Ever wanted to automate your love life on the internet? Have you ever mourned the minutes lost to your mobile phone while searching for “the one?" Now, a company in Zurich is taking the “social” out of social dating apps by offering to arrange dates for you.

Swiss company offers automated love life

The new ghostwriting service, called Tinderio, offers to create online dating profiles, chat with users and arrange dates on your behalf. "Lean back and get dates that suit you" are the welcoming words on the website. According to 20 Minuten, users have to pay the company, based in Zurich, between 895 to 1.200 Swiss francs a month to “automate” their love life.

According to the newspaper, the process starts with an hour-long interview where the company can find out about your goals, interests and writing style. "You choose the style that best suits your personality, so we can get started with the first profile," the website reads.

Once this is done, your “personal matchmaker” is then sent out on major dating apps to try and find your amore. “Meeting the right woman on your own takes hours of personal effort every week. Singles on dating apps spend an average of 12 hours a week swiping, chatting and trying to set up a date," the website notes, claiming that with the firm's help, clients will be able to go on four or more dates a month.

Ghostwriters designed to take the work out of finding love

Speaking to 20 Minuten, co-founders Sven Affeltranger and Leonardo Reinhard explained that "long working hours and short weekends meant that [their] romantic social life was neglected." They said that they had started to pay a “ghostwriter” to manage both their Tinder accounts, and once their friends expressed an interest, they realised they “had struck a nerve” with entrepreneurs and people with highly demanding jobs who don't have the time to date.

When asked whether having someone else write your messages for you could be misleading, Affeltranger said that the company makes “sure that the matchmaker represents the client as if he or she were writing it themselves." Users are able to approve and reject dates and the company usually asks the couple to meet up as soon as possible so that there isn’t too much disappointment if sparks don’t fly.

While, in the words of 20 Minuten, the service appears to be primarily targeted at men, Affeltranger said that some women have started to engage with the service too. So far, the company has 30 customers on its books.

Automated love lives could benefit some, says psychotherapist

For psychotherapist and sexologist Dania Schiftan, many people could benefit from a romantic “ghostwriter.” "I know a lot of people who can't express themselves very well in writing, but are super interesting in real life," she told 20 Minuten, noting that if the matchmaker knows the client well, the scheme should be viewed as a positive development.

However, she said that if the service is designed around making a person more beautiful, funny or interesting than they actually, its purpose fails as soon as the first date begins. “It's important that the person is still authentic," Schiftan concluded.