Types (Niche)

The app industry saw revenue spike to $50.1 billion for the first two quarters of 2020, in part due to people isolating at home to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Dating app Tinder topped the list of non-game app revenue earners.

This marks a 23.4% increase from the first half of 2019 according to Tech Crunch, compared with a 20% increase for the same time period between 2018 and 2019. The data seems to also point to a growing new user base. First time app installs were up 26.1% in the first half of 2020 compared to the same time period in 2019, and reached a total of 71.5 billion downloads.

Topping the non-game app list was dating app Tinder, followed by YouTube, and popular social apps TikTok and Tencent. Netflix was the fifth-highest earner.

The launch of new social app Curius offers “mindful swiping” – letting users choose what kind of relationship they are looking for up front, instead of the traditional yes or no swipe options most dating apps offer.

Curius is a dating and social connection app all in one, offering a range of relationship choices for users. The app offers six swiping options, so potential matches can let that user know what they are looking for in a relationship: serious romance, casual romance, serious commitment or marriage, quick fling, friendship, or starting a casual chat. Each choice represents a “unique social intention” as the company says – because people want more flexibility in how they connect with others over an app. The swipe choices surround each profile in the form of emojis – including toasting wine glasses, a rose, an engagement ring, and fire emojis. 

Users are also able to choose multiple intentions – for instance, they can choose friendship and casual romance with another user if they are up for either one.

Dating and social app Stitch has seen a growth of new users as people around the world began to isolate at home. The app is geared towards adults over 50 who are looking for community as well as a date.

Stitch is a non-profit focused on helping older adults address loneliness and social isolation, a growing problem as the virus continues to spread. Stitch notes that if you’re over 60 and experiencing loneliness, it has the same negative impact on health outcomes as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. And while Stitch markets itself primarily as a social app for making friends, it also allows people to meet potential dates.

Older adults are most impacted by the coronavirus and are reaching out to new people online more than ever. Stitch has seen its membership rise to 150,000 members in the UK, US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

Personal information stolen from 3,688,060 users of dating app MobiFriends was posted online, according to ZDNet.

The information doesn’t contain private photos or messages or any sexual-related content, but it does include other sensitive data that can be exploited, including email addresses, mobile numbers, dates of birth, gender information, usernames and passwords.

The personal data also includes recent app and website activity of the users. 

Dating app Bumble announced a new in-app crowdsource campaign to nominate LGBTQ+ organizations that support BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) who experience police violence and racial injustice, a nod to the Black Lives Matter movement. Bumble plans to donate $5,000 each to these selected organizations.

Bumble explained the campaign on its website: “…we can’t support Pride without acknowledging the intersection of the LGBTQ+ movement with the Black Lives Matter movement. Many queer Black activists have been on the frontlines of these fights for fundamental human rights for decades, and the Stonewall Riots—which are widely credited with starting the gay liberation movement—were an uprising in reaction to police brutality against LGBTQ+ people. It was the same kind of unacceptable police brutality and abuse of power that we’re still seeing today, only now more focused on Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC).”

Dating apps like Grindr, Hinge and OkCupid have been weighing whether or not to keep an ethnicity filter on their apps in the wake of protests against police violence in the U.S. and around the world. 

According to Forbes, Grindr announced that it would be dropping the filter as an option from its app in its next update. The company posted a statement on Twitter, adding: “We will not be silent. Black Lives Mater.” But this decision created a backlash among many who saw this move as too little, too late. @guillotineshout responded: “In solidarity we are removing our racism button” is the most tech company thing I could imagine.”

Grindr had received criticism before for the ethnicity filter, but other dating apps like OkCupid and Hinge who also have them, have chosen to keep theirs.