Features

Coffee Meets Bagel, the service that could win the title of “simplest dating app of all time,” has launched on Android.

Like most dating services, CMB swears it's all about introducing high-quality singles who are on the hunt for meaningful relationships. So far, so good, so blah.

What makes Coffee Meets Bagel stand out is its approach to doing it. CMB operates on three guiding principles:

1. Unless you want to tell others, your dating life should remain private
2. Your friends are the best conduits for your dates
3. Meeting quality people doesn't have to be so awkward or complicated

Those principles became a stripped-down take on the dating app. Users sign in through Facebook, and are matched with one person (their “Bagel”) every day at noon. All they have to do is LIKE or PASS on their Bagel, then kick back and wait patiently until the next noon rolls around.

“We wanted our service to be something that people look forward to everyday, something that can spice up their lunch break,” explains CMB on the About Us page. “Most of our members are busy young professionals, and we know that one thing everyone looks forward to daily is coffee breaks. That led us to choose coffee. There are many things that go well with coffee but we chose Bagels because we launched in New York City!”

If you and your Bagel mutually indicate interest in each other, you're immediately connected by a text message sent from a private company phone line. CMB will also hook you up with free stuff from popular local spots for your first date. How's that for a sweet deal?

If, on the other hand, your Bagel doesn't look like something you want to sink your teeth into, you must wait another 24 hours for your next potential match. It may not be the best app for the impatient, but it's an ideal setup for a busy professional who barely has time to eat lunch, much less surf through hundreds and hundreds of online dating profiles.

Coffee Meets Bagel launched on iOS in August of last year and has since seen double-digit growth and solid engagement from users, TechCrunch reports. Although the mobile market is far from sparse these days, CMB's fresh launch on Android should only boost its already-promising numbers.

Download the app for Android on Google Play and for iOS on the iTunes Store.

The latest dating app launch is capturing a lot of buzz - and aimed at marketing to the so-called “dating elite.” If you’re single and successful, The League might be the app for you.

The League has gotten attention because of its latest round of funding. Though founder Amanda Bradford was at first looking to raise half a million according to Time Magazine, she has now received $2.1 million from investors looking for the next Tinder – but without, you know – all the low-brow hook-ups.

The League differentiates itself from its competition by offering exclusivity – you have to be accepted into its network. The acceptance algorithm it uses according to Business Insider “scans the social networks to ensure applicants are in the right age group and that they are career-oriented.” The article goes on to say: “That doesn’t mean they have to be Ivy graduates or work for a big-name firm. But they should have accomplished something in their 20s.”

If you are accepted, you are given a limited number of matches each day at 5:00pm, which The League calls “Happy Hour.” You are also given the ability to refer one friend.

The League isn’t the first app to offer more “quality” matches as opposed to the giant dating pool that is Tinder. Hinge is invitation-only, working from your social media circles and offering a limited number of matches per day, as does Coffee Meets Bagel. The difference is that The League utilizes LinkedIn to find matches, avoiding direct contacts (like your boss) and working with those a little further removed. Some have argued that this blurs the line between business and personal, although eHarmony announced earlier this year they would be offering job-matching services to employers and potential employees.

So far, The League has attracted around 4,500 users from San Francisco. Like Hinge, CEO Branford wants to move slowly, city by city, to build her network in a more thoughtful way. She discovered most couples meet through school or work connections, and she wanted to optimize these already-existing networks (hence using LinkedIn for matching). In fact, she is doing much of the business networking herself by attending parties of tech execs in Silicon Valley and fundraisers in San Francisco. She walks around demonstrating her app and offering bracelets with the app’s logo to attendees.

“It isn’t an app for everybody,” Branford told the New York Times. “We’re trying to hit home that…people do have high standards.”

It was really only a matter of time.

Beards have become such an integral part of pop culture it's almost surprising this hasn't happened sooner. Finally, the world has a dating app for men with beards and those who love them. The app is called Bristlr, because we now live in an era when E is an uncool vowel.

On the surface, Bristlr is exactly what you think it is. The app is a slightly tongue-in-cheek service that taps into the hipster/lumbersexual thing that's happening right now, and has no problem laughing at itself. The description of how Bristlr works is simply:

• Tell us where you are, and if you have a beard
• Got a beard? We find people looking for beards
• Want a beard? We find people with beards worth looking for
• Send messages to people you like and who like you
• Your life now contains more beard love, you're welcome

And then there's the to-the-point explanation of what Bristlr is: “There are many people with beards who like to have them stroked. And there are many people who don’t have beards, but would like to stroke them. Bristlr is the link between the two.”

And let's not forget the handy FAQ answer to “Is this a joke?” which reads: “In the sense that it’s a little ridiculous, yes. But Bristlr is a real thing being made.”

So yeah, it's a little funny. And Bristlr knows it's a little funny. And that's why it stands to be totally great.

Actually, it's just one of the reasons Bristlr could be your new favorite dating site. Although the premise is just the slightest bit silly, Bristlr is taking on some issues that are absolutely serious. Chief among them is the problem of spam. No matter who you are or what dating services you've used, you're bound to have come across the kind of lame, boring, generic messages that you know have been copy/pasted to tons of other people.

