Love in the times of a pandemic! The dating apps have seen a remarkable rise in the number of users amidst the lockdown period in India. The resurgence in the number of users has been the highest since the debut of the Tinder across the world.
Many users are considering this as a viable dating option in the personal lockdown situation.
The lockdown has also seen a recurrence of the users who were discouraged earlier by this method of dating.
Tarana reddy, a retired veteran of the app, commented, “I used to be on all the dating apps till about six months ago when I gave up because I had lost hope and was bored with the others.” However, with the states going under a prolonged period of lockdown, physical interaction is a matter of far future, and millennials are placing their hopes in the hands of the virtual dating sites.
Hinge, Bumble along with Tinder are seeing the curve rise with people resorting to dating apps as a relief from the necessary confinement. Tinder has a few country-wise insights for mid-March: “Daily messages are up 10-15% compared to the prior week in the US. In places like Italy and Spain, we saw increases by up to 25% in daily conversation as compared to the week prior. Conversation length was up anywhere from 10 to 30% as compared to February in places like Europe and South East Asia,” says a Tinder spokesperson over email.
The content quality of interaction is, however, quite the opposite of the growing number of users. Pickup lines are ranging from cheesy to cringe-worthy in no time. Quarantine pickup lines are reportedly on the block, but users are suggesting against it as the chances of a left swipe may increase with these. Tinder bios are going through severe remodeling and reconstruction with quarantine hashtags like “stay home,” “be safe,” “social distancing,” “how are you,” and “wash your hands.” But hey, what’s dating without kissing a few frogs along the way?!
In lieu of the current milieu, the Tinder Passport has undergone a few changes. A statement from a company official confirms that Tinder’s Passport is currently available as one feature within Tinder Plus and Gold subscriptions. “However, in the next iOS and Android releases, which we anticipate being around the end of March, the Passport feature will become free for everyone.”
