At first glance, the world of dating apps feels as boring and trite as say, the questions Hinge asks you when you join: “Do you like getting caught in the rain?”. Tinder, Grindr and Bumble still dominate the market, no new groundbreaking technology has shaken up the way we meet people (still waiting on my VR girlfriend) and – apart from a few unique gimmicks, like making you try to pick one song that entirely summarises your character (Raya) – the biggest apps out there are still pretty similar to one another.
Over the years, some apps have admittedly tried to shake things up a bit, or cater to more specific audiences; my mum joined Tindog, an app for connecting dog owners – until someone asked her for nudes, J-Swipe sets up Jewish people while Muslima does the same for Muslims, and there have even been apps where you can conjure someone to give you a hug. On the one hand, it feels good that there’s an app for everything, but on the other, it feels weird that we’d still want this in a time when we’re talking more about romantic freedom and acceptance than ever before. As gender fluidity and sexual fluidity increase, do we need such specificity in our dating apps? Will the distinction between say Tinder and Grindr eventually disappear? And will we become less rigid in what we’re looking for all-round?