Mingle offline: Is online dating getting outdated?

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Bumble from her phone. This is the fourth dating app—after Coffee Meets Bagel, Hinge and The League—that she has given up on in as many years. “If you ever decide to do an anti-dating apps campaign, I’ll be more than happy to share horror stories,” she told a professional matchmaker after hitting Uninstall.

Manisha, 35, is a media entrepreneur from Delhi, who has had a range of unpleasant and disturbing experiences while trying to find a romantic companion through these apps. Being ghosted, catfished and lied to about age is a routine affair on these platforms, as is receiving unsolicited messages and pictures. “I’ve even had someone casually bring up their money laundering charges on the first phone call,” she says. “Dating apps are a high-effort and low-reward game,” Manisha concludes.

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The Covid-19 pandemic had forced many singles to turn to dating apps as finding a companion offline was not an option. Now they are leaving the apps in droves due to sheer fatigue. Six out of eight dating apps in India have seen a drop in monthly active users (MAUs) on Android between October 2022 and September 2023, with five of them —Tinder, happn, Aisle, Truly Madly and OkCupid—seeing a significant fall of 20-55%, according to data from Similarweb sourced by ET.
It’s like a Job Interview

Users of dating apps aged 28 to 46, whom ET spoke to, say they are disillusioned with these platforms and add that singles in their social circles share