Statistics

Dating app OkCupid has predicted that August 1st will be the most popular day to schedule a date in 2021, thanks to the rollout of the vaccines for COVID-19 in the U.K.

According to Mashable, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged that all adults will be vaccinated by July 31st, and in response, OkCupid projected that there will be a huge spike in people getting together the next day. Singles have felt especially isolated this past year, with virtual dating becoming the preferred option over meeting someone in person. But the rollout of the vaccine seems to be changing attitudes and comfort levels among the dating app’s users.

This projection is assuming that the vaccine rollout goes smoothly and there will be enough doses in the country, which might not be the case, Mashable warned. To date, almost 18 million people had received their first dose of vaccine and about 620,000 had received their second. These numbers met the government’s target for mid-February, with 15 million people now vaccinated in the U.K.

Image: FTC

The Federal Trade Commission found that more online dating scams happened in 2020 than ever before, thanks to people flocking to dating apps in the wake of the pandemic. 

The FTC released a new report in February citing the disturbing news, noting that dating app scams are the most lucrative for criminals because they provide an easy way to access and manipulate targets. Scammers are able to create an emotional connection with their victims when they target them on dating apps, and are better able to keep extracting money. The total amount of stolen funds on dating apps in 2020 was estimated to be $304 million, or about $2,500 per victim. This was double the amount stolen from dating app users in 2019, according to Insider.

The numbers of people in India turning to online dating has soared since the start of the pandemic. As they have been forced to stay at home and limit their interactions, many are trying dating apps for the first time to connect and meet new people. 

Dating app QuackQuack has been one of the fastest-growing dating apps in India, though it competes with giants like Hinge, Tinder and Bumble who are pouring resources into marketing efforts in the country. Still, QuackQuack saw a 300 percent increase in sign-ups that took their user base to 11 million in 2020, mostly due to people in smaller cities and towns eager to try the service. 

In fact, over seventy percent of new sign ups on QuackQuack in 2020 were from smaller cities and towns, a change from previous years. Over the past year, they added 3.4 million new users according to India New England News.

Dating app Once, which dubs itself the “slow” dating app, has been sold to conglomerate Dating Group for $18 million in cash and stock, according to Tech Crunch.

Dating Group owns Dating.com, Dil Mil, AnastasiaDate and ChinaLove among other online dating platforms, competing directly with Bumble and Match Group’s suite of apps as well as Facebook Dating. It currently has offices in seven countries, and around 73 million users across its portfolio. Once comes with about 9 million users.

Once positioned itself as a more purpose-driven dating app, offering only one match per day to its users, who then have 24 hours to message that match to show interest, or they disappear. This offering was an intentional tactic to compete with the frenetic pace of apps like Tinder where people are inclined to swipe through dozens of profiles each minute rather than spending time really looking at each one. On the other hand, Once forced its users to consider one match at a time.

Bumble Inc. made its IPO filing public Friday January 15th, following rumors that the company would go public in time for Valentine’s Day. The app is expected to list on NASDAQ under the BMBL ticker.

According to The New York Post, Bumble reported revenue of $488.9 million in 2019, and $376.6 million in revenue between January 29 and September 30th of 2020. (Fourth quarter results have not been reported.) The pandemic has helped fuel dating app sign-ups and activity, with people using them to connect in a time of social distancing. Bumble offers an in-app video chat feature, which has been incredibly popular the last several months as people were in lockdown.

Dating apps have been blamed for the so-called “dating apocalypse” – the idea that singles prefer to mindlessly swipe instead of trying to form a long-term relationship with someone who interests them. But according to a new study, the opposite is true – people are turning to dating apps to find long-term relationships.

Researchers from Switzerland’s University of Geneva (UNIGE) studied survey data from 3,235 of the country’s adults aged 18 and over who were in a relationship and had met their partner in the last ten years, and found that those who had met over a dating app were more likely to live together than others, indicating a higher level of commitment.

Women who met their partner over a dating app were also more likely to want a child within the next three years compared to those who met their partners offline, showing that dating app users approached the dating process with greater commitment. In addition, those couples who met over apps were just as happy and satisfied in their relationships as those who hadn’t, according to a report by CNN.