Case study / Designed and built, available now
Upfora, one match nearby for right now.
Upfora finds you one compatible person nearby who wants the same thing right now, a coffee or a lunch, inside the next thirty minutes.
The problem
Wanting company for a coffee or a quick lunch is a small, ordinary thing, but there is no easy way to find someone who is free right now and nearby. Dating apps are built around browsing profiles and planning ahead. Group event apps need a crowd and a schedule. Neither fits the moment where you have thirty minutes free and would rather not spend them alone.
Upfora was scoped around that narrow window instead of a broad social feed. It asks one question, what are you up for, and tries to answer it with one person, not a list to scroll through.
What was built
The flow runs in five steps. You pick an intent, the app searches nearby with a visible timer, it surfaces one match instead of a list, both people agree on a venue before the timer runs out, and the app then points you to the meeting spot and confirms you have arrived.
Design decisions
Every screen in the matching flow carries a timer, from the search itself down to the accept and venue steps. The window stays short on purpose. A match that can sit unanswered for hours stops being about right now, and the whole point of Upfora is that both people are free at that exact moment.
Matching shows one person at a time. The app has already filtered for who is nearby, free and interested in the same activity, which removes the queue and the ranking altogether.
The match itself carries a first name and an intent, no photo. You accept or decline based on what you are both about to do and where you are, not on appearance, and the two of you have already chosen each other before either face is seen.
That creates a real problem once you agree to meet: how do you spot a stranger in a busy cafe when you never saw a photo?
Find Me Mode solves it directly. When you are near the meeting spot, your whole screen turns bright green with your first name printed across it, so your match can find you at a glance across a crowded room.
Both people choose the venue together. They see the same short list and the same countdown, and neither one ends up stuck with whatever the app picked alone.
Status
Upfora was designed and built. It is available at getupfora.com.