Dating apps have been affected by the coronavirus due to confinement measures that prevent matches from being met in person.
These services have been reinvented by betting on video calling functions, as well as having more chat conversations so that it is still possible to find love in the days of COVID-19.
This is the case of The League, a new dating application born before the arrival of the coronavirus but whose format adapts to the needs of the current situation, by allowing its users to communicate through video chats. People that used to ghost other people are now connecting with more people as they do not have anything else to do in the confinement of their home.
However, its most outstanding aspect at present is its League Live function , which allows having a weekly round of three short two-minute video appointments with people with whom there has been a ‘match’.
This is a system similar to that of the Plenty of Fish application , which also includes a 90-second video speed dating mode with which users can continue to contact later.
Video calls in common dating apps
Although it is one of the latest features to reach dating applications, several of the most popular services have already incorporated the possibility for their users to find love through video calls, suitable for the current context of confinement.
One of them is Bumble , a popular app that last summer introduced voice and video calls among users, so that they could meet, for example, talking about their ‘hobbies’ or their television series.
According to the developers of the application, video calls within the application are a “safer” way to have appointments, since it prevents users from having to reveal their phone number and other personal data.
Video calls are present in many other dating applications such as Facebook Dating – not yet available in Europe -, Lovoo through its Live function and the ‘app’ popular among the gay community Grindr – although only for paid users -, among others.
Video in dating apps has been on the rise in recent weeks, and according to Lovoo data provided to Europa Press, only this service has seen a 22% increase in videos in the last week alone, while Video chats grew 25% compared to the figures prior to the declaration of a pandemic.
More and longer conversations
Today, Tinder and Badoo are among the world’s most popular dating apps. In both cases, it has been observed that quarantine modifies people’s habits and that chat conversations are now longer.
As the world is more affected by physical isolation measures, the conversations that are established in the app are more numerous and, above all, longer and more entertaining.
In this way, in countries such as Spain and Italy there has been an increase of up to 25% in Tinder conversation in mid-March, with a duration that has increased between 10% and 30% compared to February.
Instead, it has recently opted to launch the Tinder Passport feature for free until April 30 , which is normally reserved only for paid accounts and allows users to contact anyone in the world, rather than just from your environment.
For its part, Badoo does have video calls, and the company confirmed in a statement to Europa Press that this function has increased its use by 9% compared to the usual figures.
In Spain, the platform “has seen a 12% increase in the average messages sent in the country during the peak of impact”, as stated by Pablo Delgado, Marketing Director of Badoo for Spain and Latin America.
The average increase in messages exchanged in this period is greater in women -25% – than in men -12% -.
Also, the Spanish users of this dating ‘app’ are also having longer conversations between users who have made ‘match’, with an increase of 22%, according to the platform.
