Match Group

Singles may be increasingly willing to split the check on dates, but searching for love remains a pricey endeavor. A coffee here, dinner there, drinks afterwards, a movie on weekends… it all adds up, but to how much?

According to Match.com’s ‘Singles in America’ study, an annual survey of 5,000 singles around the United States, the average unmarried American spent $1,596 on their dating life in 2016. In major cities, that average is higher. In New York City, for instance, it’s $2,069.

The average includes the things you’d expect - the aforementioned bar tabs and dinners - as well as dating site memberships and matchmakers, and entry fees for dating events. It also includes tangential purchases like haircuts, manicures, and new date outfits.

Online dating has become more accessible than ever, but unfortunately, it’s also created a culture of ghosting and messaging among users that often doesn't lead to an actual date. Apps like Tinder made online dating easy and fun, but many daters have become frustrated with the game-like interface and the lack of any real connection with other daters. Many apps are trying to address this pain point by helping daters meet in person more quickly, which is key to forming romantic connections.

Dating app Stay launched last month in the iTunes store (called "Stay Dating" on iTunes) with a focus on in-person connections. The company encourages all matches to schedule dates; it's built into the app’s functionality.

With Stay, users can’t message right away, eliminating the ghosting problem that is so problematic with other dating apps. Users can only suggest times and potential locations to matches to set up a date. Once scheduled, users can start messaging (but only 24 hours before the date). If a user cancels the date or fails to show and gets reported, that user is blocked from viewing matches over the next 24 hours.

Tinders Matches Up For

Dating app giant Tinder is rolling out more options, testing a new feature to help its users better connect – this time spontaneously and in-person. The new feature dubbed “Matches Up For” allows users to set a status of what they are interested in doing that night, and see who from their matches is available to meet.

Matches Up For is intended to encourage users to connect in person. Tinder has been criticized for its “game-like” premise, and users have become frustrated with the flaky behavior of other app users. (Messaging with matches on Tinder often doesn’t lead to a date.) While Tinder still has the largest pool of singles among the many dating apps on the market, new apps are offering more relationship-focused features that encourage real-life connections, something Tinder users feel is lacking.

With Tinder’s new feature, users can let potential matches know if they are free that night, and can choose from a list of activities they’d be interested in doing.

Is dinner and a movie still a go-to date, or is that passe in a world of swipes? Two of Millennials’ favorite services - Tinder and Grubhub - teamed up to uncover the dining and dating preferences of modern singles.

"Most first dates involve food, so partnering with Grubhub to learn more about how eating preferences affect compatibility was a perfect fit for us," said Rosette Pambakian, vice president, global communications and brand of Tinder. "The findings are interesting and highlight the important role food plays in dating."

The poll surveyed more than 2,000 Tinder users across the US. Participants used Tinder’s signature swiping system to indicate their food-related dating preferences, revealing a significant divergence from longstanding stereotypes.

Tinder Online is Coming Soon!

Four years after Tinder debuted on mobile phones across the globe, the infamous dating app is finally coming to desktops.

"Introducing Tinder Online: a fun, new web experience and your English professor's worst nightmare. Mobile phones not allowed in class? Just fire up your laptop and swipe incognito. Cubicle life got you down? Now you can toggle between spreadsheets and Super Likes in a flash. ‘Not Enough Storage?’ Not a problem," Tinder announced on its official blog.

To start, visit Tinder.com from any browser. The experience will look familiar to anyone who has already used the app: login with Facebook, choose your photos, write a bio, and start searching. Tinder is also testing the ability to login via SMS directly from mobile phones in markets where Facebook access is limited.

See All Dating Apps on Map

With the amount of media attention Tinder receives, you’d think it was the only dating app on the market - or if not the only option, at least the most popular one.

But the numbers tell a different story. Technology company Quantcast reviewed over 480,000 searches from January 6, 2017 - February 5, 2017 to discover which dating services singles in America prefer. They found that not only do different states have different preferences, preferences seem to come in clusters. And they’re not always what you’d expect.

Overall, old-school dating service PlentyOfFish won the most states with its free app. It may not have the hype of its newer, fancier competitors, but in this case slow and steady won the race. POF was especially popular in the south, southwest, and midwest.