Somewhere along the line, every argument in favor of mobile dating apps claims they've made it easier than ever to find a relationship (even just a one-night relationship, if that's what you're looking for). Everyone loves the idea of a quick and easy matchmaking process, and why wouldn't they? In our era of short attention spans, we expect everything to be as fast and convenient as possible.

On the other hand, plenty have said that all that swiping left and right doesn't actually amount to much. Dating apps have taken a complex, time-consuming process and wrapped it up in a package that requires almost no thought or energy. Can something so easy accurately recreate the intricate experience of meeting and falling for someone? Can true, lasting romance ever come from a dating app?

Well, let's see.

When it comes to popularity, dating apps certainly aren't hurting. A current Radian 6 analysis shows that buzz surrounding dating apps is very high, with a total of 2,094,611 mentions. Breaking it down, Tinder comes out on top (1,383,012) followed by Badoo (505.611), Grindr (137,779) and Twoo (63,733). The vast majority of what is being said is positive, so users are clearly finding something of merit in this modern-day, digital approach to dating.

Looking deeper, we start to see another trend. The consensus amongst users seems to be that dating apps are primarily used for hooking up rather than serious romance. Search the keywords “love” and “lust” and you'll find that the latter is more closely associated with app-based interactions. Grindr, naturally, leads the pack with 86.3% “lust” to 13.7% “love” mentions. Tinder takes second place with 81.3% and 18.7%, respectively.

When another sentiment analysis is performed, it's revealed that negative sentiment is higher for lust-related interactions and a higher positive sentiment is associated with interactions focused on finding true love.

So is there any grounding to the perception that dating services are just for hookups? Seeing as there's strong negative sentiment attached to the lust angle, most seem to be opposed to using dating apps for casual sex. Sure, it's out there, but more singles using mobile dating services are looking for a happily ever after that lasts longer than one night.

Admittedly, it might not be something you find right away, but hey – when is it? Sorting through the weirdo's takes plenty of time online too, and just as much time in person, so embrace it. It's all part of the process and once you have what you're looking for, it won't matter where you found it.

The operator of a dating site for people with sexually transmitted diseases is facing a $16.5m pay out after losing a privacy case.

The site in question in PositiveSingles, a dating service for singles around the world with herpes, HPV, HIV / AIDS, hepatitis, chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and other STDs. Back in 2011, an unnamed claimant sued the parent company, SuccessfulMatch, as part of a class action case.

SuccessfulMatch offers an affiliate scheme for new dating services as well as running a number of niche dating sites of its own. It offers both software and databases that contain the details of "hundreds of thousands of profiles" registered to its existing services – and therein lies the problem.

In the 2011 lawsuit, the owner of PositiveSingles was accused of sharing pictures and profile information from the site with other dating services, despite promising privacy and confidentiality. It was revealed that PositiveSingles is one of more than a thousand different websites that all funnel members' personal information into a single database that does, in fact, share that information with third parties.

The plaintiff acknowledged that upon completion of the registration page, members' are given a link to the Terms of Service which state that profile details – including details about HIV and other STD statuses - may be shared with other sites in the SuccessfulMatch network. By posting a profile, he said, users agree to those terms.

But he also acknowledged that few users ever read the Terms of Service, because...well...who does?

A jury found PositiveSingles guilty of breaking local consumer laws, fraud, malice and oppression. The company is now faced with paying approximately $1.5 million in compensatory damages and $15 million in punitive damages. In a hearing on October 29, 2014, the court indicated that it will issue an injunction prohibiting the illegal conduct and declared that three provisions of the Terms of Service are unconscionable.

This story follows a previous lawsuit filed by two women who attempted to sue SuccessfulMatch on similar grounds earlier in the year. A judge dismissed their claims in April after, saying they had failed to specifically allege they had actually read the Terms of Service they claimed were misleading. Despite the judge's dismissal, the women filed an amended claim and the case is still active.

Most folks are probably content to hit Like buttons and swipe right without knowing how any of it actually works. But if you're like me, you can't help being curious about what goes on behind the scenes.

For those of us in the second category, there's this recent video from David Gevorkyan, principle software engineer at eHarmony. In the hour-long talk, Gevorkyan describes how eHarmony creates the highly compatible matches it's known for, and how the company leverages Big Data technologies to accomplish that goal.

Popular online dating company Zoosk announced this week the launch of Dating Insights, a new feature on its site that allows members to see a holistic view of their dating activity and preferences culled from Zoosk’s original “behavior-based” matching technology.

Zoosk has long marketed the benefits of its technology, which tracks how users behave on its site and matches them accordingly. For instance, if Zoosk notices that you mostly reach out to bookish guys, then it will start matching you with more literary types. It works for both daters and Zoosk, because the more you use the service, the better (and more curated) your matches will be.

The new feature Dating Insights will offer members information about their own individual dating preferences, and will also aggregate information about members who have shown some interest. The idea is to help you understand your patterns and preferences so you can have a better overall dating experience.

Dating Insights is divided into three sections:

Who Likes You – this feature provides demographics of matches who have shown the most interest in the user, like those of a particular age, body type, education, ethnicity, religion, and whether or not they smoke.

