Ball State alumnus Myron Robinson is the creator behind the new app, “Scruple,” a proximity-based social discovery app that allows others to connect with one another in the digital age.
Robinson, a former telecommunications sales and promotion major who graduated from the university in 2016, had the idea of Scruple for several years before the creation process actually took off earlier this year. After working in a corporate software job for quite some time, he said he knew he needed to make his idea come to fruition.
Robinson touched on what the main inspiration was for Scruple.
“I’m big on connecting people. I have a good group of friends, and we like to welcome people in,” Robinson said. “I know life sometimes doesn’t always give you the opportunity to connect with people in the real world … but now you can pull out Scruple and connect with people around you.”
Robinson’s inspiration for creating Scruple did not just come from his love of forming connections, however. His time at Ball State also encouraged his vision for the proximity-based social app.
“You got to think of Welcome Week. You’re new to campus, you don’t know anybody … people may be distracted. But with Scruple, you can pull out [the app] and see everyone who’s around you in proximity,” Robinson said.
With the use of Bluetooth, Scruple allows users to send anonymous “pings” to others on the app based on a proximity grid. From there, users can connect with one another either by finding each other in person or through messaging on the app.
One of the biggest purposes of the app that Robinson wanted to emphasize is that it is not just solely for forming romantic relationships, but for friendships and networking purposes as well.
“I always tell people [Scruple] is not a dating app; it’s for making friends, a gym partner, a study buddy… It’s a way to connect with people that may go otherwise missed,” Robinson said.
Before launching on the Apple App Store in September of this year, Robinson and his team worked on crafting Scruple for roughly seven months. One of the biggest challenges that Robinson mentioned was issues regarding the compatibility of Apple and Bluetooth-based apps. Having the app run off Bluetooth rather than cell towers was a crucial element of Myron and his team’s goals.
Marcus Johnson, a Ball State graduate and friend of Robinson who also served as a consultant with the creation of the app, explained why his favorite feature of the app is the proximity-based messaging.
“I was at a concert recently with a few other users, and anyone who’s been to a big show knows how hard it is to get signal in a crowd. Since Scruple runs on Bluetooth instead of cell towers, we could still message each other quickly and easily,” Johnson said.
Since the app has been available on Apple’s App Store, Robinson has partnered with local businesses in the Indianapolis area to promote the app and to offer perks to users who download it. Getting in touch with businesses in the Muncie area and other college towns in Indiana is also something that Robinson is taking the initiative on.
“The main audience is definitely college [students]. The college age, early 20s, where people are moving around and constantly going to public places is definitely my target audience because they’re always on the move and always around each other, but it’s also really for anyone,” Robinson said.
Although Scruple launched on Apple’s App Store roughly a month ago, Robinson and his team are already thinking of their future goals for the app and working on adding new features. With feedback from users being something that Robinson deeply appreciates, he said that constantly innovating and advancing the app is crucial to giving his users the best experience.
Doran Slater, a long-time friend of Robinson, a Ball State graduate student and a member of Robinson’s team for crafting the app, said what he thinks users love most about the app.
“[Scruple] gives [users] an opportunity to avoid the awkwardness of the first interaction, if that is what they want to use it for,” Slater said. “For example, if you see someone that you want to approach for a business opportunity and you aren’t sure that your pitch is just right, [Scruple] gives you time to get your thoughts together before presenting yourself.”
Alongside help from Johnson and Slater, Robinson said that one of the biggest tools he utilized throughout the process of constructing the app was artificial intelligence.
When asked if he ever saw himself as a young college student creating such an inclusive app for people to connect, Robinson said, “I knew I was going to do something important and give something to the world, something I could share that could bring people together.”
Contact Gracie Parkhurst via email at gracie.parkhurst@bsu.edu.
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