Arike app review: Will this new dating app help Malayalis find love?

Former digital marketer, Hari Chakyar, flirts with a new online dating app meant to hook up Malayalis and comes away craving inclusiveness

I am Malayali and I like pazhampori with my chaya, I can’t find fault with Mohanlal, and I like coconut oil on my head and in my food. So, naturally, when I heard of a dating app designed for Malayalis, I signed up right away. Unfortunately, my Arike experience lasted all of 10 minutes.

I downloaded and signed up on a Wednesday. One by one, Arike showed me four profiles. I swiped left. Because you know, there are always more profiles out there. But right after the fourth swipe, Arike told me my ‘feed is currently empty’, and it has remained empty since. Arike asked me to ‘update preferences’. I reviewed my settings.

I tinkered with the options—Age, Distance, Faith, Language. Nothing changed. There are eight more preferences I could edit to improve my chances of landing a match, but they’re all behind a paywall. This may be a premature judgment but going by my experience so far, I wouldn’t consider going premium at Rs 800 (one month), Rs 1,500 (three months), Rs 2,500 (six months).

If the chettans and chechis at Arike are up for feedback, here’s what I’d like to say. The sign-up form asks users to pick a gender. The options are Male and Female. There is no option to move on without selecting one of these two.

Another section in the form called ‘Your Status’ asks users to pick between Single/Single with kids/Divorced/Divorced with kids/Widowed/Widowed with kids/Separated and Separated with kids. Yet again, there’s no option to proceed with the registration without aligning with either of the provided options. What if users don’t want to part with this information at this point? Are no Malayalis polyamorous but keen for an honest, respectful relationship outside of their marriage? Are they welcome to use Arike?

Arike, like its chettan app Aisle, is a high-intent dating app that aims to aid cross-border Malayali matchmaking. But isn’t there more to matchmaking than marriage? What if some are just looking to strike companionship with someone of their own sex? Will Arike help them ‘spread sneham’? Surely,  it wouldn’t hurt Arike to be more inclusive and less archaic and heteronormative.

It is time for my disclaimer now. I am a married man and there is nothing keeping me back here so I’ll get off before some nephew or niece spots me. Maybe it is too early to judge Arike. Maybe it will have a lot to offer soon. But going by this version, if I had to sum up my experience via a Malayalam song, I’d sing, Ishtam allada, enikku ishtamallada (I don’t like it).

10,000
downloads of the app so far

Glossary of Malayalam words used
Pazhampori: Banana fritters
Chaya: Tea
Chettam: Elder brother
Chechi: Elder sister
Sneham: Love

What: Arike 
Where: Available for download on android, iOS
Free

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