the blog

What Differentiates the Biggest Dating Apps?

In today’s day and age online dating is the norm. Although people still meet when running into each other at the grocery store or meeting at a local pub, they are starting to match on their dating apps first. I don’t use dating apps that often. I thought that they were all the same and had only one job: find me someone to go on a date with. However, they differentiate in multiple ways through different features. Many prominent features have been implemented lately, helping each of these dating apps stand out. I did some research to find out the most impactful, recent features introduced by these three dating apps: Tinder, OkCupid, and Match.com.

Let’s start with Tinder. The popular dating app was introduced in September of 2012. Ever since then, everyone has known about the swiping right feature. However, Tinder has recently introduced many handy features. In March 2016 Tinder introduced sharing profiles, allowing users to share profiles with other users. Essentially this allows you to set up your friends with other singles, becoming a Tinder wingman/wingwoman. In September 2016 Tinder introduced Tinder Boost, which is a feature where users pay to have their profiles at the top of the swipe list for thirty minutes. Each thirty-minute boost costs about $3 and has the potential for you to receive up to ten times more views on your profile. In June of this year, Tinder introduced it’s ‘More Genders’ feature, which lets users further describe their gender in words rather than just having three basic options to select (male, female, other). Also in late June of this year, Tinder released Tinder Gold, a subscription-based service that has many perks. Some of these include the ability to view profiles of users who have swiped right on your profile. Tinder Gold subscribers also have unlimited likes. Last but not least, Tinder will be coming to laptops and computers all around the world. The app won’t be restricted to just phones and will soon be able to be used on web browsers.

Next we have OkCupid, which debuted in back in 2004. In February, OkCupid updated its questionnaire it asks users to fill out. This way, users can see what other users are truly passionate about, especially things that are relevant in 2017. In February OkCupid also introduced DoubleTake, a formatting update that allows users to see more than just the other person’s face. This new update highlights key attributes of a user’s personality, therefore he/she has a better chance to match with someone who clicks with them on more than a physical level. In March, OkCupid got rid of its “Who’s New” feature. This feature gave new users priority when it came to getting noticed, but also led to a lot of new users, especially women, getting their inboxes spammed.

Lastly we have Match.com, the oldest dating site out of the three that started in 1995. Match.com experienced one of its biggest recent feature updates in January of 2017 when it introduced ‘Missed Connections’. Missed Connection shows you users who you have crossed paths with in real life (ex. At the coffee shop or at the local park). Match believes that knowing someone a little before you actually meet is more effective and successful. Match also recently introduced stories, which is similar to Instagram and Snapchat’s story feature. By using stories, users can take a combination of photos and videos to create a story that gives other users a better idea of who they are. These stories can be as long as 60 seconds. Match also offers paid power-ups, where users can pay for certain features. For example, one feature is known as ‘Selective Visibility’. With this feature, users can hide/show their profiles to specific people. There is also the ‘Highlighted Profile’ feature which is similar to Tinder’s boost feature and helps you get more profile views.

Hopefully this post helped give you an idea of the different features these dating apps provide. Do you use dating apps? If so, which apps do you use and why? Please let us know in the comments section below!