A PHONE app developed by a Dorset entrepreneur could be the next big thing in dating and social networking.

CheekyBoo provides users with the ability to see when another user of the app is nearby and send them a message before meeting.

The free iPhone app was devised by Ben Mitchell, of Lower Parkstone, who will be promoting it at Bournemouth University’s Freshers Fair.

He came up with the idea at the end of December 2012 and began working on it the next year with the company Tablish, in Queens Road, Bournemouth.

“For the best part of 10 months, we developed it, we designed the app and it went live at the App Store in March,” he said.

Mr Mitchell, 32, spent 12 years working at Barclays House in Poole, before taking voluntary redundancy in May and devoting himself full-time to promoting the app. He sold his car and now drives a Smart car decked out in the CheekyBoo colour scheme.

The app requires the user to provide a user name, email address, date of birth, between one and nine pictures and a 140-character biography.

It shows the location of other CheekyBoo members within a 10-mile radius and their profiles. The user can then send the fellow CheekyBoo user a message and switch-to-one chat before meeting.

There are safeguards against abuse. Users can delete anyone they do not wish to hear from again, which will also make themselves invisible on that person’s phone.

Although the app will be free, Mr Mitchell hopes to attract an income later from advertising or new investors. New investment would also pay for an Android version.

“I’ve completely self-funded it. The short-term aim is to get as many users as possible. From that time, it will then be more attractive for any investors – private individuals or businesses,” he said.

Around 2,500 people have already downloaded the app, around 80 per cent of them from Bournemouth, Poole, Christchurch, Ringwood and the surrounding areas. But Mr Mitchell hopes it will really take off if he can get students to take it up, so that there are a lot of users close to each other.

He added: “It could drift or it could go viral overnight.”

n CheekyBoo will be at the university’s Freshers Fair on September 27 and will have a pitch outside the student bar on September 30.