourplay Social builds community for people hoping to form new connections, whether romantic or not. Why not do that alongside your bestie? “Our users can find ways to get off of the app and go to events and have experiences with their matches,” said Julie Griggs, one of Fourplay Social's co-founders.

Just as the word “four” suggests, the app nudges singles to go on double dates with a trusted best friend along.

In a comfortable setting, you're much more likely to loosen up and be open to a possible romantic connection. Your BFF and you can back each other up along the way and discover double dating side by side.

Fourplay Singles Events Let You Be Yourself

What began as an app, Fourplay Social has since become a diverse community of daters looking for connections both online and in person. Beyond matching double daters, Fourplay also gives them things to do through its in-person singles events.

Bring your best friend along and double the fun (and the romance).

Typically, these events “involve doubles so people can go with their friend,” Julie explained. The lineup ranges from game nights to gatherings in the style of singles mixers.

“We have doubles backgammon and doubles speed dating happening in January,” Julie told us. 

According to Danielle Dietzek, Fourplay Social's other co-founder, one perk of the in-person events is that you begin spotting familiar faces. Soon enough, you belong to the Fourplay Social community. “We are really trying to create a sense of community for people so they have the option to connect digitally, but can also use our community as a jumping off point for meeting people in real life,” Danielle said.

Online dating might be convenient, yet it brings extra pressures of its own. “There is the fear of being rejected because you don’t look like you did on your dating app profile,” Julie noted.

Double dating eases social pressure and invites people to be authentic.

“‘Are they going to think I catfished them? Did I try to sell the best version of myself?’ If you are using AI to help you create your profile, are you that funny and witty in real life? And so there’s a lot of pressure with dating.”

At Fourplay's singles events, on the other hand, people can't help but be who they really are. “This element of authenticity that Fourplay puts back into the dating scene is really needed,” Julie said. “You can’t pretend to be somebody you’re not in front of a friend. It’s awkward and weird. They’re going to call you out on it.”

She added, “A big thing users have told us is that they feel like they’re getting to know the real person from the get go.” 

There's Safety in Numbers for Women

Danielle said women who belong to Fourplay Social can look forward to events created just for them. “Coming up, we’re going to be doing a confidence and wellness event for women.” Bring your closest female friend (or friends, plural), and these events get even more fun.

Set up double dates with friends and check out one-of-a-kind singles events.

Fourplay Social is committed to giving its mostly female user base key resources so they feel confident and supported while dating. “Eighty percent of Fourplay’s [demographic] is women, which is pretty unheard of in this space,” Julie said.

So why are women flocking to Fourplay Social instead of other apps? Its focus on double dating events is likely part of the answer.

Most any 20-something has probably given online dating a try. The dangers are familiar: people with bad intentions, catfish lying about who they are, and even people out to hurt you. Julie stressed that many women feel unsafe meeting up with men they found online. “It shouldn’t be that way,” she told us. “We shouldn’t have to fear for our safety. It’s a sad reality.”

“We believe that the advantage to our platform is that we are actually making the experience of being single one that is fun and enjoyable and not dreadful, because it is not something you need to do alone.”

Fourplay Social offers a smart way to date online more safely. Having your best friend(s) there helps you feel emotionally supported and physically safe, and that goes for your date and your friends too.

The Fourplay Social community can be an emotionally safe place for men as well. “Men also have an opportunity to feel safer emotionally when they’re with a friend,” Danielle said.

“Online dating and dating apps are meant to connect people, but they have actually led to more disconnection than connection,” Julie said. “They make people feel lonelier than ever and pose legitimate safety risks.” 

Fourplay Social makes single life so fun that there's nothing to dread.

Fourplay was built to answer these concerns directly. “We believe that the advantage to our platform is that we are actually making the experience of being single one that is fun and enjoyable and not dreadful, because it is not something you need to do alone,” Julie said.

Being single needn't feel like a slog when your friends are with you. And if a singles event or double date turns sour, it's easy to rescue the evening by turning it into a guys' or girls' night out.

In-person social events are good for more than romance; they're great for good old-fashioned friendship as well. “There’s a lot of evidence that supports a difference in men’s relationship with their peers and women’s relationship with their peers as they age,” Danielle noted. “Men tend to lose their friendships and spend less time together, whereas women don’t.”

The Real Goal Is Friendship

Running short on friends? There's no reason not to give an app like Fourplay Social a look. Building lasting connections, romantic or not, is one of its main goals. “We’ve been really focused on friendship and giving people the opportunity to do something with their friend,” Danielle told us. “That’s something we can offer our users who identify as men.”

At Fourplay Social's singles events, friendship matters just as much as romance.

Who knows? You might make a brand-new friend at a Fourplay Social in-person event and bring them along on your next double date. According to Julie, the key to these events is to “take away the pressure.” Being among friends, after all, should feel safe and relaxing.

Of course, a friendship doesn't need a romantic side to be genuine. Still, some people (me included!) would argue that friendship is a wonderful foundation for romance. Julie even told us about a male participant who explained to her why he liked Fourplay Social's in-person events better than traditional online dating.

“The [online dating] user base is mostly men,” he told her, as Julie remembers it. He described how tough it is to get noticed on the apps and get any real engagement. “So [men] look forward to the in-person events, where they have actual facetime with people … who they are interested in dating,” Julie explained.

Putting friendship ahead of romance, Julie said, can take the pressure off and make the events more enjoyable for everybody.

Even without finding true love, you'll wrap up the double date alongside your friend.

“Take the pressure off of the outcome romantically on the Fourplay date by making it about four single people getting together, and the user and their friend having a night out together,” Julie recommended. At worst, your night ends just the way it began, with your best friend next to you. Not too shabby, right?

‘The one’ could turn up at any social gathering, not only on a dinner date or a casual hookup. “You should go out with your other single friends and create new memories and enjoy each other’s company in the presence of two other single people that you may or may not connect with romantically, platonically, professionally, or at all,” Julie suggested.

Fourplay Social plans to expand soon to cities beyond NYC and Boston. Want Fourplay Social in your city? Email [email protected]. “We’d love to hear from them and have them help us make their city one of the next Fourplay cities,” Julie said.