An instagram account with the handle umatch.mu began following students this month with the bio: “If you were followed, it means someone at @merceryou has a crush on you! Join Umatch and find out who’s interested in you.” The account description included a link that leads to a page with a code, prompting students to download the app, Umatch.
Umatch is a dating and friendship app created exclusively for college students. “UMatch exists to unite students with similar routines and dreams, creating genuine connections,” according to the organization website.
The app was f in Brazil by Bruno Adami, and has amassed more than 1.3 million users since its release in 2020, according to Brazilian paper, Cartão de Visita. Over 9,000 users pre-registered before the app launched. Since then, the app has spread internationally.
Umatch shares similarities with dating apps like Tinder. Students can “like” users on their feed and, with a fee that ranges based on subscription status, they can view who likes them. Umatch’s distinctive feature is that users must use a code, only available to college students, to join.
Some students were more drawn to the app’s bio than to Umatch as an app itself.
Lee Reid ‘29 originally downloaded the app to learn who liked her. When she joined the app and signed up, she learned that information was attached to a subscription cost.
“I understand that’s not how [dating apps] work,” Reid said. “But I would like to know who likes me.”
Carson Hulse ‘28 “thought it was an account for those who got mentioned in Mercer Crush.”
Mercer Crush is an account, created in October 2021 by former editor-in-chief of The Mercer Cluster, Mary Helene Hall '23, that allows students to anonymously announce their crushes. Many students who follow the were followed by umatch.mu. Timo Anthony-Sawyer ‘28 said he believed the account went through the Mercer Crush page when following students.
Mercer Crush, whose login credentials has been passed down each year to a new administrator, is anonymous. When reached out to via social media, the page did not request for comment.
Reid saw mostly students from other universities on the app. She added that the platform could be used to make friends and find new people.
“I realized that they run on a lot of college campuses,” Anthony-Sawyer said. “It’s a decent business idea with a niche. I do see value in the idea.”
