Months into Quarantine, America Has a New Favorite Dating App
Quarantined users are using dating apps more than ever — and they’re turning to Ranker to share their thoughts about them. Here’s how Americans’ opinions on dating apps are evolving thanks to “corona-cuffing season.”
Photo: Pixabay
It’s easy to feel lonely after several months of self-isolating, and even easier to feel bored. We’re betting that’s what’s behind the sudden surge in use of dating apps since quarantine measures began in early March, with thousands of single Americans looking for an alternative to physical intimacy in the age of social distancing.
Tinder claims that conversations between users on its app have increased by 20%, and that those conversations are 25% longer on average. Hinge reports an even bigger growth in messaging: 30% more conversations being held between prospective matches on the app. And while people aren’t using Ranker to find other single people out there on the internet, they are coming out in droves to vote for the dating apps that are best at helping them score dates — even if those dates now have to happen over the phone.
Between March and May 2020, votes on our list of The Best Dating Apps doubled, with nearly 2,000 people visiting the poll in just the last 30 days. In that time, the rankings have shifted significantly, suggesting that all this time spent on the most popular apps has left users with new, strong opinions about which ones are best.
The biggest development to come out of coronavirus cuffing season? Bumble has surged to the #1 spot after years sitting behind apps like Tinder and OkCupid.
NOTE: This graph maps the position of Bumble on our Best Dating Apps list. Keep in mind that the graph is a little counterintuitive, as a trend upward in this line actually indicates that Bumble has gone down on the list (because the best dating app is at #1). For example, though the line graph goes up from July 2019 to November 2019, it means that Bumble actually went down on our list during that period, falling from #3 in July to #4 in November. A line trending upward means the app is becoming less popular, while a line trending downward means it’s becoming more popular. Get it? Got it? Good.
It wasn’t until a year after the app was added to this list that it made its way into the Top 4. Though it held the #2 spot for almost half of 2018, Bumble spent much of the time leading up to 2020 drifting between third and fourth place — while the graph above stops in late 2019, Bumble’s position in the chart as of press time tells us it jumped up three spots between then and May of 2020. It seems that something about Bumble, whether its matching algorithm, branding, or focus on creating a safe, enjoyable experience for female users, has made it stand out from the rest during this trying period.
Bumble’s ascent is bad news for its competitor Tinder, but even worse news for OkCupid, which is now below #2 for the first time since this list was created. And the news could only get worse in the coming months, with other competitors like Hinge making serious headway up the charts.
Hinge is breathing down OkCupid’s neck at #4, and it’s got a lot of momentum going after a long decline on the list. The app was dropping fast in the esteem of users from 2018 to 2020; by April 2020, it had fallen as low as #14.
But a recent spike in interest seems to have done wonders for the app’s position, propelling it all the way back to #4 between April 2020, the last month on the above chart, and May 2020, the date of this blog’s publication. If this momentum continues, Hinge could easily overtake OkCupid before quarantine measures are no longer needed.
Meanwhile, Grindr, the popular dating app for gay, bi, trans, and queer people, has suffered a reversal of fortunes. Grindr was hovering at #11 as recently as October of last year, but over the course of the quarantine — and especially the last month — it’s taken a dive down to #17.
The graph above shows that the app was slipping in the ranking even before the quarantine began, dropping back to #12 in December 2019, then to #13 in April 2020. It seems that the biggest drop happened between April and May, as Grindr sits at #17 as of May 11.
These are just a few of the more significant changes that the quarantine has brought to our ranking of daring apps. Here are some other changes to the pecking order that have taken place since the coronavirus changed the dating game for smartphone users:
Tinder jumped up a little in the wake of COVID-19, going from third place to second place on April 7.
Plenty of Fish also got a small bump from #6 in January to #5 in May.
eHarmony may not exactly be leading the pack at #23 today, but it’s a far cry from where it was before the quarantine began: near the bottom at #30.
Coffee Meets Bagel took a tumble in the age of coronavirus, falling from #12 in April all the way down to #24 as of May 11.
JDate has also been unlucky — though it climbed from #24 in September 2019 to #16 by early 2020, a rush of new votes during the quarantine reversed its good fortune and pushed it back down to #21 around April.
Match.com has been steadily trending downward since the beginning of 2018, when it was #5 on this list. The quarantine has done nothing to stop that trend, which saw the dating site/app hit #14 by May 2020.
For those 50 and older, Tinder is the preferred dating app.
Voters living in the South put Plenty of Fish above all other apps.
Men still prefer OkCupid over its newfangled competitors.