I tried Breeze, the ‘dating app that takes online dating offline’

As me and my single friends often complain, dating in London is the trenches. Despite spending hours finessing our witty bios and selecting our best pictures for our Tinder, Bumble and Hinge profiles, we have vanishingly little to show for it. With a whole host of phone numbers forever confined to the graveyard of “[Insert Name] Hinge” and a healthy number of ghosts that we might have to dodge in frequented beer gardens or festival crowds, modern dating is not for the faint-hearted.

Singles are getting increasingly fed up with the apps. Matches aren’t guaranteed, and when they do happen, it’s often followed by a) nothing, b) boring chat, then nothing or c) some chat, a date, then nothing. Access to endless profiles means people can feel more disposable and the quasi-anonymity encourages us to be less upfront, proven by the 84 per cent of Gen Z and Millennials who say that they’ve been ghosted. The result is dating burnout, with 79 per cent of Gen Z users reporting they felt mentally and emotionally exhausted from endless swiping.

While digitised dating is becoming less popular, it’s become so deeply engrained in modern dating culture that it’s likely here to stay. How to fix this problem? Enter Breeze, a Rotterdam-based app that has recently expanded into London, where the premise is relatively straightforward. Once you match with someone, you get a date. The catch: no chat beforehand is allowed.

Branding itself as “simple, safe and serious”, the app releases seven profiles nightly at 7pm (sometimes more). If there’s a match, you both share your availability, Breeze schedules the date, charges a £9.50 deposit (redeemable for a drink on the date) and books a table at a partner venue. The chat function only opens two hours before the date begins, presumably so you can message your date if you’re running late. Should you need to cancel or rearrange, you can do so through the app. Although cancellations can still happen, policies are in place to make them as undesirable as possible: aside from the deposit, cancelling more than once results in a one-week account freeze and date reminders are sent frequently.

Safety-wise, it feels well thought out. The bar staff know you’re on a Breeze date and have your names should they be needed. Once you’ve been on a date, you get the chance to rate your experience (they don’t see it, don’t worry) and if it was positive, that person receives a badge on their profile indicating that they treated a date with respect. You then get the option to exchange numbers, and if you say ‘No’, the match disappears. They have no way of contacting you again, and profiles can be quickly reported if needed. Meeting someone you’ve had no prior contact with shouldn’t be taken lightly, and it feels like Breeze understands its weight.

My Breeze experience started about four months ago, when I saw an ad on Instagram. Not a fan of much pre-meet chat myself, it looked like the perfect fit for me. So, I wheeled out my go-to photos, prompt answers, and was away. It did take some time to get a date, despite my willingness to really give it a try. There was one low point where the app told me my ‘Streak’ – AKA the number of consecutive days – was at 20 days. Not my proudest moment.

Eventually, I got a match. The time rolled around and I headed to my first-ever zero-prior-chat date. The location was average – a restaurant-slash-bar that was half empty, with the only taken tables occupied by families or other people on Breeze dates. This was the part that was most off-putting to me: not being able to control the location is frustrating and if someone is a particularly anxious dater, or just really likes the pub, it’s not ideal.

Finding a partner is, as always, never guaranteed, but it places more importance on meeting IRL without wasting your or your date's time in the process

The date is OK. Nice boy, but not a match. He had an annotated poetry book and asked me what my favourite way to experience the arts was; unfortunately for him, it’s watching reruns of The Housewives of Beverly Hills in most of my spare time. We went our separate ways and although it wasn’t successful romantically, he did give me the idea for this article. Every cloud, etc.

Overall, though, I had a positive experience. Limited time was wasted and I had a pleasant conversation with someone new. It seems fellow Breeze users have positive things to say too. Hannah*, 25, who downloaded the app to have a “more intentional” online dating experience, says they liked pre-paying for their first drink as “you’re not obligated to get another round” if you’re not feeling it. Matilda, 24, said she liked the fact you only see seven profiles a night as it gets rid of this idea of “abundance.” Hannah adds that the way the app immediately organises a date with your match forces people to be more intentional with their swiping and assess “whether the person you’re liking is actually someone you want to meet in person.”

Breeze definitely isn’t for everyone, but for those who it suits, it seems worth a punt. Finding a partner is, as always, never guaranteed, but it is a refreshing change to the endless swiping that characterises your average experience on Bumble or Hinge. And while sparks didn’t fly on my first Breeze date, a few nights ago, I was explaining the premise of this article to my housemate when my phone buzzed. I’d got another match, meaning another possible date – one I might’ve even been on by the time this article comes out. He’ll either be someone who becomes important, someone I completely forget about, or a funny anecdote to tell my friends. Either way, it’s quick, easy and gets us face-to-face before either of us has a chance to ghost the other. The devil works hard, but Breeze might just work harder.

*Name has been changed