Dating Sunday, or Singles Sunday, is a superficial and unofficial holiday name for the first Sunday after New Year's Day when online dating websites and apps are the busiest and see the highest activity and signups from people desiring to connect with someone. [1] [2] It is sometimes called "a national holiday for single daters" or "Super Bowl Sunday for love". [3]
The day was first coined by an online dating service Match.com in 2014. [4] It is hypothesized that Dating Sunday is not on New Year's Day, but on a Sunday due to people returning home from holiday travel and being in the mindset to focus on themselves. It is also reported that Match found "51% of singles’ New Year's resolutions will be to ... focus on finding that special someone". [5]
It is speculated that Dating Sunday exists because of "a mix of New Year’s resolutions, post-holiday breakups and Valentine’s Day around the corner", [6] making it the "first lonely holiday after the New Year" [7] after December, a month reportedly being "proposal season". [8] Furthermore, Tinder, an online dating app, reportedly names the entire season from New Year's Day to February 13 (the day before Valentine's Day) "Swipe Season”.
It is sometimes noted that Dating Sunday is a "sort of ouroboros" as an arbitrary day created by another arbitrary day of Valentine's Day. [9]
Various dating websites and apps have reported increased activity or memberships using different statistics. In 2019, Match expected "an 80% increase in new users on the website on Sunday – in 2019, the site saw a 69% jump on Dating Sunday". For Tinder in 2024, "20 per cent more messages are sent when compared to the daily average over a year". [10] Moreover, Tinder has reportedly 44 million matches made on "Dating Sunday" in 2017 when a typical day on the site is around 26 million matches. [3] On user response time, Tinder also reportedly observes 20-minute faster average response time on Dating Sunday, indicating higher user engagement. [11] For Hinge in 2024, it was reported they had "a 27% increase in likes sent on this day and a 29% rise in messages sent". [12] For CoffeeMeetsBagel observed in 2018 "a 75% spike in new-user sign ups" [6] and in 2019 reported "a 61% increase in new user signups, a 16% increase in activity or number of sessions, a 22% increase in matches, and a 23% increase in chats, compared to the past 30 days". [13] It is reported that Plenty of Fish "[saw] sign-ups jump 24% over the course of the day, with the peak happening around 6pm ET on the first Sunday of the year". [5] For Bumble in 2020, they expected "a 30% increase in new users this Sunday alone, along with a 15% increase in user activity compared to an average day" [6] and 2023 "matches increased by 40 per cent from Christmas Eve to Dating Sunday". [10] For How About We in 2014, "its membership rises 40 percent in January and February". Also in 2014, for ChristianMingle.com, it is reported that new membership signups increased 41 percent around Dating Sunday between Christmas and Valentine's Day. [4] OkCupid reportedly sees a 70 percent increase in user activity on Dating Sunday. [8] For The League, it is reported they "saw 38% more messages and 53% more matches". [14] Compared with all other Sundays, downloading OkCupid on Dating Sunday is "significantly higher than those other Sundays". [15]
Online dating, also known as internet dating, virtual dating, or mobile app dating, is a method used by people with a goal of searching for and interacting with potential romantic or sexual partners, via the internet. An online dating service is a company that promotes and provides specific mechanisms for the practice of online dating, generally in the form of dedicated websites or software applications accessible on personal computers or mobile devices connected to the internet. A wide variety of unmoderated matchmaking services, most of which are profile-based with various communication functionalities, is offered by such companies.
OkCupid is a U.S.-based, internationally operating online dating, friendship, and formerly also a social networking website and application. It features multiple-choice questions to match members. Registration is free. OkCupid is owned by Match Group, which also owns Tinder, Hinge, Plenty of Fish, and many other popular dating apps and sites.
Mobile dating services, also known as cell dating, cellular dating, or cell phone dating, allow individuals to chat, flirt, meet, and possibly become romantically involved by means of text messaging, mobile chatting, and the mobile web.
Mobile social networking is social networking where individuals with similar interests converse and connect with one another through their mobile phone and/or tablet. Much like web-based social networking, mobile social networking occurs in virtual communities.
