About Magnetic
Magnetic is a video-first dating service run by Varosity, Inc. and made in San Diego. It is relaunching as a free beta in San Diego County, built around Magnetic Nights, planned as a weekly evening, where people meet on 20-minute video dates instead of swiping and messaging. It has not run a night yet. The first is Thursday, December 3, 2026, at 7:00pm Pacific.
- Magnetic is run by Varosity, Inc. and made in San Diego.
- It is relaunching as a free beta in San Diego County only.
- The format is a Magnetic Night, planned as a weekly evening: you claim a seat for an evening, the app matches you, and you meet one or two people on 20-minute video dates.
- There is no swiping, no browsing profiles and no messaging.
- After each date, each person privately says whether they would like to see the other again. Only mutual yeses are revealed.
- The first night is Thursday, December 3, 2026, at 7:00pm Pacific. No nights have run yet, and seats are not open yet: the founding list is emailed when they open.
- Seats are balanced by who is looking for whom. If we can’t seat a balanced room, we’ll move the night and email you at least 48 hours ahead. If a late cancellation means we have to move it later than that, we’ll tell you as soon as we know.
- You can join the founding list now with an email and a ZIP code. First name, gender, who you are looking for and birth year are optional follow-up questions. Adults only.
- People outside San Diego can join with their ZIP code and will be told when their city opens. There is no promised date.
- Matching uses facial-geometry similarity as one ingredient. Members upload a photo after giving explicit consent; other members see an illustrated avatar, never the photo.
- The idea that resemblance can predict a good first date is unproven. The beta is the test.
- There is no mobile app. Magnetic runs in the browser.
- It is free during the beta. Pricing will be announced before it applies.
Who runs Magnetic
Magnetic is a product of Varosity, Inc., and it is made in San Diego. That is also where it is starting: the beta is open to San Diego County only. Articles on this site are published by Magnetic (Varosity, Inc.).
Why it is being rebuilt this way
Any always-on dating service has the same problem when it is new. A handful of people, spread across different days and hours, mostly see an empty screen. A common approach is to give people profiles to browse and messages to send while the numbers grow.
We went the other way. A Magnetic Night puts everyone in the same place on the same evening, so a small, balanced group is enough for every person there to meet someone. And it goes straight to the part that tells you something: 20 minutes of actually talking.
So the relaunch removes the feed, the swiping and the chat. What is left is a seat, a time, and one or two conversations. How a Magnetic Night works has the detail.
The honest state of the beta
- No Magnetic Nights have run yet.
- The first is Thursday, December 3, 2026, at 7:00pm Pacific. If we can’t seat a balanced room, we’ll move the night and email you at least 48 hours ahead. If a late cancellation means we have to move it later than that, we’ll tell you as soon as we know.
- The founding list is open. Joining it is how you hear when seats open.
- It is free during the beta. Pricing will be announced before it applies.
- It runs in the browser. There is no mobile app.
You will not find testimonials, member counts or success rates on this site. There are none to report yet, and we are not going to invent any.
What is known and what is not
Magnetic uses facial-geometry similarity as one ingredient in matching. Members upload a photo after giving explicit consent, and other members see an illustrated avatar, never the photo.
What is reasonably well supported: studies have found that romantic partners tend to resemble each other somewhat more than randomly paired people do. What is not established: that resemblance causes attraction, or that it predicts whether two strangers will enjoy a first date. Magnetic is a test of that second question, and it may turn out that the answer is no. We set out the research in Do couples really look alike?
We also think the format has value regardless of how that test comes out. A short, scheduled, face-to-face conversation is a reasonable way to meet someone, whatever decided the pairing.
Contact
For anything about your data, including requests to see or delete it, email privacy@varosity.com. The Privacy Policy and Terms set out the rest. Magnetic is on Instagram as @meetmagnetic.
Common questions are answered in the FAQ, and if you are local, start with video speed dating in San Diego.