Wing: An Up-and-Coming App

Editor in Chief Beth Nicholls interviews Monaal Madan, the creator of a new social app called Wing that helps people connect.

Wing is a future social app hoping to revolutionise and change the way online apps are used to connect people. Monaal Madan is a Doctor of Medicine student at Macquarie University, who developed and created Wing, with the hopes to make a positive change in society.

The MQ Incubator is located at 8 Hadenfeld Avenue on West Campus and is a place for entrepreneurship and innovation. The Incubator hosts a wide variety of programs for students, startups and researchers, as well as being the workplace home for over 60 startups of all kinds. For Monaal, the Incubator gives him an office environment where he can work and develop his ideas, whilst being able to connect with like-minded people.

There is a large amount of stigma when it comes to connecting to new people in social environments, and Monaal hopes to help break this stigma with Wing.

Wing is designed to be used at specific events and buildings, where users can digitally connect with others nearby with similar interests and personalities. Basic information such as your name, age, gender preferences and sexuality will be a part of the profile, as well as a live selfie of the user to show off the authentic them in the moment. Once a profile is created, users can match with people they are interested in and start a conversation, before approaching each other in real life. 

Monaal is using technology as a power source for socialisation, where social barriers might exist when approaching someone for the first time within a social space. He hopes this will help people make more genuine connections, and to not feel fearful talking to others, instead potentially fostered life-long friendships or relationships. 

Through his health promotion background, Monaal is open to listening to those around him, especially from communities he is not part of, particularly the LGBT+ community. He wants this app to be a safe place for queer people to interact with each other. Wing is to be made by the community, for the community. 

Monaal was inspired by his background in health to create an innovative solution for loneliness that young adults are currently facing. He hopes this app will have a positive impact on people’s mental health and make change in the community. Wing will hopefully start beta testing soon.