A new matchmaking app has launched in the UAE, built around a 15-minute voice conversation with an AI persona called “Auntee” rather than photo browsing and swiped profiles.
Auntee, founded by Zain Shaikh, uses voice interviews to assess what it calls 14 behavioural dimensions across four categories: Vision and Money, Lifestyle and Rhythm, Foundations, and Spark and Dynamics.
The platform then writes a profile on behalf of the user and makes a small number of curated introductions rather than presenting an open browsing pool.
The app reached 3,000 users within its first eight weeks following a July 2026 launch and has made over 500 introductions to date.
The product name is deliberate. Across South Asian and Arab communities in the region, the auntie figure is a well-established archetype: someone who knows both families, reads the room, and makes introductions based on character rather than appearance. Shaikh says Auntee is designed to replicate that dynamic at scale. “You’ll tell Auntee more in fifteen minutes than a bio says in a lifetime,” he said.
The concept came from an earlier project, Seat At The Table, in which the same underlying voice-interview technology was used to match job candidates with employers. Shaikh said that at trade shows, the consistent response was: could this work for dating?
Downloading the app and completing the voice interview is free. When users want Auntee to begin making introductions, they purchase a 90-day season, priced at AED 699 but currently available at a launch rate of AED 245.
One user, Priya, 31, described the experience as feeling genuinely heard. “It felt like she really knew me. In a good way. I felt heard for the first time in dating,” she said.
The app is currently available only in the UAE.
