The story in one paragraph
Attune is the first dating app to use real-time facial emotion AI — the same technology deployed in defence, financial services, and sports performance — to match people on genuine emotional compatibility rather than photographs. Built by Cavefish, a Cardiff-based emotional intelligence company, it launches in the UK in Q3 2026 with 12,000+ people already on the waitlist. In closed beta, 94% of matched users rated their first conversation as genuinely interesting or better. The technology cannot be gamed: it reads involuntary facial micro-expressions, not curated self-presentation.
Story angles
Defence-grade emotion AI meets online dating
EchoDepth — originally built for high-stakes environments including defence and financial services — analyses 44 facial Action Units in real time. Attune is the first application of this technology to human connection at scale.
Dating apps are designed to keep you single
70% of users leave within 30 days. 46% say their experience has been negative. The mechanism — judge a photo — has not changed in a decade. Attune is built on the observation that the apps optimise for engagement, not relationship outcomes.
Cardiff company competing in Silicon Valley's space
Founded in Cardiff in 2023. 13 industry awards. Two accelerator programmes. Built with Logic Software (ISO 9001, Cyber Essentials). Backed by the Welsh business ecosystem. Taking on a $3 billion industry from Wales.
The dating app where fake profiles are impossible
Liveness detection + live emotion-capture session = fake profiles structurally impossible. No pre-recorded video, stolen photos, or bots can generate an Attune profile. For women in particular, this is a structural safety guarantee that no mainstream app offers.
Your face never leaves your phone
On-device processing means raw biometric data — the video — never transmits. What is stored is a mathematical emotional vector. Designed to avoid classification as biometric data under UK GDPR Article 9. A privacy architecture built from first principles.
12,000 people quit swiping and joined this waitlist
12,000+ on the waitlist before launch. These are people who tried the apps and gave up — or who never found them compelling. The appetite for a different approach is large and the waitlist demonstrates it.
Key statistics (all citable)
Founder quotes (cleared for use)
"Dating apps are designed to produce just enough connection to maintain hope — but not so much that you leave. That is the business model. We built Attune to have a different business model entirely: we succeed when you find someone and go."
Jonathan Prescott, Founder & CEO, Cavefish"We have been applying emotion AI to high-stakes professional environments for years — defence, financial services, sports performance. The most human application of all was the most obvious: can this technology read the thing that actually determines whether two people will connect? The answer is yes."
Jonathan Prescott, Founder & CEO, Cavefish"Completion is not the same as understanding. A match is not the same as a connection. The apps have always confused the two."
Jonathan Prescott — from his ITEC 2026 presentation, ExCéL LondonMedia coverage
Featured in Telegraph coverage of DSEI 2025 — EchoDepth and Cavefish cited in the context of next-generation emotion AI for high-stakes human performance assessment.
"Feel to Know: Using Emotion to Measure Real Understanding" — Cavefish founder presented on EchoDepth's application to human performance at the international training and education conference.
Press assets and contact
Available on request
- ✓ Attune logo (SVG, PNG, dark/light)
- ✓ EchoDepth logo and wordmark
- ✓ Founder photography (JP)
- ✓ App UI concept visuals
- ✓ Boilerplate and fact sheet (PDF)
Contact
Press/media:
press@attunechemistry.com
B2B/partnerships:
partnerships@attunechemistry.com
Response time: Within 24 hours on weekdays