Online Dating In 2016 Predictions

We take out our crystal ball to gaze into the future of online dating in 2016 – the only guarantee is we’ll be mostly wrong…

So, like we promised in our last article of 2015 we will try and take a look what’s in store for online daters in 2016.

Predicting the future is one thankless job and we’re not going to pretend we know exactly what’s going to happen, which apps will flourish and which won’t. Nor can we promise you that you’ll definitely find love in 2016 – but if you’re truly willing to give it a try, you could just have a lot of fun looking for love this year!

So, here’s what we are looking forward to…

1) Lots of new apps on the rise

After the success of Tinder it’s no longer any wonder that dating apps have taken the world by storm and are slowly but surely taking over the domain online dating sites have held for so long. It doesn’t mean dating sites are becoming extinct – there will always still be people who prefer the more traditional way of seeking love online – but it means there will be a lot more choice. New dating apps gaining popularity are Happn, Score, Hinge, Fliqpic and Once.

A lot of dating sites have also introduced their own apps, which are slowly but surely becoming more popular than the sites themselves – Coffee Meets Bagel and HowAboutWe for example.

And then of course there are dating apps that make it easier for all the ladies who are tired of getting their fair share of indecent proposals and inappropriate pics on Tinder. The same guys who came up with Tinder have also created the next big dating app, Bumble where women get to call the shots. It still works on the basis of swiping right and left but only women can initiate contact if two users mutually swipe right.

2) Quirky sites are coming. But are they staying?

2015 was the year of niche sites – small sites that cater for a specific group of people. Think Muddy Matches (for people who love the great outdoors and countryside) or Tastebuds (for music lovers). Those two have quickly become very popular. 2016 could be the year of quirky sites, which seem to be a recent trend. New sites like that include Inner Circle (a free site for extra picky people, which requires you to fill in an application and wait for the site to approve you as a member), Grouper (that helps you set up double or triple dates), the highly controversial and recently defunct Carrot Dating (frequently made the news with the idea of scoring dates with the help of bribes), RightStuff (for Ivy League graduates only) or BeautifulPeople (as the name says, it only allows good-looking members to join). A lot of dating sites try to come up with a new and clever idea that would make them the next big thing. It will be an interesting project testing them all out over the months ahead.

3) Safety is going to cost a lot more

Okay, in a way it’s peculiar that paid dating sites like Match and eHarmony didn’t just appear when there were so many free sites around but flourished and became two of the most popular online dating websites in the world. But now it looks like that in the future people will want to start paying increasingly more money for online dating that is safe and secure.

There are dating sites that vet their members in one way or another already and with cyber fraud becoming more of an issue every day we predict dating sites will soon introduce much stricter rules and regulations for their members. All of that is going to cost a pretty penny though, so we wouldn’t be surprised if the cost of online dating went up significantly – without the significant drop in membership numbers. Who wouldn’t pay a little extra for their peace of mind?

4) Online and offline dating will merge

A lot of successful new sites try and take online dating further and make it more “offline”. That’s why we see all these sites where people come up with different ideas that they’d like to do or places they’d like to visit and just wait for other members to swallow the bait. Doingsomething and HowAboutWe are just two examples of sites like that but these days a lot of mainstream dating sites have also added that feature on their page to attract daters who are not simply looking for love but also for something exciting and interesting to do with your new date. It will probably become more and more common and apps too – think Happn – will start focusing on bringing people together, instead of keeping them in cyberspace.

5) Love won’t die

Even though 2015 saw a lot of predictions about “hook-up culture” forcing out true love, it’s not actually a danger that mankind is facing any time soon – if ever. People will always look for love – be it online or offline, in an app or in a bar, starting with a right swipe or a handshake. So let us take an opportunity to wish you a very happy online dating in 2016. May you find what you’re looking for!

About the Author

Aet Suvari has been reviewing and writing about the world of online dating since 2008 and the launch of Online Dating Help. A stickler for promoting ethical practices within the UK dating industry she champions the sites that get it right while highlighting those holding it back. You can follow her on Google+