dating apps

Read Cult of Mac’s latest posts on dating apps:

This app lets sexting couples sign an NDA first

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Couple in bed
E-gree is a free legal contract service.
Photo: Womanizer WOW Tech/Unsplash CC

Want to receive an intimate photo from a romantic partner? You’d better be ready to sign on the dotted line (or, at least, the smartphone screen.)

A new app called e-gree allows couples to create legal contracts that could help stop the saucy selfies from being shared without permission. No legal fees involved.

Tinder Loops show videos before you swipe left

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Tinder Loops are videos people can swipe left or swipe right on.
Tinder Loops are videos people can swipe left or swipe right on.
Photo: Tinder

If a picture is worth a thousand words, how about a video? The dating service Tinder now lets you upload a very short video along with pictures. The idea is these Tinder Loops will better reflect your personality.

Sorry Android, tut this feature is only available for iOS devices.

Tinder explores becoming slightly less of a hookup app

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Tinder Picks currently only for iPhone
The new Tinder Picks option -- currently testing exclusively on iOS -- helps you find people you have something in common with.
Photo: Tinder

Tinder Picks is a feature this dating app is testing that might make it a better way to find people you’re compatible with emotionally, not just sexually.

Picks takes the user’s profile and shows them pictures of people who have similar jobs, educations, and interests.

A comprehensive guide to the best dating apps on iOS

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Best Dating Apps
Don't spend another Valentine's Day alone.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Spending Valentine’s Day on your own isn’t all bad (just think of the money you’ll save), but you probably don’t want to do it every year. And you don’t have to! There’s now a large and ever-increasing library of dating apps that can help you find the perfect mate.

With our comprehensive guide to the best dating apps on iOS, you’ll have no trouble finding love on your iPhone. We’ve got apps for mainstream dating, LGBT dating, casual hookups, and niche dating for those who have a strong interest in salad, marijuana, dead bodies, and more.

Super-exclusive dating app Hanky is soaking up some outrage

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Hanky sign up
This is about as far as 80 percent of people will make it with Hanky.
Photo: Hanky

A dating app has what sounds like a noble and magnanimous purpose, but some members of the LGBTQ community aren’t seeing it that way.

Hanky is for gay men who want to avoid “creeps, time­wasters, and fake profiles.” And to that end, it’s really tough to get in. You either need an invite code or three recommendations from existing members. You also have to validate your phone number or sign up with your Facebook account to make sure you’re real.

But all of those membership hoops are causing a fuss.

Only killer looks or a better tax return gets you into this singles party

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Millionaire dating app Luxy is looking for good-looking and/or rich singles for its global meet-and-greets.
Millionaire dating app Luxy is looking for good-looking and/or rich singles for its global meet-and-greets.
Photo: Luxy

As far as party invitations go, this may be the only one that asks unattractive people to stay away – unless of course they can produce a tax return at the door that shows a yearly income above $200,000.

Luxy, the dating app for only the wealthiest, will be hosting a series of singles nights around the globe next year. If you find such an invitation rude, you probably weren’t going to make it past the door anyway.

Dating app Blume makes sure your amour isn’t a fake

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Real-time selfies are required for meeting a match on the dating app Blume.
Real-time selfies are required for meeting a match on the dating app Blume.
Photo: Blume

Online dating services promise plenty of fish in the sea. They just can’t stop the catfish from biting.

But the pretenders might not have the same luck with the new dating app Blume. Once a match is made, the two users must exchange selfies, using the smartphone camera in-app, before any communication can begin.

Updated trivia game QuizUp has all the answers for finding you a friend

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Where is QuizUp heading? a) Up b) Up c) Up
Where is QuizUp heading? a) Up. b) Up. c) Up.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

When Icelandic developer Thorsteinn Fridriksson unleashed QuizUp on the world in late 2013, the last thing he expected was that the trivia app’s questions would turn into the nerdy equivalent of Cupid’s arrows. However, a surprising number of people who fell in love with the app also fell in love with each other.

“Very soon after we launched, we started hearing about people connecting on the platform,” Fridriksson told Cult of Mac. “You’d be amazed at how many QuizUp couples there are — people who literally met each other because they shared interests in the game.”

Now QuizUp is poised to pivot, taking advantage of its innate ability to connect players — whether for love, friendship or just a killer trivia smackdown. Today’s update marks the biggest and riskiest change in QuizUp’s history, as the multiple-choice game relaunches with a new focus on social networking.

Crazily enough, it just might work.

Donkey or elephant, this dating app will help you find your mate

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The dating app candiDate helps you find a political soulmate - and reminds you to vote. Illustration courtesy of HelpsGood
The dating app candiDate helps you find a political soulmate - and reminds you to vote. Illustration courtesy of HelpsGood

Politics makes for strange bedfellows. But it doesn’t have to.

The creators of a new dating app helps singles connect based on politics to help find like-minded matches on hot-button issues like guns, abortion, gay marriage and climate change.

So if size (of government) does matter, candiDate is available for free download on the Google Play store with a version for iPhone in the works.

A majority of single people in the United States have tried online dating, according to the website Statistic Brain. OK Cupid has 12 million users while Tinder boasts of having 50 million seeking a connection.

More than 50 percent of people ages 18-29 are not registered to vote and the digital agency HelpsGood wanted to develop a product that could invigorate young people to get more politically engaged.