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Dating app Plenty of Fish had a brand refresh on Monday, October 17th. The logo has been updated along with the design of their website and apps. The last brand update happened in September of 2019. The new look goes even more modern with less colors and minimalistic styling. Instead of blues and almost a florescent pink of the old look, the makeover contains several shades of pastel pinks along with black and white. The new design also incorporates some animation touches. For example, on the POF homepage the fish drawings actually move around.

It also looks like they have reverted back to calling the service by its full name "Plenty of Fish" again, instead of using the shorter version "POF". This reverses the original name switch which happened back in 2019.

With monthly downloads of the POF app falling since the last refresh, it looks like POF is hoping the new look (which is designed to appeal to younger adults) and a few other new features will hopefully turn things around.

A new study by Pew Research Center found that roughly half of U.S. online daters, or 47 percent of those surveyed, want to see the vaccination status on the profiles of potential matches.

Covid-19 vaccination status has been a divisive issue for people when it comes to dating. Many are eager to move past the pandemic and don’t mind if their dates aren’t vaccinated or if they know up front how they feel about getting the vaccine. But still, 47 percent say it is at least somewhat important that they know upfront before they start engaging with a date, and that they look to see if their matches included vaccination status in their profiles. About a quarter of all respondents said it was very important their dates mention their vaccination status in their profiles.

When drilling down, Pew found that those wanting to see their dates’ vaccination status were more likely to vote Democratic, so the divide was also along political party lines. The research found that respondents who identified as Democrats were more likely to be vaccinated and more likely to say they would only go out with someone who is vaccinated.

BLK dating app has announced a partnership with former First Lady Michelle Obama’s voting initiative “When We All Vote” to help drive people to register and vote, ahead of the midterm elections.

According to Cassius Life, the popular dating app for black singles created an in-app Election Center, which prompts users automatically when they open the app to engage with a choice – “Share Your Voice” or “Shift the Culture.” When users select “Share Your Voice” they are asked to choose an issue that is important to them, such as “universal healthcare” or “affordable housing,” which will be displayed on their profiles to engage other users.

If users prefer not to pick an issue, they can choose “Shift the Culture,” which provides a link to register to vote. BLK also provides push notifications, so users know important dates and deadlines, from the last day to register to vote to when election day is.

Dating app conglomerate 9Count announced that it has raised another $6 million in VC funding on top of its earlier Series A funding of $21.5 million, bringing total funds raised so far to $27.5 million.

According to Tech Crunch, investors have taken notice of the company’s dating app Summer, a rebranding of former dating app Spark, which has gained traction in a saturated market namely for its appeal to younger daters.

Summer hit number one in the App Store in two markets immediately after its launch and now has more than 500,000 downloads, over a million registered users, and more than 300,000 monthly active users (just a few months later). 9Count CEO Alex Hofman told Tech Crunch that it’s “the fastest-growing dating app to hit the market since Bumble arrived in 2014.”

The global dating market continues to grow at a faster rate than ever before, with projections of total market value to more than double in the next five years.

A new study by Research and Markets detailing the growth of the online dating market globally had an optimistic outlook despite recent disappointing quarters from top dating platforms Bumble and Match Group. The value of the online dating market in 2021 was valued at $12.37 billion and is expected to grow to $28.36 billion by 2027. The online dating market is expected to grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 14.84 percent over the period from 2022 to 2027.

Part of the reason for this growth is the popularity of dating apps, especially in countries with younger, growing populations like India and China. In addition, the proportion of single people has been rising worldwide, according to the study.

Dating app company Bumble has lowered its revenue forecasts through the end of the year, signaling that the boost from pandemic dating might be over.

Bumble adjusted its annual revenue to be between $920 million and $930 million for the year, lower than previous forecasts and market estimates of $934-$944 million. The company’s stock fell 13 percent after the news according to Reuters.

This news follows that of competitor Match Group, which also fell short of expected earnings for Q2. In the wake of the downturn, Match Group announced the lowering of its projected revenue for Q3, with a company shake-up that included halting development for metaverse dating and virtual currency and a restructuring of its executive leadership. Match Group’s stock also took a hit, dropping 20 percent in value after the company released its letter to shareholders.