5 Virtual Dating Apps For Finding Love During Coronavirus

If you are single right now, the chances are, you have accepted the fact that you can’t have an active dating life until everything returns to normal, whenever that is. We can’t go out and meet new people, but that doesn’t mean you have to put things on hold. But, why?

Because dating apps are here for you and in fact, they are becoming more popular amidst this time. In fact, Tinder saw a record 3 billion swipes since the quarantine started. Therefore, there is no scarcity for people looking for love during coronavirus.

People are using the new video call features that are made available by various popular dating apps so that people can follow the social distancing but can still date. Yes, it won’t be as good as meeting someone in person but it’s still better than being all alone. Not to mention, its something new and exciting. 

1. Quarantine Together

If there was a strange time to date, this is it. Christopher Smeder and Daniel Ahmadizadeh created Quarantine Together, a dating app for this precise moment. Ahmadizadeh says, “People need to stay home and people will be lonely when they stay at home. We wanted to build something that is not just great for others, but for our selfish purposes so we don’t get bored.” 

But as the coronavirus pandemic becomes more severe, the app’s objective with virtual dating becomes transparent. Ahmadizadeh purchased the domain name in March and the app and website launched in March.

The app is based on text; every day in the evening (at 6.00 PM), the app asks its users whether they have washed their hands or not. If they confirm positively, they are introduced to another user through text. After a few minutes, the matched users are offered a video chat link. 

2. Bumble

Bumble is the dating app where women make the first move, which greatly cuts down on the number of uninvited messages women receive. Once you set your profile, you begin swiping. And when you match with someone, there are 24 hours to message or else the match is erased. The app also caters to same-sex couples. Will Titterington in his blog post quoted that this very USP of Bumble is the sole reason for its popularity.

But how has Bumble changed themselves to cater to its users at this time?

Bumble already had an in-built voice calling and video calling feature that Whitney Wolfe Herd, its CEO, is motivating people to utilize and adopt instead a virtual date to go to. Bumble observed a 21 percent rise in video calls since March. You would not require to share phone numbers or email addresses to use these features, so your personal data remains private—unless you want to share it.  

3. Hinge

Hinge positions itself as a dating app that is “designed to be deleted” and restricts free users to liking only 10 profiles every day, although if you pay to upgrade, you are allowed to like unlimited profiles. There are many preferences you can set as well, from family plans, politics to religion if you seriously want to begin looking for a partner. 

How has Hinge adapted to the new normal?

They have rolled out a new “date from home” feature that lets users notify a match if they are ready to chat over a phone or video call. Do not worry, though, your response will not be shown until you are both ready to talk and you can change your reply before the other party replies.  

4. Match

Match.com is among the longest-running online dating services right now. Launched in 1993, Match actually predates plenty of AOL email addresses. The company that owns Match also owns and runs several other famous online dating platforms such as Plenty of Fish, OkCupid, and Tinder.

Match has had several years to fine-tune its features and services, so there are many things to like about it: the UI is finely detailed, the process of signup is easy, you are not permitted to have a vague profile and the search feature is satisfying and easy. 

To stay in step with the pandemic, Match has released a free hotline inside the app for anybody grappling to navigate through online dating under self-isolation.

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5. Coffee Meets Bagel

Coffee Meets Bagel is similar to eHarmony since it is full of useful tips, hand-held options for communication, and offers a restricted amount of match every day. It makes the effort to match you with people you are most compatible with as a whole and therefore, it isn’t a hookup app, technically. But you can use this app for both casual and serious things.  

During this pandemic, to deal with the anti-social factor of self-isolation, Coffee Meet Bagels released community meetings where you can exchange advice with other users on how to look for romance in between the outbreaks. Chats usually disappeared after seven days on this app, but now they have changed it to an indefinite amount so you can dip in and out whenever you want.

6. Clover

Launched in 2014, Clover is one of the innovative dating apps that have attracted millions of young singles. Clover’s top=notch matching algorithms facilitate the quick and efficient process of agreeable matches for a sleek dating experience.

Recently, they released a new Live Video Dating service. This feature for one-on-one video communications helps matches span the gap between text-messaging and in-person meetings. 

Live Video Dating—the feature in question—enables users to seek love from the comfort and shelter of home without utilizing third-party platforms or communicating their private information. Users have the benefit to receive, reject, or schedule incoming video chat offers and are empowered to report or block offensive users. Clover truly is putting the social in social distancing!

What’s Next? 

In the attempt to keep things going under lockdown, as you can see, these dating apps are stepping up. So many of them are encouraging others to virtually date, so even if you don’t know when you can physically meet others, you won’t be devoid of options. I hope these dating apps and their innovative features help you find someone in the time of coronavirus.