Communication

Some dating app users are becoming creative in their frustration with matches they are served and have started using hacks to trip up the algorithms behind the matching.

According to a recent feature in The New York Times, these hacks are aimed at besting the algorithm so that users can try and access different results. The tricky part is, the dating apps are putting more and more features behind a paywall, so it’s getting more convoluted to try and get around the algorithm.

But some dating app hackers are finding success and posting their methods on TikTok and Reddit. For example, some users recommend deactivating and then reactivating your account to get a fresh set of matches, according to The New York Times. Some have also suggested rejecting a bunch of attractive profiles to throw off the matching process, or to switch your location to a different city, which is like pressing “refresh” on your matches.

Dating app Bumble is taking the popular Lunar New Year holiday and launching a promotional celebration for its user base in Asia.

The “Bumble Lo Hei: Toss Love into Your New Year” campaign says it will “spice up” holiday traditions and give the celebration a romantic twist for those seeking love in 2024. Bumble will give away exclusive gift packages for users to help them “manifest” a great love life this coming year, and encourage them to take charge of their own love journeys.

The promotion was inspired by the traditional Lunar New Year “prosperity toss,” or “lo hei.”

OkCupid just celebrated its 20th anniversary and released some interesting dating trends as we start 2024, driven mostly by its younger users. The irreverent dating app has attracted a wide array of singles over the years, thanks to its unique question and answer format for people to get to know each other.

The dating app surveyed close to one million of its users and found that almost 80 percent consider themselves independent daters, and those who declare themselves as independent are receiving 5 percent more likes compared to people who say they aren’t.

In fact, according to the company's blog post, in 2023 there was a 181 percent increase in mentions of “independent” on OkCupid profiles, which points to healthier dating trends in 2024. Other dating apps have also found their users (especially younger Gen Z daters) want to focus on their mental health and well-being before getting involved in a new relationship, so it seems to be a trend.

Drew Barrymore quipped that she was “going off” dating apps after being catfished by a man who claimed to be an NFL quarterback.

According to US Weekly, the actress revealed the story on The Drew Barrymore Show in late January. She noted that he messaged her saying he was the quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams.

She told her audience that she was excited to meet because she was a football fan, messaging him that she went to the team’s first practice game. She also wrote that she was “frustrated being a girl from Los Angeles who loves football” at a time when L.A. didn’t have any teams, and now they have two.

Bumble has shared the best time to be on a dating app – down to the exact hour. According to the popular dating app platform, being on the app on Mondays between 7pm and 8pm in the U.S. and between 8pm and 9pm in the U.K. will boost your chances of matching.

The dating app shared that these are the busiest times with the most people active on the app - and will give you more opportunities to match and set up dates. Other good times to be active on the platform is Tuesday evenings at 9pm, Thursdays at 7pm, and Sundays at 5pm, according to recent user data.

Dating Sunday (the first Sunday in January following the holidays) might be the busiest day of the year for online dating. But on a regular basis, searching for potential matches on the weekend won’t yield the same results as looking during weekday evenings. More people are with friends and family (and on other dates), and only log back in after work during the week to match with more people.

Birth rates have gone down in Japan, so the local Tokyo government wants to tackle the problem with a new government-issued dating app in hopes of sparking some romance.

The big selling point for this dating app is that you won’t have to endure the high numbers of bots that come with regular dating apps, and that the platform offers a more secure online dating experience for users. The new app is backed by a government-approved vetting process, which requires users to prove their marital status and income and to take part in an online interview to confirm their identity, according to Sora News 24.

The app will be run by a private company, but the government will require official documentation from users to prove their marital status and identity, according to Nikkei Asia.