Tinder is an online dating and geosocial networking application launched in 2012. On Tinder, users "swipe right" to like or "swipe left" to dislike other users' profiles, which include their photos, a short bio, and some of their interests. Tinder uses a "double opt-in" system, also called "matching", where two users must like each other before they can exchange messages.
Sean Rad is an Iranian-American entrepreneur and the Founder of Tinder. Rad launched Tinder in 2012 and by 2015, Tinder was the top grossing app in 99 countries, and in 2017, Tinder became the highest grossing app in Apple's App Store.
Bumble is an online dating and networking application launched in 2014. Profiles of potential matches are displayed to users, who can "swipe left" to reject a candidate or "swipe right" to indicate interest. The app is a product of Bumble Inc., founded by Whitney Wolfe Herd shortly after she left Tinder. Wolfe Herd has described Bumble as a "feminist dating app".
Match Group, Inc. is an American internet and technology company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It owns and operates the largest global portfolio of popular online dating services including Tinder, Match.com, Meetic, OkCupid, Hinge, Plenty of Fish, OurTime, and other dating global brands. The company was owned by IAC until July 2020 when Match Group was spun off as a separate, public company. As of 2019, the company had 9.3 million subscribers, of which 4.6 million were in North America. Japan is the company's second largest market, after the United States.
Mooky was a location-based social and dating application, designed to help its users to find the perfect match by providing a large scale of filters. Mooky was free of charge. The app made use of mobile devices' geolocation, a feature of smart phones and other devices which allows users to locate other users who are nearby.
Feeld is a location-based online dating application for iOS and Android aimed at people interested in ethical non-monogamy, polyamory, casual sex, kink, swinging, and other alternative relationship models and sexual preferences. According to a review from The New York Times, over a third of users are on the app with a partner, and 45 percent identify as something other than heterosexual.
Huggle was a location-based social application which connected users based on commonality of places they frequent. The app was developed through a partnership with entrepreneur Andrey Andreev. Following a soft launch in 2015, it was officially launched in July 2016. It was acquired by Badoo in 2018. In 2020 Bumble decided it would no longer maintain the platform.
An online dating application, commonly known as a dating app, is an online dating service presented through a mobile phone application. These apps often take advantage of a smartphone's GPS location capabilities, always on-hand presence, and access to mobile wallets. These apps aim to speed up the online dating process of sifting through potential dating partners, chatting, flirting, and potentially meeting or becoming romantically involved.
MPWH is an American-based international Herpes dating community. MPWH offers an exclusive platform for positive singles who are living with Herpes to find support, friendship and love.
Yubo is a French social networking app developed by TWELVE APP in 2015. It is designed to "meet new people" and "create a sense of community". The app had 60 million users as of 2022.
The League is a social and dating mobile application launched in 2015 and available in several cities all over the world on iOS and Android.
Hinge is an online dating application. The app displays potential matches one at a time and allows the user to dismiss or attempt to match by responding to a specific piece of content on their profile. The service emphasizes uploading user-generated content in a variety of formats, such as photos, videos, voice recordings, and "prompts" as a way to express personality and appearance. The app is fully owned by Match Group as of February 2019.
Swiped: Hooking Up in the Digital Age is an American documentary film that premiered on September 10, 2018 on HBO. Directed by journalist Nancy Jo Sales, the film explores dating, relationships, and hookup culture amongst young people in the era of online dating apps.
JSwipe is an online dating application targeted at Jewish singles. It was launched in April 2014, over the Passover holiday, by founder David Yarus and three co-founders under the business entity name Smooch Labs. Yarus, who was also working for Birthright Israel and Hillel at the time of JSwipe's creation, initially viewed the app as a lark before seeing the development of the Jewish dating app as combining his professional interests, passion, and expertise.
Muzz is a British marriage and dating app for Muslims. It was founded in 2015 by Shahzad Younas and is based in Ilford, East London.
SALT is a Christian dating app designed to facilitate connections among Christians seeking relationships. The app, launched by a team of Christians in the United Kingdom at September 2018 aims to address the challenges of meeting like-minded individuals in everyday life.