Raya, the exclusive dating app in which an tic found Bad Bunny

BY Luanna Orjuela Murcia | March 30, 2023, 5:05 PM

Hollywood actor Ben Affleck went through an embarrassing moment when a girl posted a video that he sent her to her Instagram, in which she said: “Nivine, why did you break the matches? It’s me. You can see for yourself here.”

Writer Nivine Jay was using the dating app Raya and thought she was being tricked with a fake profile of who plays “Batman,” but it was actually the famous actor.

​This app has become popular because actors of the caliber of Affleck have used it, other examples are Cara Delevinge, Chaning Tatum, Demi Lovato and Sharon Stoney.

A Costa Rican, whom we will call María, since she prefers to remain anonymous, met Bad Bunny, the successful Puerto Rican artist, on that platform.

“Since last Wednesday I did not get involved; I usually check it once a day. And it turns out that this Sunday I got in and Bad Bunny came out of third grade, and I yelled: ‘Wow’. So confirmed that Bad Bunny is in Raya, because he came out to me. After a while and Bad Bunny no longer uses the app, but, well, he hasn’t deleted the profile. I could not believe it. I did not give matches because he is a musical artist and my friends got mad at me, they couldn’t believe it,” the young woman told Teletica.com.

An “exclusive” world

If you have never heard of this application, we explain how it works and how to enter.

Raya was created in 2015 like any other dating app, but being part of the community is much more difficult. María tells us how she got in.

“In TikTok it appeared to me about this Raya application, and I began to find out more and they said that it was almost impossible to enter and be accepted. I still downloaded it at the end of last year and they accepted me at the end of January. I had no reference. And that in social networks they say that one only enters thanks to references. If you ask me, why did they accept it? I don’t know, but they accepted me, ”she commented.

​The application has strict confidentiality policies, the user cannot upload to the social networks that is in the application, screenshots cannot be made, nor can videos of the screen be made, all this in order to protect the identity of the affiliated persons.

“They have come from all kinds of people, such as actors, well-known photographers from other countries, NBA basketball players, NFL players, and even artists. They are all guys from abroad, no one from Costa Rica that I know of. The guys I spoke to were super respectful, very good people. Some of us now follow each other on Instagram, and I also think it works for networking. I met a person from my same middle, but from another country. There are some who answer every three days or every week or who stop responding,” added María.

​teletica.com He also spoke with another Raya user, a Costa Rican. This is Juan José Rojas, a public relations officer who used the application for two months, about a year ago.

“I saw the application on TikTok, they said it was for artists and very exclusive and one gets morbid, so I downloaded it. It’s super hard to get into, but for me the process was pretty easy. You download the app and it asks you to register, attach photos, and follow them on Instagram. So I guess they will do a cross filter. And in two days they approved me. And once I was there, I saw everyone’s profiles and the Australian artist Troye Sivan came out, so it is true that there are celebrities. People come out to you globally, it is not because of proximity, they say that all those who are there have the economic power to see themselves in places like Mykonos or Barcelona”, said Rojas.

How do you get them to accept it?

“You have to download the application, fill out the information they ask for, upload your best photos. And for the approval it is important that you put references. If there are contacts in your phone book that are part of Raya, the app notifies you and tells you if you want to request a reference. And I had a friend in Guatemala and another acquaintance in Miami who were there. So I asked them for references and with that I already had the approval, ”said the communicator.

The membership paid by these two Costa Ricans was $19.99 per month.

Rojas paid for it for two months, he was able to review who was there and decided to stop paying for it.

“Yes I did several matches interesting, for example, with a Brazilian doctor (who had photos with Kim Kardashian) and told me to meet, and with a guy from New York who told me to meet in Greece. People from Mexico also came to me, but from Costa Rica, no one, ”she added.

They both claim that the app is very secure and reliable because each person inside has been meticulously verified and vetted by Raya.

“They verify your profile very well to know that it is real. To enter you don’t have to be famous, you have to have beautiful material”, concluded the young man.

Would they recommend it?

María said: “The truth is, there are all kinds of people, chefs, athletes, actors and I would recommend it. They say it costs a bit to get in, none of my friends are there, they don’t even know what it is”.

And Rojas added: “I recommend it if you have the opportunity to travel to at least one country like Mexico, because at the Central American level the candidates are null.”

​On the other hand, there was also a conversation with a person who prefers to keep his identity unknown because he is still on the waiting list to enter Raya.

“In 2020 I went to Los Angeles, United States, and I heard about the application and I tried it. A few months ago it came out on TikTok that Bad Bunny had Raya, so I tried again, but neither. They have not denied me, they just put me on the waiting list. I asked four people for references, but nothing so far,” she stated.

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