Dating Apps - How do they actually work?
- Chloe
- Jul 13, 2022
- 2 min read
How do dating apps actually work?
We have all heard of them, millions of us have used one at some point but do we actually understand what is going on behind the scenes?
Dating apps are a lot more techy and complex than many realise – keep reading to find out how they find us our matches.
Dating apps make use of processes or algorithms to decide who to match you with. An algorithm is a common term in maths and computer science, not something you expect to be at the forefront of dating. They are defined as a sequence of instructions that the computer can understand and carry out, they can perform things like calculations and data processing. To understand this a bit better let’s look at a popular example; Tinder.
Tinder reports 50 million users, with 10 million of them using the dating app every day. We can see they really know what they are doing with their algorithm since they have generated 20 billion matches since 2012.
The algorithm builds your matches based on things like age, gender and distance preferences. Tinder reported in a blog that they prioritise those who use the app and are more active, this is so that people don’t get matches with people who no longer use the app. There can be nothing worse than finding the perfect person only to swipe right and never get an update! Continuing to use the app helps them pick better matches for you. If you are active on the app you are more likely to be shown to other users and you will see more active users first too.
Being active doesn’t just mean swiping as much as you can each day, the algorithm will start to show you fewer profiles if you do this. The best way to overcome this is to actually have conversations with your matches that you are genuinely interested in. This is what the app was designed for – to allow you to get in touch with potential dates!
It's not just how often you use the app that determines the matches you get but also where you are in the world. Tinder believes it is better to show you people who you have an actual chance to meet up with in real life rather than people on the other side of the world.
Meaning those who live in large highly populated cities will have more matches than those who live in a far-out countryside town with only a couple hundred people. But since it is based on your current location at the time of using the app you can find matches wherever to are, so if you are travelling around or heading to work or school you will find matches who are also near those areas.
Obviously, Tinder won't reveal the exact workings of their algorithm, but to be honest as a psychology student I don’t think I would even be able to understand it anyway!
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