Dating Services

A new study from Eventbrite says that young people are turning away from dating apps to meet at in-person gatherings.

According to Axios, the study showed a 42 percent increase in people signing up for in-person dating events, like speed dating, between 2022 and 2023. From May 2023 to April 2024, Eventbrite also saw more than 1.5 million searches for dating and singles events on its platform.

"This ongoing trend speaks to a broader societal shift where people are craving genuine connections and meaningful experiences tailored to their interests," Eventbrite said in the report, which was released in early June. 

Dating app Tinder has partnered with running coach app Runna to launch a special summer run club for singles.

According to Runner’s World magazine, the “Solemates” club was created in response to a growing need from Tinder app users for activity-based dating events. There is also a significant number of runners joining Tinder, and the term “running” is one of the top trending profile-tagged “interests” that people can choose from on the platform.

SoleMates events are taking place in June and July in London, and will be held on Wednesday nights for three consecutive weeks at different areas, including Clapham and Central London. The third location is to be determined.

Young daters in India are looking to find love based on their passion for sports like Cricket, according to a new study by dating app Happn.

According to the Deccan Chronicle, more than 60 percent of singles on the app are looking to match with someone who shares their love of sports. Cricket is by far the favorite sport among daters, but women over 35 are particularly enthralled with the sport (79 percent) and are more likely to match with someone else who shares that passion.

The majority of singles (over 70 percent) also want their partners to be athletic as well as being into sports. Among Gen Z singles, that figure rises to 83 percent. Women are more interested in playing a sport together on a date than men are, too.

Image: Grindr

Grindr has announced it has partnered with Equality in Movement in Georgia and MPOWER in Ireland to connect its users in these countries with at-home HIV testing kits.

According to the company’s blog post, Grindr says it wants to address the global HIV epidemic by making it easier for its users to have access to testing. While many countries have local testing centers, they can still be difficult to access, expensive, and many people still don’t want the stigma of going to a public place to get tested.

Users in Georgia and Ireland will have dedicated buttons on the app’s interface to order at-home self-test kits, any time of day. The app wanted the access to tests to be as simple as Covid tests have become for most folks. The company also wants to encourage more people to test for HIV by alleviating the stigma with in-person tests and allowing them to test in the privacy of their own home.

Dating apps are struggling right now, and many Gen Z women are looking to other platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram to meet people.

A new article in The Financial Times cites a poll from Mintel that found that 47 percent of men between 18 and 34 had used a dating app or website to meet someone this past year, compared to only 25 percent of women of the same age.

“Trying to engage young women is the biggest struggle for dating apps,” said Rebecca McGrath, associate director for media and technology at Mintel. “Significant gender skew means it is harder for men to find matches and, subsequently, women often become bombarded, making the experience worse for all.”

Grindr’s new Chief Privacy Officer Kelly Peterson Miranda is setting the record straight regarding the app’s privacy policies and use of personal data following allegations and a recent lawsuit.

The interview with The Record Media takes place in the wake of several allegations that Grindr has violated user privacy rights when it comes to their personal data.

The LGBTQ dating app was sued in April for allegedly sharing the HIV status of its users with third parties without their consent. Before that, its former privacy officer Ronald De Jesus has said that the company stored user data, including photos and videos, even after people deleted their accounts, which violated the app’s privacy policy.

And last year, the Electronic Privacy Information Center appealed to the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Grindr for its history of abuses.