THE PINK NEWS – HER, a lesbian dating app, went viral after placing suggestive bowling ball–themed billboards in New York and Los Angeles as part of a New Year campaign. The ads sparked widespread discussion on TikTok, drawing both criticism and praise for their explicit innuendo. The attention highlights HER’s use of provocative marketing to stand out, alongside its continued emphasis on being an inclusive platform for queer women and non-binary users.
MASHABLE – In May, Match Group acquired HER, a dating app for queer women, nonbinary, and trans sapphics. While things have been relatively quiet since the buy-out, HER did roll out a new feature this summer called “Feelings”, which are short-term status tags like “Flirty” or “Go on a date” that appear across profiles, chats, and matches. Users can select up to three tags, each with optional notes, and these expire after 48 hours. The goal is to reduce awkward intros, clarify intentions, and make conversations feel more natural.
Curated by the Courtland Brooks team
BLOOMBERG – HER, the world’s largest dating app for sapphic, queer, and LGBTQIA+ women and nonbinary people, has joined Match Group. Founded in 2013 as Dattch, HER now serves ~13M users globally. The partnership aims to strengthen HER’s infrastructure, improve safety and trust systems, and accelerate global growth, while preserving the app’s mission. HER’s team and vision remain unchanged, and the platform will continue focusing on inclusive experiences for lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, transgender, nonbinary, and other underrepresented communities.
FAST COMPANY – Smaller dating apps like HER, Feeld, and Happn are gaining traction by serving niche communities and offering alternatives to major apps like Bumble and Hinge. "They're not designed to be first-tier," says Eric Resnick, an online dating coach. "They're just designed to serve their niche really well." HER, targeting queer women and nonbinary individuals, boasts 15M users and is experiencing what founder Robyn Exton calls a "sapphic renaissance." Match Group operates community-based apps such as Archer, BLK, Chispa, and Upward. Happn, a French app, connects users who frequent the same locations, appealing to those tired of endless swiping. Feeld, popular among nonmonogamous users, allows users to list intimacy preferences and has seen significant growth among Gen Z.
INITIALIZED BLOG – In the latest installment of "My First…" by Initialized Capital's Jen Wolf, Robyn Exton, founder of HER, shares her journey in creating the sapphic dating app. Originally named Dattch, feedback led to a rebrand as HER to better resonate with the community. Exton emphasized the importance of user feedback, adapting her branding experience to develop the app. HER started as a Grindr clone but evolved to focus on queer community connections and event discovery. Key lessons included rapid prototyping, user involvement, and evolving the product to meet broader gender and sexual identities. HER now helps over 30K people find connections.
THE BAY AREA REPORTER – In 1993, Andy Cramer, the CEO of Caregiving Network, founded Gay.Net, one of the earliest platforms for gay men, especially during the HIV/AIDS crisis. This bulletin board system (BBS) later merged with Gay.com, reaching 4M users by 1999. Back in 1987, Jean Marie Diaz in the U.S. established Sappho, a hub for lesbian email lists. Amy Goodloe further expanded the online lesbian community with lesbian.org in the mid-1990s. In 1999, Gary Frisch and Henry Badenhorst introduced Gaydar, offering chat rooms for queer men. OkCupid launched in 2004 and, while not exclusively LGBTQ+, became popular within the queer community. By 2021, it had broadened its gender and sexual orientation identifiers to 60, collaborating with organizations like the Human Rights Campaign and GLAAD. Joel Simkhai launched Grindr in 2009, the first geolocation dating app specifically for gay men, later expanding its offerings and user base. After leaving Grindr, Simkhai founded Motto, a dating app that aimed to counter "toxicity and discrimination" in some queer dating platforms. In 2015, Robyn Exton established HER, originally known as Dattch, as a platform for the "FLINTA (female, lesbian, intersex, trans, and agender) community," focusing on both dating and community aspects. Tser stands as a dating app for the transgender community, presenting itself as both a dating platform and social community for trans individuals and allies.
PEW RESEARCH CENTER – A 2022 Pew Research survey reveals that 51% of lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults have used online dating, compared to 28% of straight adults. Younger LGB adults are more likely to use online dating than their older counterparts. Popular apps among LGB users include Tinder, HER, and Grindr. Experiences are mixed, with 61% reporting positive experiences, but many also encountering negative behaviors such as unsolicited explicit messages. Opinions are divided on the overall impact of online dating on relationships within the LGB community.
by Risa Gelles-Watnick
See full article at Pew Research Center
See the top news on Tinder
See the top news on HER
See the top news on Grindr
HYPEBAE – According to a recent survey conducted by lesbian dating app HER, Gen Z is not as obsessed with astrology as older generations may think. While people still use astrology to determine compatibility, it's no longer the only factor. Gen Z women are also no longer ditching potential lovers based on their zodiac sign. Overall, Gen Z is skeptical of "Big Astrology" but recognizes the usefulness of astrological tools.
SIFTED.EU – May 4 – Dating apps say that virtual features will last beyond the pandemic as video dates become the new norm. "The current normalisation of video communication is in one way irreversible," says Philip Jonzon Jarl, the cofounder of Swedish dating app Relate. "There might be a new kind of pre-date step being born." Founded in 2018 to make matches based on "values" rather than profile pics, and with $1.3M behind it, Relate has seen its active users increase 40% during lockdown. Another UK app, The Intro, was founded in London in 2019, just months before lockdown. Founder George Burgess, who previously launched several educational apps, says this has pulled in thousands of users across the capital – despite having raised just £750k. Her, a UK-based dating app geared towards lesbian, queer, bisexual and bicurious women and non-binary people, has 5.5M users around the world. Founded by Robyn Exton in the UK in 2015, it has raised $2M to date. Her moved its matchmaking mixers online to host virtual speed dating events. The founder says virtual speed dating will almost certainly continue after the pandemic. Meanwhile, Swiss dating app Once has built a live video feature in just five days. Already ~18K virtual dates have taken place on the app. The record duration of a virtual date so far is 11 hours and forty minutes (between two people in Paris). Not every dating app has been fast off the mark. Happn says it has seen an 18% increase in the lengths of in-app conversations and will launch video dating this month. Muzmatch, the worlds' biggest dating app for Muslims, is also preparing to launch video and voice calling within the coming weeks.
by Kitty Knowles
See full article at Sifted.eu
See all posts on Her See all posts on Happn
See the top news on Once See the top news on Muzmatch