Proving there’s an app for everything these days, a enterprising young woman in Germany has created an app that links sex workers up to potential customer, so they don’t have to hang around on street corners waiting for potential clients to walk past.
Peppr CEO Pia Poppenreiter, 26, came up with the idea for the app when walking down a cold street in Berlin one day. ‘It was cold and I saw a sex worker on the street. I thought, "There is an app for everything, just not for that. Why do they have to stand there in the winter all day? This has never left me.’
Pepper uses GPS, plus the preferences you enter into the app to locate nearby sex workers, which can then be booked directly by the customer. If this sounds familiar, that’s because it’s exactly how taxi services like Uber and Halo work. Which is… amazing and a bit weird in equal measure.
But don't expect to see it rolled out here any time soon. Unlike in the UK, prostitution is legal in Germany (and Spain), and rather than creating something furtive and sleazy, the app is well-designed, professional and functional.
In an interview with Gruderszene magazine (it's German, so you might have to crack the old Google translate out) Poppenreiter explains how the platform is for booking only, they do not handle prices, or any other element of the transaction. ‘We want to revolutionize the image of the market. Away from this mustiness; We are a completely neutral booking platform without shabby advertising.’ Customers pay a small booking fee to Peppr, whereas it’s free for sex workers to use. Poppenreiter’s team interviews potential advertisers before allowing them to sign up, to ensure the sex workers using the app aren’t part of a human trafficking chain. They also only work with individuals and escort agencies, rather than brothels.
Basically, it’s an amazing idea, executed well and with a modicum of corporate social responsibility. Fancy that. But can you see it ever getting past Duncan Bannatyne on Dragon’s Den?
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.