Kim Harris

CrowdMatch, a Las Vegas startup, will launch on Android in New York with no bios and photo-only matching decided by crowd votes, with iOS to follow.

26% of 18-39 year-olds now use AI to analyse dating messages, up 300% year on year, though nearly half view AI negatively in romantic contexts.

Sydney Run Club draws 200-600 weekly participants without pitching itself as dating, which an analysis says shows users tiring of app efficiency.

QuackQuack's study of 11,500 Indian users aged 18 to 35 found 48% of metro and suburban daters edit messages out of empathy, not performance anxiety.

Tinder released season two of reality series Double Date Island on 13 August, with no disclosed season one viewership or feature adoption data.

Grindr says AI lifted engineering output 2.5-3.5x since mid-2024 with flat headcount, worth about $60 million a year, but it gave no quality metrics.

Lee Mullen's TUGG, a County Tyrone AI dating app, is still a prototype with no beta testing or published user data, despite its compatibility claims.

Eight Riga bars are testing Meet Me at The Bar, a Latvian dating app that shows who is at each venue in real time and bypasses messaging.

Tinder paused its AI Photo Enhance tool after users said it changed teeth and mouth shapes without explicit consent. Tinder says few users were affected.

Hinge CEO Jackie Jantos told the BBC that Gen Z users lean on its AI prompt tools because they 'lack the confidence' to start conversations.

Peyton Knight has sold over 10,000 dating spreadsheet templates at $9.99 each, as users track post-date data alongside Match Group and Bumble apps.

Facebook has launched free selfie-based verification, adding white checkmarks to Dating, Marketplace and Groups profiles.

Coffee Meets Bagel says its 2.0 update lifted messages sent with likes by 30% and profile viewing time by 21%, without sharing user or retention data.

Coffee Meets Bagel has launched its 2.0 redesign globally, adding Singpass verification, a first for dating apps in Singapore, the company says.

26% of American adults now use AI to write dating app messages, while platforms ban AI-manipulated photos but permit AI-written text.

Tribal, an Australian dating app, has added AI chat and ID verification and launched Connect by Tribal, a B2B friendship platform.

Hinge launched Friend's Take globally on 15 July, letting users collect testimonials from up to 50 contacts and show three on their profile.

Known, a San Francisco startup, offers an AI voice chat and one match at a time, while Bumble plans to move beyond swiping with AI-driven discovery.

Meta now requires AI labels on AI-generated or AI-edited ads on Facebook and Instagram, affecting dating apps that use AI creative to cut costs.

Cloaked says 30% of Americans refuse to share their real phone number on dating platforms because of spam, a threat to match conversion.