Ouch, this just in from The League, we wrote about them last year when they first launched, they rushed through their marketing campaign and created an invite only list of users who they ignored for over a year, they then came clean about their programming headaches and how they couldn’t actually build an app that handled many users.
But the best part about this was that when they were first selling their idea to their users, they were advertising The League as a way for users to be super picky, a way for you to dial in your perferences and be picky and find that perfect high end user of your dreams. However it turns out they couldn’t find a way to make that happen. Version 1 of the dating app basically looked like all the other apps that existed, there was nothing special that made it different, it honestly felt like they hired a developing team from another country, they then duct taped a bunch of themes and API’s together and pretended to have an app.
Their picky settings don’t actually exist either, if you look at your ‘preferences’ page, you can choose between Age, Height, and Distance (Just like all the others) but you can also select between Ethnicity, but something odd happens for Education, you can only choose between Highly Selective, Selective, and No Preference, whatever that means.
They recently started spamming users with daily notifications, on top of that their notification system is currently broken, so when you receive only 1 notification, you’ll actually receive 6.
But the best sentence today was that they sent out a notification telling you… “3) I have to prioritize paying member requests now so will be a lot less responsive” Wait a minute, paying? You’re basically still in beta testing. And then we find….
Oh no no no…
$20/mo is their Founding League Member rate.
Which gets you:
Receive more daily prospects, and see new users first. (Free users get 5 I wonder what more… means)
Customize your work and education information in-app. (In-app? How else would I do it? By mail? So you’re taking away the only customizable information and making it Tinder unless you pay?)
Get your stats and honest profile feedback from your concierge. (Does this mean someone who is single is going to review my profile and give me ‘real’ feedback?)
Get invited to our exclusive League AllStar events and see events first. (They charge $$$ for these, but at least you’re invited.)
Own 1 League Group and create 1 event/month to be shown in Scout.
Get expedited review and 2 VIP tickets for your friends.
What a joke, an app that has barely proven themselves to even be able to compete with Hinge or Tinder is trying to switch to a pay format while still a baby. An app that is still very broken programmatically, is now trying to make a cash grab for your money before people realize that it’s a bad app.
And after speaking with people who are on the waiting list still, trust me, there’s nothing amazing or spectacular waiting for you on the inside, it’s the same users on all the other app dating apps, just with a worse UI and filled with users who don’t open the app.
Skip it, don’t sign up, and let the league die.