Who You Like – Zoosk sums up your preferences, not based on your profile, but on your behavior. For instance, Zoosk will let you know that “you put more importance on a man’s level of education than most” or “The Lord of the Rings is the book liked most by the men you’re interested in.”

Your Dating Style – this shows how often (and how well) you are using the dating site, and provides tips on how to improve your experience.

It only makes sense that the online dating company would harness its own technology to offer daters insight into how they are dating, since they use it to match daters anyway. But they aren't the first.

OkCupid has used information gathered from its own users as well to shed light on how people date online. Co-founder Christian Rudder analyzed the extensive data the company collected to understand online dating trends and to provide its members with more services they want (for a fee) – such as the ability to rate dates and filtering out people who don’t physically match your ideal. eHarmony also provides insight to daters as part of its package of services, though it is more personalized. eHarmony offers a “profile book” once you have finished with its extensive questionnaire, where you can find out what your strengths and weaknesses are as a dater and in a relationship.

Helping daters understand the online dating experience and what they want isn’t new, but hopefully the more opportunities daters have to see this kind of information, the better their experiences will be.

For more about this service you can read our Zoosk review.

The FTC has filed its first lawsuit against an online dating company, accusing UK-based JDI Dating of luring customers to pay money through fake profiles the company created.

A settlement between the FTC and JDI Dating prohibits the company from using fake profiles and requires it to refund more than $616,000 to customers. JDI operates 18 websites including cupidswand.com, flirtcrowd.com and findmelove.com.

According to a press release distributed by the FTC on the matter, JDI was tricking customers by offering them a free plan and allowing them to set up profiles and upload photos. Once customers completed this process, they began to receive messages supposedly from other users, but were unable to respond until they bought a paid membership. Membership for the sites ranged anywhere from $10 to $30 per month.

Unfortunately, the profiles that usually attracted paying customers were often virtually generated, so once new members were paying for their subscriptions, they weren't able to communicate with the matches they thought they were getting - because they never existed.

“JDI Dating used fake profiles to make people think they were hearing from real love interests and to trick them into upgrading to paid memberships,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

The prevalence of fake profiles has long been an issue for online daters, but this new lawsuit is finally shedding some legal light on the problem. Because of this, more online dating companies will probably be re-thinking their freemium services (attracting users with free services and later asking them to pay for certain "privileges" on the site.) Freemium services are often based on how many members join the site - numbers are key in the online dating world, because high numbers attract more people. The more valuable a company's user database, the more likely people would be willing to pay for their matches, because they feel that they are getting more choices.

In addition to generating fake profiles, the FTC found that JDI was also misleading consumers about payments. The company did not inform customers that subscriptions would have recurring charges until the customer canceled the service (which was tricky to find on the site), so many people paid for the site after they stopped using it without realizing it.

Rich added, “Users were charged automatically to renew their subscriptions – often without their consent.”

Again, this is a common practice among online dating sites. Several do have recurring charges, and it's often difficult to figure out how and where on a site to fully cancel services and erase your profile. For example, free dating sites like Plenty of Fish have kept profiles of members who are no longer using the service without clearly explaining to customers how to fully delete them. Although they are not charging for their services, it could be misleading to other daters.

The FTC lawsuit is a positive step in helping companies in the online dating industry clean up their databases and be more honest with the services they provide. We'll see if other companies are named in the future.

Consumers aren't the only ones excited about iOS 8. Apple launched several new features with the operating system that expand the capabilities of third-party apps, and app developers are keen to take advantage of them.

Most excitingly, iOS 8 lets devs use the Touch ID fingerprint sensor included in the iPhone 5s and the new iPhone 6 models. This means apps that would ordinarily use the Passcode feature can now include the fingerprint sensor instead, bypassing the need for a traditional password once a user's account has been verified.

Developers have jumped on the new opportunity and, left and right, are updating their apps. Here's a round-up of some of the apps that have adopted Touch ID:

• LastPass: The popular password management app now uses Touch ID to secure a user's password vault.
• Amazon: Where would any of us be without Amazon.com making our lives 101% easier? And now that the Amazon iPhone app includes Touch ID, it's even easier than that.
• Mint: Users can now log in to this money management app with Touch ID rather than their password.
• Day One: An award-winning journaling app. Users can lock their journals with Touch ID instead of a passcode.
• Evernote: Evernote is a modern workspace that helps you be your most productive self. Now it makes your life even easier by allowing premium users to use Touch ID to secure their accounts.
• YPlan: What are you up to tonight? YPlan is an event discovery app designed to help you answer that question by discovering and booking the best events in your area. Touch ID is now used for purchase authorization.
• eHarmony: You didn't think I'd forget to include a dating app, did you? Say goodbye to the days of user logins... if eHarmony is your dating service of choice, you can now use Touch ID instead.

Let's here it for iOS 8. Logging in to many of your favorite accounts is now as easy as resting your finger on that shiny new Touch ID sensor. Not only does it make sign-ins easier and provide another layer of security, it does so in a way that keeps with the overall Apple aesthetic and ethos. If you use any of these mobile services, take advantage of the Touch ID improvements and update your apps ASAP.