Finding new roommates can be a pain in the butt, but with Apartment List, a new apartment search engine app that uses Facebook, it might get a little bit easier. The app has launched today for Android and an iOS version of it will be released soon.
Apartment Lists takes information from Facebook to make user profiles that will include information like age, education, and workplace. Users can then add a budget, neighborhoods you might like to live in and things you like to do for fun. When users have similar listings and have both indicated they want to chat, they will be notified and can start a conversation with private messaging.
It can be nerve-wracking when you’re looking for roommates online, but with the Facebook integration you can get a little more information about who people are and, as CEO John Kobs told TechCrunch, Facebook offers extra validation. Seeing a person’s mutual friends can offer an inside look on who you might end up shacking up with. It seems like a great way for people to get apartment recommendations and find potential roommates in a safer way than using Craigslist.
The Apartment List website sees over 1.2 million visitors every month and the company raised more than 10 million in revenue last year.
Apartment List offers, on average, 14.5 photos of every apartment, which is a lot more than other sites. The company is also hoping to branch out to more than just apartment searches, and including a roommate search is just the beginning.
Apartment List will be available for iOS as soon as Apple approves it for the App Store. In the meantime, you can check out the website and get an idea of what the app will have to offer once it launches.
Image Credit: TechCrunch