When Joseph Feminella matched with his would-be wife on Hinge in , he was already growing tired of traditional dating apps. The app is designed to help people meet in real life and was inspired by his own experiences, Feminella said. The El Segundo-based app skips the swiping and encourages users to schedule a time and place for a date.
Any user can send a date invite to another user, and the chat opens only 24 hours before the planned meeting time. In an industry that relies on the steady demand for human connection, new players are emerging as younger daters are starting to use the major apps less.
Los Angeles has become a hotbed for dating app startups that hope to gain attention in a crowded market and take advantage of cracks beginning to form within the most popular apps. A select handful of apps including Tinder, Bumble and Hinge dominate the online dating market but have recently been struggling to grow, experts say Match Group owns both Los Angeles-based Tinder and New York-based Hinge; Bumble is headquartered in Austin, Texas.
At its most thrilling, banter mimics the buildup and climax of good sex. At its most disappointing, banter may be branded on dating app bios but never experienced on a real date. Tinder β the dating app giant launched in β recorded the highest number of paying users in , which peaked at Match Group, which owns Match.
An earlier version of this story implied he was referring to Match. It was common for users to take a personality quiz or fill out a questionnaire in order to meet matches. Other apps such as Grindr, which is headquartered in West Hollywood and caters to gay men, use a location-based model where users can browse potential dates in their area. Gen Z daters prefer a slower, more intentional approach to finding a partner, Marok said, one based more on substance and less on split-second decisions.
