Matching

Do you have a “wish list” for a future romantic partner? For instance, do you have a preference for height, career, body type, or whether or not your match is into yoga? Most of us do have a wish list for an ideal partner, but a new study shows that we tend to ditch those lists when we go searching for matches online.

Researchers from the Queensland University of Technology analyzed the dating preferences and contact behavior of more than 41,000 Australians between 18-80 on dating website RSVP. What they found was that despite the fact that most online daters have a clear list of preferences for their ideal partners, they still contacted people who bore no resemblance to these preferences. The study was conducted by behavioural economists Stephen Whyte and Professor Benno Torgler.

According to website Tech Crunch, Tinder has been offering a dating service for its most elite users for at least six months without announcing its existence.

“Tinder Select” is just as it sounds – a dating service for those Tinder users who are high profile and the most desirable, such as celebrities, supermodels and CEOs, so they can have access to date and message other high profile users and bypass the normal user matches.

But before you get excited to join and flirt with the A-listers, you can’t. Or at least most of us can’t because Tinder has to invite you first.

If anyone can make bold predictions about the future of online dating, it’s industry game-changer and Tinder CEO Sean Rad. This month at the StartUp Grind Global Conference in California, he shared that dating apps could soon be using augmented reality technology to help users meet.

He explained that the technology would help people meet in real time, and work similarly to Pokemon Go. For instance, if you walk down the street and point your smartphone at someone you find attractive, you can find out immediately whether or not they are single. And if you are single and dating, you could also send virtual signals to someone you pass, letting them know you’re interested. This could work through technology like Google Glass as well as your phone.

A new dating app is inviting singles to take a great big sip of Haterade.

Online daters are usually encouraged to put their best foot forward, bond over shared interests, and keep conversations positive. That is, unless they’re on Hater, a new app that matches users based on mutual dislikes.

Founded in 2016, Hater promises to make serious online dating more approachable by replacing cumbersome surveys and bios with a fun, alternative way to express your personality (and let out your frustrations over slow walkers and paying for extra guacamole).

Are you sick of all the messaging and scheduling you do on your preferred dating app? Do you sometimes wish someone could just…do it for you?

Hinge thinks so, and currently the company is beta-testing a new app called Audrey, which automates the online dating process for you. If you find someone attractive on the app, Audrey will reach out, make an introduction, and if the feeling is mutual, will schedule a date for you to meet.

The app will cost about $99 per month, or that is the price point they are using for beta testing in New York, so it might change. According to Hinge’s website, the process for using Audrey goes as follows:

Online dating industry giant Match is looking to distinguish itself from the more popular dating apps like Bumble or Tinder. In an effort do this and to attract new customers, Match unveiled “Missed Connections,” a location-based feature that allows users to see other members they have crossed paths with in real life.

For example, if you walked in your neighborhood park this morning or grabbed coffee at your favorite coffee shop, you can see who on Match did the same and reach out to them.

The new feature offers a more organic approach to dating. Match hopes it will help people connect more easily in real life instead of relying on messaging, which has become an issue with many dating app users. In Match’s upcoming “Singles in America” survey (which will debut in early February), 55% of singles say they feel that technology has made it more difficult to connect with others in real life.