The Right Stuff, a new dating app to help conservatives connect more easily, is set to launch this summer. Peter Thiel, a billionaire tech entrepreneur who founded PayPal, has already signed on as an investor, according to Axios.

Thiel has invested $1.5 million in the new app, whose target market are conservative daters who live in large cities that tend to be more liberal. The app will debut in Washington D.C. and at first will be invitation-only. It will be free to download and use, with paid and subscription options added later for those who want access to more features.

John McEntee, a former political aide for the Trump administration, founded the dating app to help conservative singles find like-minded partners. “Conservatives deserve an easy way to connect,” McEntee said to Axios.

In February, the FBI issued an alert about the increase in online dating scams, noting that dating app users were cheated out of about $1 billion in 2021 alone. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said reports of romance-led scams increased 80 percent during the same time. 

The FBI also received more than 25,000 reports of dating app-related fraud in 2021, according to USA Today.

The Netflix documentary about the Tinder Swindler has brought attention to the intricate methods that scammers use to romance people and lure them to give money or share sensitive information like a passport or banking information. In the case of the Swindler, he used money from other victims to fund his lavish lifestyle and move on to his next target. (Hint: if someone who wants to fly you on a private jet also asks you for $25,000, you should be suspicious!) 

Image: Tinder

Dating app Tinder is rolling out another interactive feature for its Explore section. According to the company’s blog post, Fast Chat: Blind Date will allow users to chat without being able to see each other’s photos, so they focus on personality instead of image. 

When users opt in to the Blind Date feature, they are asked to complete a series of questions, and are paired with others based on similar responses. The questions are meant to spark conversation in an ice-breaker style, like “I put ketchup on___.” The two daters then start a timed chat in which they receive the responses as prompts, so they can have a little fun with awkward first conversations. 

When the chat time ends, they can like the other person’s profile and if they both match they can see each other’s photos and continue talking or messaging, according to the company's blog. 

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.