Truth: a lot of folks are embarrassed to admit they picked up someone on a dating app or are even on one. But according to Sensor Tower, a company that specializes in digital intelligence and analytics, the dirty little secret is out – a growing sector of the population finds their fun on dating apps, and the use of them are becoming more prevalent.

In Sensor Tower’s recent report, it was found that whether we’re searching for a one-night stand, a long-term relationship, or in the case of the adult industry, using affiliate programs to send web traffic to the sites, the dating app business is booming with monthly usage up 17% in January of 2022 compared to the same month in 2019. Tinder, though it often gets a bad rap as “a hookup site”, proves that it’s not only a hookup site as it continues to attract new members and maintain its hold as the top player in the space for the last five years.

Currently, the site that invented the swipe has 75 million active users with 6.2 million subscribers and controls 32% of the dating app pie in the United States, as reported on by Business of Apps. Bumble and Hinge trail behind at 22% and 15% respectively but both are growing fast and could give Tinder a run for the money in the years to come. This is evidenced by the fact that Bumble’s monthly usage grew a whopping 96% between January 2019-2022 while Hinge quadrupled its audience usage in that same period.

The Sensor Tower study also focused on new users and installs proving that dating apps, no matter how much some want to deny they are on them, are only becoming more popular. The top three sites combined had first-time installs at 106.4 million in 2021, a small uptick from the previous year (106.2 million installs), but a leap of 17% since 2019 which had only 91 million installs.

This leads to fierce competition between Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge, and shines a light on innovation as the apps seek to lure new users and maintain current ones. Tinder has been reported to be developing a feature called Swipe Party in an effort to get their members to engage with one another via chatting online to vet dates, Bumble acquired the French dating site Fruitz in a bid to “expand their product offering for consumers,” and Hinge introduced voice prompts which has the uncanny ability to remind you that there’s actually a real person on the other side of the photo.

All this news of growth paints a pretty picture for the continuing health of the dating app industry. However, we’d be remiss not to mention that these positive findings aren’t necessarily true of all the dating apps out there. Lagging the three heavyweights in owning a piece of the market share pie are Plenty of Fish (14%), Grindr (7%), Badoo (6%), OK Cupid (4%), Match (4%), and Zoosk (2%). Not to mention the myriad of niche apps that don’t even make the cut such as Feeld and NuiT. Looking on the bright side, however, the Sensor Tower study could be representative of broader trends that are good news for the broader dating app market, including adult industry dating sites and apps.

Check out the full report HERE.

“Tinder” image by cottonbro – Pexels