But not on Bristlr, because Bristlr informs you when a message has been sent to other people, as well as how many other people it's been sent to. It isn't complicated functionality to make, but Bristlr is one of – if not the – first to actually do it. Cool, right?

In addition to that handy little tool, Bristlr also lets users grade the quality of the messages they receive. If people regularly rate you highly, indicating that you spend a thoughtful amount of time on your messages, you'll receive a little star on your profile.

Founder John Kershaw says he's also considering adding Facebook-style status updates to the site, to encourage even more personality, honesty and transparency.

Honesty and transparency on dating sites? Yes, apparently it is possible. Thanks, Bristlr.

Get out of the pajamas. Put down the Seamless delivery containers. Log out of Netflix. It's time to make a change around here.

If you've been avoiding online dating like the plague, no one would blame you. Sometimes it feels like online dating is a plague, except instead of the usual symptoms this plague comes with shirtless mirror selfies, terrible pickup lines, and unwanted dick pics.

Luckily, there's a new crop of dating apps designed to prevent exactly that. These apps hope to decrease the creep factor that's keeping many women away from mobile dating, by offering women more control over the process. Try out these five female-friendly dating apps in 2015:

Tinder who? Dating app Hinge has been on a slow climb uphill, but is gathering a lot of momentum as it goes. The app has broadened its reach beyond the initial major cities, which helped build not only its user base but also its brand as a serious competitor to Tinder.

This month, the app also made Time Magazine’s “Top 10 apps of 2014,” beating out the sensationally popular Kim Kardashian Hollywood despite the fact it made $100 million this year alone. (Tinder did not make the list.) Time took a dig at Tinder, noting: “Hinge sparked a flame in 2014 as it spread to more and more cities around the U.S…[Its] matchmaking connects to your Facebook account to foster friend-of-a-friend connections, a novel concept in a sea of dating apps that prioritize immediate, nearby and mostly anonymous relationships.”

Now Hinge is launching version 3.2, and due to audience demand is starting to change some of its policies, allowing for greater access to matches. Instead of providing potential matches once a day at noon, you can now view them at your convenience throughout the day. (I’m guessing this is to get people to log in more than once a day as opposed to creating a daily traffic jam.)

Hinge is also offering more matches per day. Unlike Tinder which provides an endless array of matches whenever you log in, Hinge is more particular, mostly because it has a more limited network to pull from – namely, your Facebook social circles. In order for Hinge to match you, you have to have a Facebook friend in common. (This probably encourages users to add more Facebook friends to their network, too.)

The app began in Washington D.C. and made its way to major cities including New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Hinge has further expanded its territories in recent months – adding St. Paul and Minneapolis, Omaha, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Denver, Seattle, Houston and Austin.

According to a recent article in Wired, the company has experienced 500% growth since January. While it isn’t doing Tinder’s numbers in terms of downloads and number of matches per day, the company feels its more measured growth is a better indication of its potential for long-term success.

What is in store for Hinge in 2015? On December 11th, the company announced that it raised an additional $12 million, which will help its expansion into even more cities, including its first launch into international territory in February, when it debuts in London.

Hinge is definitely a dating app to follow. For more details on this dating app you can read our Hinge review.

Dating apps like Tinder have taken the dating world by storm – and some argue have rendered traditional online dating a thing of the past. While sites like Match.com and eHarmony offer matches based on preferences and compatibility, Tinder offers the ability to look at a photo and instantly decide whether or not you’re interested.

In a recent article in Business Insider, eHarmony’s Vice President of Brand Marketing Grant Langston looked at Tinder’s success as a boost to his business. For instance, he’s seen a surge of new subscriptions since Tinder launched in Australia – 2.5 million members, up from 2 million the same time last year.

“The press [Tinder is] receiving is bringing lots of people to the online dating world, including people that find Tinder isn’t the right choice for them,” Langston told Business Insider. “Globally, this trend has helped us tap into new markets and led to an increase in our membership numbers.”

But why are more people choosing eHarmony when Tinder seems to be taking off? For one thing, Langston argues that people who would have never joined an online dating site before find it a little easier to start when they use a dating app. It’s made online dating in general lose its stigma.

Langston also attributes the surge in subscriptions to the high quality matchmaking that is eHarmony’s business model, compared to Tinder’s superficial match-making process. With Tinder, choosing a match is entirely dependent on photos and a couple of sentences, which aren’t much better odds for finding love than meeting someone at a bar. There isn’t necessarily any kind of compatibility – aside from that initial physical attraction.

People who are matched on eHarmony however, are compatible in specific ways. Matches aren’t made via liking the same music or TV shows or someone’s photo, but based on similar dispositions and compatible personalities – which is a bit more complex and relational. Langston says that eHarmony’s matching creates a foundation for a relationship to start, where Tinder is more fleeting, intended for a hook-up. So when people are disappointed with the matches they are meeting through Tinder, they look to other more serious online dating options, which is when they gravitate to eHarmony.

Langston also noted that eHarmony’s growth in the past year has been due to young professionals ages 23-33 flocking to the site, looking for people who are more compatible whether or not they are looking to marry.

According to Langston, eHarmony owes much of its recent success to the fact that Tinder isn’t producing many serious relationships. Then again, it seems that despite the appeal of Tinder, people are looking for something deeper.