Social app helps students track their friends

"Accidentally" running into your crush has never been easier, thanks to a new mobile app on campus.

The Myngle app is designed to help users keep track of where their friends are going out. Since it was launched in January, the app has attracted about 100 users on campus and developers have plans to debut the app at other colleges. The app provides a visual map of what one’s friends are doing at a certain time, said founder and CEO of Myngle Zachary Ginsburg.

After a light version of the app was first released, however, the development team pivoted from the initial concept after discovering that users were not focusing on the dating function of the app.

“Our users said they we're using it not to meet singles, but rather see which of their friends were going to Bostock [Library], who to Shooters, who is staying at the dorm, and so on,” Zachary Ginsburg noted.

He added that although Myngle is similar to check-in apps like Foursquare, most people use Foursquare for location tips instead of finding out specifically where their friends are.

Alexa Ginsburg noted that the main point of the app is to see where one’s crushes are without needing to text them asking what they are doing.

“I've used it to find which friends are in the library when I need a study break and seeing who is at Devine's when deciding if I am going to go out,” she said.

The app is in its customer development phase and the team is still working on fixing bugs and including necessary features. Ginsburg noted that the current version of Myngle lacks a “check-out” feature when users are no longer at the venue they have previously checked in.

“Right now users can’t be nowhere,” he said. “So we are about to release a new version with a check-out feature.”

The Myngle team plans to expand to the University of South Carolina, the University of Michigan and the University of Arizona once the app is fully developed.