Republicans are having a tough time meeting people over popular apps like Tinder, Bumble and OkCupid. So in larger numbers, they are turning to specialty right-wing dating apps to find like-minded matches.

A recent report from Vox examined this trend, noting that a growing number of profiles include the phrase “Trump supporters swipe left” – so that conservatives don’t even get a chance to strike up a conversation. OkCupid and Bumble have allowed members to state up front if they won’t date someone who doesn’t agree with their politics, making it harder for people on opposite sides of the aisle to connect romantically.

Because of the brewing frustration among conservative daters, some new dating apps catering to the excluded crowd have grown in recent months. Righter, Conservatives Only, Trump Singles, Patrio, and Donald Daters all offer a politically-friendly alternative to daters who are feeling discouraged with their current options – including Trump staffers who, according to an article in the Washingtonian, said they were having trouble getting dates in D.C.

We know we shouldn’t compare ourselves to what we see on social media. Everything, from the poreless skin to the sunsets over pristine beaches, is edited and carefully curated. But despite our better judgement, we can’t help feeling envious when we see travelers on picturesque getaways and fashion influencers posing in their flawlessly organized closets.

This compulsion to measure our real lives against the heavily filtered lives we see on social media now extends to our relationships. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are littered with images of #couplegoals that make it easy to draw comparisons to our own relationships and give us unrealistic perceptions of love. According to a survey from Match.com, one third of couples feel their relationship is inadequate after scrolling through snaps of seemingly-perfect partners plastered across social media.

Tinder and Bumble have spent most of 2018 embroiled in a fierce legal battle over patent infringement, misuse of intellectual property and theft of trade secrets. At the center of the dispute is the swiping mechanism that has become a ubiquitous feature of modern dating. In March, Tinder’s parent company Match Group filed a lawsuit alleging that Bumble “copied Tinder’s world-changing, card-swipe-based, mutual opt-in premise.” Bumble responded with an aggressive countersuit asserting that the swiping interface is not an original notion worthy of patent protection.

After attempts to settle privately failed, the dispute headed to court and the first big ruling has been handed out.

Judge Alan Albright of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas denied Bumble's claim that the Match Group patents in question are ineligible for patenting under Section 101 of the Patent Act.

Recipient
MillionaireMatch

The 2019 Editor's Top Pick - Wealthy award recipient is MillionaireMatch. This online dating service which launched way back in 2001 is designed to match wealthy successful singles with other attractive singles. Millionaire Match by our calculation is the largest dating site in its niche and currently has close to 3.9 million members. This is an increase of over half a million members in 2018.

MillionaireMatch is available on Android via a dating app and can also be accessed from their website on any platform. An iOS app is coming soon. What makes MillionaireMatch our Editor's choice is not only the amount of active members they have, it is the verification process that they have in place members can use. This allows members to verify information on their profile as accurate, including photos and income level. Once verified you will then become a Certified Millionaire and your profile will indicate this by displaying a Verified Badge.

Recipient
Bumble

The Editor's award for Top Pick - Innovative goes to Bumble for 2019. Bumble is a female friendly dating service that has gone through a lot of positive changes in 2018. For example they reached a milestone of over 40 million users since they had launched in 2014. Their apps also reach more countries (160) and in more languages (the latest being Hindi). The Bumble dating service is also now accessible directly from their website, so no apps are required to be downloaded and installed.

As far as new features are concerned... Bumble members can now use a snooze feature and put their profile to sleep for any length of time they require. Members can also now connect their Instagram account and allow matches to scroll through their photos. Interaction between Bumble Date, Bumble BFF, and Bumble Biz has been expanded including the sharing of new matching filters.

Bumble New Search Filters

Image: Bumble

Female-friendly app Bumble has added another new feature aimed at pleasing users and monetizing its offerings: the ability to filter matches not only on its dating platform, but also for its networking apps Bumble Bizz and Bumble BFF.

The Filters feature allows users to sift through potential matches using a specific set of criteria, according to website Tech Crunch. One of the filters for Bumble Dating is by astrological sign, political leaning, or relationship type, and for Bumble Bizz you can filter by industry, for example. Users will be allowed to access two filters for free; they must pay for any additional filters.

The new feature is aimed at saving users time in their searches by limiting their choices to those who are most relevant to what they are looking for in a match, according to Tech Crunch.