Why I spent a year building hardware instead of another app

Over the past year I've been building a wearable device called Destiny Rings.

The obvious question everyone asks is:

"Why didn't you just build another dating app?"

Honestly, I asked myself that too.

Dating apps have already solved a lot of problems. Millions of relationships started because someone swiped right.

But I kept thinking about something that felt backwards.

Walk into a crowded bar on a Friday night.

There might be hundreds of people around you.

Some are single.
Some share your interests.
One of them might even become your future spouse.

Yet almost everyone is looking down at their phone.

We've never been surrounded by more potential connections, yet we've never spent more time searching for them through a screen.

That contradiction is what eventually became Destiny Rings.

The idea isn't to replace real-life interaction.

It's the opposite.

I wanted technology that quietly gets out of the way.

Instead of pulling out your phone every few minutes, the ring simply lets you know if someone compatible is nearby. The conversation is still entirely up to you.

The hardware journey has been far harder than I expected.

The first prototype wasn't a ring.

It was two breadboards covered in wires.

Then bulky wristbands.

Then Bluetooth bugs that kept me awake until 3 a.m.

Then manufacturer calls at odd hours because of time zone differences.

Then App Store reviews.

At one point I spent several nights debugging why two prototypes sitting on the same desk refused to communicate with each other.

The eventual fix took only a few lines of code.

That's hardware.

Months of progress can depend on something embarrassingly small.

I finally wrote a longer founder letter explaining the philosophy behind the project, why I chose hardware instead of another app, and what I've learned along the way.

I'd genuinely love feedback—especially from other founders who chose the harder path instead of the obvious one.

Article:
https://yourdestinyrings.com/blog/why-we-built-a-dating-ring