Dating App Users Are Looking for Love, Quickly

While conventional wisdom holds that dating apps are for those looking for a fling or hookup, a new Ipsos study finds that in actuality, most people are looking for something more lasting. Six in ten (59%) app users are hoping to find one serious partner.

Likewise, two-thirds of people who have used dating apps agree that the purpose of dating is to find a life partner or spouse – not just to have fun. In fact, more app users tend to be in pursuit of a lasting connection than non-app users. Just half of people who don’t use the apps believe that the point of dating is to end up in a long-term partnership.

While people overall are turning to dating apps to further their search for a serious relationship, men and women are not fully on the same page when it comes to the apps.

Men are more likely to use dating apps to find both casual flings and multiple romantic partners. About three in ten men (28%) report using dating apps to find casual relationships with multiple partners while only one in ten women report using apps for that purpose. Men are also more open to polyamorous relationships: 13% of men report using apps to find multiple serious partners, compare to just 3% of women who use apps to find the same.

Dating apps are also transforming the pace of relationships.

App users are more likely to be open to sex earlier on than non-app users. A fifth of people who have used dating apps are ready to have sex after a minimum of two dates. Only 10% of non-app users agreed that two dates would suffice.

App users are also more open-minded about early physical intimacy. They are nearly four times as likely to rate sex on the first date as positive or somewhat positive for the future of a relationship. Nearly a quarter of app users believe this is the case, while only 6% of non-app users agree on sex’s positive impact. That being said, only 11% of app users believe that sex on the first date is reasonable, still a statistically significant difference from the 6% of non-app users who agree with them.

Faster to bed does not necessarily mean faster to wed, but it does seem to push conversations about exclusivity to the fore. About three-quarters of dating app users believe that the one to three month mark is an appropriate time to start discussing exclusivity with a partner, while non-dating app users are more likely to broach exclusivity at the three to six month mark.

A quicker pace doesn’t always mean lasting results though. People who use dating apps are more likely to date someone even after knowing there was no future in the relationship. 58% of dating app users are guilty of this. Among those who don’t use dating apps, only 46% of people report continuing a relationship even when there was no future.

Dating apps are changing the game of love and pushing some of the expectations previously held about the pacing of relationships out the window. Those trying to figure out what it means are in good company.