Dating Services

Recipient
WooPlus

The Editor's Top Pick - Up & Coming award recipient for 2021 is WooPlus. This dating service for plus sized singles has seen a huge increase in registrations this year. This is thanks in part to their continued innovation in the niche. We are not the only ones to notice either as WooPlus in 2020 was also a top trending dating app on Google Play and a Google Play Editor’s Choice. Thanks to this increased visibility and major media outlets like Vice and People taking notice, WooPlus now has over 5 million users signup since they launched in 2015.

Dating app users are advertising when they have received the COVID-19 vaccine in the hope of capturing more matches.

As more people are able to get vaccinated, it has become a selling point for singles who are eager to date in person again. Healthcare workers, grocery store clerks, politicians and teachers are all in the front of the line to get the vaccine, along with other at-risk populations, and many of them are using dating apps to share their vaccine status. 

According to Vice, people are sharing details in their profiles for maximum visibility, like when they got their last vaccine or if they are still waiting for the second shot.

Recipient
Stitch

The 2021 Editor's Top Pick - Innovative award recipient is Stitch. This is a community and companionship website for men and women 50 years and older. It offers many features of a dating service but also a whole lot more. A large part of this service is community members organizing activities allowing people to meetup virtually or in-person. Activities range from book clubs to dinners and can be where just friends are meeting up, or for those seeking romantic possibilities. You can also use Stitch to reach out to other members who are looking to specifically meet someone looking for a partner.

So how has Stitch been innovative?

Washington D.C. has increased its National Guard presence since the riots at the Capitol on January 6th, and these troops are turning to Tinder to find love while they work.

According to Newsweek, there have been reports on TikTok that Tinder has been flooded with photos of men in uniform, which is highly unusual for the Washington D.C. area. While these officers are sharing photos in their fatigues, they are also sharing interests like traveling and video games, according to Newsweek.

People are taking to social media to point out this trend, noting how many more military people are showing up as potential matches. In fact, some users in the DC area said the majority of profiles they see are members of the National Guard. Even a reporter for Sports Illustrated noticed the increase in these profiles.

Earlier today we posted about Lumen shutting down even though the Lumen FAQ mentioned they had a lot of subscriptions which is an indication that the dating service was catching on. In the same article we also mention that ever since Whitney Wolfe Herd became CEO of Magic Lab, the company has been going through a lot of changes.

These changes have them consolidating their brands and re-branding Magic Lab, the holding company for their dating brands, which include Badoo and Bumble, to just "Bumble" (we think...). It is not clear what the name may actually be. Some articles from major media outlets have suggested the name is Bumble Group but the only place that name is mention on the Bumble website is in their Terms and Conditions.

In a not a so surprising move Lumen's parent company Bumble (which was called Magic Lab at one point) has decided to close Lumen down and move all users to Bumble. Lumen was a dating service designed for singles 50 years and older. On November 23rd November 2020 Lumen was fully shut down and access to the service was cut off for all users.

The reason this was not a surprise is that early in 2020 Chappy a dating app for gay singles was also shut down by Bumble. Ever since Bumble's founder Whitney Wolfe Herd took over as CEO of Magic Lab she has been reshaping the holding company and their brands.