In the world of dating, singletons are often reminded 'not to judge a book by its cover'.

However, with the likes of Tinder, Bumble and Grindr promoting surface-level attraction whereby users swipe potential dates depending on their appearance, primarily, it's often quite hard to decipher what makes a match attractive, besides their looks.

That's why Taffy, a brand-new dating app, has devised a clever way of making users swipe for a date for all the right reasons.

It's that thing called 'personality', remember?

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Getty Images

Mashable reports that the app - currently available on iOS - shows users the profile picture of a match but blurs the image in order to force them to get to know their potential date a little better.

All the user will see is a catchy headline on top of a blurred-out picture, which means they have to first engage in a conversation, regardless of what a match may look like.

In order to find out more about a blind date's appearance, users have to have a solid back-and-forth conversation before the person's photo comes slowly into focus with each interaction.

Eventually, the clear image of the match emerges.

Daters are instructed to create a profile with a picture but also create a specific post in several categories such as 'love', 'chat', and 'advice', so the app can be used as a dating and friend-making tool.

Taffy | ELLE UKpinterest
Photo courtesy of Taffy

John Schenk, the app's founder, told Mashable the goal of the tool is 'to put personality on a level playing field with physical appearances'.

Now, we know it's quite weird not to be able to put a face to a name but, we must admit, this is pretty refreshing right?

via GIPHY

Schenk also revealed it currently takes about 10 messages between users for the image to be fully revealed, which is pretty time-consuming if you're not sure whether you're interested in someone.

However, he did add that the app's algorithm will eventually analyse the quality of the conversation in order to determine how quickly a clear image should emerge.

Could this be a way of eradicating d*ck pics from the world of app dating forever?

Only time will tell.

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Katie O'Malley
Site Director

Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.