Apps flush out the near and potentially dear

GRINDR is not the most romantic place to meet your soul mate. Wildly popular, the dating app for gay men arranges profile photos in order of proximity and is often used for short-term, sexual relationships arranged at the last minute.

But the app, which has 4.5 million users in 192 countries, also allows people to say whether they are interested in a relationship and, despite the unlikely setting, more couples are now finding love.

Cohen Simpson, 23, is about to move in with his boyfriend of two and half years, whom he met through Grindr.

Cohen, who is studying for a PhD in new media at the London School of Economic, is originally from a rural area where, he said, homosexuality was not easily accepted. “Having a piece of technology that really made that network explicit, really took the guesswork out of looking for a potential mate, so that was really powerful,” said Cohen.

Dr Bernie Hogan, Research Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, said dating apps were particularly well suited for gay people or other “hidden” communities, such as religious groups, because the apps made you more findable. “Although there are some flamboyant or camp gay men out there, there’s a lot of men who are not obviously gay and want a way to regulate their findability.”

Despite Hogan’s doubts that a dating app could ever be successful among a heterosexual population, Tinder is proving him wrong.

The hot-or-not app, which allows users to decide whether they want to talk to someone based on one photo, has been responsible for more than 50 engagements since its launch in October last year.

Each profile has just a photo, first name and age, and only users who approve of each other are able to start a conversation. Like Grindr, Tinder shows the distance between users but does not reveal the exact

A lot of men are not obviously gay and want a way to regulate their findability

location to protect privacy. So far, the app has served more than 75 million matches and six billion profile ratings.

Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen said the app replicated real life. “When you first meet someone in a coffee shop, the first thing you notice about them is their physical appearance. But, as you start speaking to them and dig deeper, you look for commonalities.”

Users sign in to the app through Facebook, which deters a lot of false profiles and allows Tinder to extract data for appropriate matches. — ©