Recipient of Gold
Tinder

Recipient of Silver
POF

Recipient of Bronze
eHarmony

Once again thanks in part to the pandemic online dating users continue to increase in numbers. In the previous year we saw a lot of dating services add in video chatting to help singles meet at least virtual. This year we didn't get nearly as many new features. Instead most online dating companies have seen their services mature to the point of new features not really affecting how many new users join. Instead these companies are now concentrating on markets outside of North America and Europe to increase revenue. China and India with their huge populations are where the money is at. While the profit per user is lower in these countries, the larger market more than makes up for it.

The 2022 Dating Sites Reviews Single's Choice Award poll went online October 1^st, 2021 and closed for voting on December 31^st, 2021. In 3 months, 338 visitors took time and cast their vote in the poll. This is on par when compared to last year but down by over 20% when compared to the last 5. It is much harder for new dating services to make a dent in the market now thanks to the established brands and their recognition. The only time people consider trying a new dating service is when they have already tried the popular brands and are not seeing the results they like.

For 2022, the poll asked the following question:

Hinge is giving some love to single Moms this Valentine’s Day, offering $100 in childcare stipends so that they can make plans for a date.

According to the company’s press release, the popular dating app kicked off the campaign on Friday, February 4th ahead of Valentine’s Day. Users who have selected “Have Children” in their profiles will receive an opt-in notification at that time. To be eligible to receive the gift, those who opt in must also comment on someone’s profile that same day. The gift cards will be sent via email to each selected parent, according to the release.

The campaign is in partnership with French singer-songwriter Soko, who is also a single parent. Soko wanted to focus especially on the LGBTQ+ community and encourage discussions on “how to prioritize responsibilities as a parent while also making time to find someone special,” according to the release.

After receiving numerous complaints from their users, dating apps in South Korea are cracking down on users who mask up in their profiles in an attempt to hide their faces.

According to The Korean Herald, this practice has become known as “magikkun,” from the English word “mask” and the Korean word “sagikkun,” which means fraud. People who use masks in their profile photos are assumed to be deceiving potential matches, because they are hiding what they look like in real life. 

Some users are avoiding swiping right on masked-up profiles altogether, where others use video chat or request a selfie from the user before agreeing to meet them in person.

An investigation by a UK consumer rights group found that dating app Tinder is charging users over 30 as much as 48 percent more for its premium service Tinder Plus.

The advocacy group Which? said its findings show that Tinder may be discriminating against older users, a “potential breach of UK law,” according to The Daily Mail. The group has reported its findings to the EHRC (Equality and Human Rights Commission) and the Information Commissioner’s office (ICO) and asked them to investigate. The EHRC found the findings “concerning,” according to The Daily Mail.

Which? asked a sampling of 200 people to create real profiles on the dating app and to find out the pricing for the premium services like Tinder Plus, which unlocks certain popular features like unlimited likes and the ability to “rewind” or go back to check out a profile you already swiped left on.

Recipient POF (Plenty of Fish)

The recipient for the 2021 Editor's Top Pick - Over All award is Plenty of Fish. With over 50 million app installs on Android phones alone (which means it probably is 100 millions installs if you include Apple who has over a 50% market share in North America) this dating service offers an easy and free way to search and message singles. Tinder may have more app installs but you can only message singles on that app for free if you are a mutual match. Plus POF also has one of the highest app ratings for any of the popular dating apps including Tinder (Apple users give it a 4.2 out of 5).

Following a ruling by The Netherland’s privacy watchdog, Apple has agreed to allow dating apps that operate in the country use payment options outside of the Apple Store, according to Reuters.

Previously, all payments made through the apps had to go through Apple’s payment platform, which meant that app developers had little control over billing issues or questions from their customers. But also (and perhaps more importantly to the developers), a certain percentage of every sale (from 15 to 30 percent) was collected by Apple, cutting into their profits.

Match Group partnered with other app developers in lodging the complaint, which resulted in The Netherland’s watchdog agency Authority for Consumers and Markets to investigate. The agency ruled against Apple, so the tech company went to court in December to seek an injunction against the order, according to Tech Crunch. However, the court rejected Apple’s arguments, saying that the company had until January 15th to comply with offering payment options outside of its platform to dating app users, so Apple agreed to the terms.