”Tinder doesn’t seem to be as good at finding you a partner as you might think. An analysis of the match-making service, admittedly a small, one off survey, found that most people don’t meet up with others through the app and the chances of meeting someone interested in a long-term relationship are relatively low.

”Trond Viggo Grøntvedt at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and his colleagues surveyed 269 students in Norway who said they were current or former Tinder users. About 60 per cent of the students were women.

”People reported that on average they had been matched to more than 100 other people during their time using the app. But only about half of the participants said they had ever actually met one of their matches in person. The likelihood that a study participant would use Tinder to meet a potential partner was the same for men and women.

”Only about 25 per cent of study participants said they had used the app to meet someone interested in a long-term relationship.

”Grøntvedt’s team also discovered that roughly 20 per cent of people had used Tinder to meet a partner for a one-night stand – although the participants also reported to be just as likely to engage in a one-night stand with a partner they had met via other means.

Gareth Tyson at Queen Mary University of London is sceptical about the idea that Tinder has had much effect on dating. “Tinder may not be rewriting the fundamentals of modern dating: similar patterns continue, simply in a new arena,” he says. Tyson adds that there is value in the new study. “The paper challenges the stereotype that [Tinder] is purely a ‘sex app’, instead finding that this applies to only a small minority of users.”.     (Journal reference: Evolutionary Psychological Science, DOI: 10.1007/s40806-019-00222-z   Chris Stokel-Walker, New Scientist)