A lot of current friendship apps are set up like dating apps — they rely primarily on physical attractiveness over what friendships are usually actually set up on: similar interests.
That’s where Wavy comes in. Wavy is “completely free and it’s exclusive to UBC,” said Faheem Saeed, one of the co-creators of Wavy and a fourth-year mechanical engineering student.
The concept for the app, Saeed explained, began in the summer, during a time when socialization was at an all time low due to COVID-19.
After interviewing over 300 students, Saeed and his team realized that many students were having a hard time making friends at UBC because of the nature of the events that were offered. With many events, like Storm the Wall or Day of the LongBoat, requiring students to sign up in groups, going solo isn’t an option. But here lies the catch-22: to make more friends, you need to go to events, but to go to the events, you need to already have a group of friends. Saeed’s solution was to offer different kinds of events.
“All we had to do to let people make friends was to [organize] hangouts,” Saeed said.
The app, which is still in beta, will allow students to see what events other UBC students are planning to attend. Then, through the chat feature, students will be able to “break the ice” with other students who are interested in going to the event.
In addition, the app will also be a centralized location for all events on campus — whether the events are organized by the university or simply relaxed hangouts organized by students. For example, a student wanting to get a group together to go catch a movie could create an event on the app. Then, interested students could easily find the event on the app and join.
The app will also have a friends feature, where — once you make friends through the hangouts — you’ll be able to see “what your friends are going to so you can link up with them.” This way, if a student wants to join a UBC rec league but doesn’t have any friends who like to play sports, they’ll be able to use the app to connect with other students who are looking for teammates.
Wavy is all about connections. The app is called Wavy because, much like a physical wave that a stranger may offer to a passerby, the developers hope that the app serves as a good first-encounter for potential new friends.
“We want you to be part of the interaction and feel like you’re socializing instead of making it a passive experience,” said Saeed.
For more information, contact the Wavy team at wavyteams@gmail.com.