Bumble made its first acquisition by purchasing fast-growing French dating app Fruitz. 

Fruitz is particularly popular with younger Gen Z daters in France, and Bumble will be adding it to its suite of apps including Badoo, which is popular across Europe. Fruitz caught Bumble’s eye because of its growth among this demographic in Western Europe – including Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Netherlands in addition to France. Fruitz is also gaining ground in French-speaking Canada.

Bumble will not be rebranding Fruitz, according to Tech Crunch. It will provide the resources for Fruitz to expand and operate however, including AI technology, safety features, and marketing. Currently Fruitz is available free for download but users can purchase additional features for a cost.

This is a summary of the awards and their recipients for the 15^th annual Dating Sites Reviews Choice Awards. These awards honor the best dating apps and sites of 2021 in 11 different categories and where handed out starting this new year in January and continued through to February 14^th (Valentines Day). The dating services listed below are the ones worth checking out in 2022 for those interesting in participating in online dating to find a partner.

Our top award is the Single's Choice Award which is decided by our readers. To participate all you had to do was cast a vote in our poll which ran from October 1^st 2021 until December 31^st 2021. The poll asks you to recommend your choice for the top dating service (app and/or site) from a selection of the ten leading dating services on the internet which we have an editorial review for. The top three dating services who receives the most votes will be the recipient of a Gold, Silver, and Bronze award.

Single's Choice Award

Recipient Tinder

The Gold Single's Choice Award recipient for 2022 is Tinder. This dating service continues to release features like Tinder Explorer that keep users on the dating platform and communicating with each other. Other social features include entertainment productions like Swipe Night 2 which is a choose your own adventure type video. Tinder has kept innovating even during the pandemic and have kept users not only engaged but recommending their service to friends.

For full award information see the article: 2022 Dating Sites Reviews Single's Choice Award

Recipient POF

The recipient of the 2022 Silver Single's Choice Award is POF. Being the editors pick for Top Overall and Free awards winner is a strong indication we would see Plenty of Fish being one of the top 3 dating services voted on by our visitors. It's freemium model ensures a lot of singles will use this dating services thanks to being able to not only create a profile and search for members, but communicate via messaging with members as well.

For full award information see the article: 2022 Dating Sites Reviews Single's Choice Award

Recipient eHarmony

The recipient of the 2022 Bronze Single's Choice Award is eHarmony. This Top Pick Paid award winner dating service has an excellent selection of features and a strong matching algorithm that singles trust. This service is popular with singles who are 40 and older and rather be matched to other members who are serious about finding a long term relationship.

For full award information see the article: 2022 Dating Sites Reviews Single's Choice Award

The infamous “Tinder Swindler” has been banned from several dating apps. Match Group, which owns several popular dating apps including Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid and PlentyofFish, announced that he was no longer welcome on their platforms.

According to Match Group, Shimon Hayut (who also went by Simon Leviev) violated their terms of service, which includes impersonation and asking for money. He created fake profiles on the app using other names in order to keep his con going, according to The Washington Post.

Match Group also said that ahead of the documentary’s release, the company published new guidelines for users to better protect from scammers and exploitation on its apps.

Apple has complied with the rules of Dutch regulators to allow third party payment systems for dating apps instead of going through the Apple Store. However, it will be charging a 27 percent commission to allow these platforms to operate.

Tech Crunch reported that dating apps in the Netherlands are no longer required to go through the Apple Store for handling payments and billing questions, nor are they required to pay Apple 30 percent for each transaction made over a dating app. The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets previously fined Apple $5 million euros per week until it complied with its order.

However, dating app developers who use a third-party payment system are now required by Apple to pay a new commission of 27 percent, just slightly below the old charge. Apple is also requiring app developers to send a report of digital sales so they can invoice. And  as Tech Crunch pointed out, dating app developers looking to expand offerings to the Netherlands will have to submit two different apps for approval – the Dutch app and non-Dutch app.

Popular gay dating app Grindr has disappeared from China’s app stores, including the Apple Store, as government officials tighten control over online behavior. 

Chinese officials said there were compliance issues with Grindr regarding China’s Personal Information Protection Law, according to Bloomberg. The law requires that data stored in applications that is transferred to other locations be approved by government officials, and it limits the amount of personal data stored in apps.

In addition, China’s Internet authority began a month-long campaign to identify and eliminate any illegal and sensitive online content, according to the Bangkok Post. This move comes at an interesting time, coinciding with the celebration of the Beijing Olympic Games and the Lunar New Year.

China-based dating app Yumi has started beta testing experiences in its new metaverse, called Meta Town, hoping to attract young Gen Z daters who are interested in immersive experiences.

Users can create avatars based on their photos, explore the metaverse to find other virtual daters, and have real-time audio conversations with “artificial intelligence-powered translation,” according to the South China Morning Post, making it easier for daters who don’t speak the same language to connect.

The metaverse is a platform where people can interact via avatars in real time and in different virtual spaces, often with the ability to exchange virtual goods and services.