This sunday is the busiest time of the year for dating apps


Why this Sunday is the busiest time of the year for dating apps
Likewise, dating app Bumble defines the time between Thanksgiving and the first Sunday in January as “online dating season,” and expects to see more than 3 million new users join and over 20 million messages being sent. That busy period also aligns with “cuffing season,” or the time of year when singles scramble to find a partner to snuggle with throughout the winter.
Why this Sunday is the busiest time of the year for dating apps
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Published Dec. 30, 2019, 5:33 p.m. ET
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Desperation will be in the air on Sunday.
Jan. 5 is expected to be the busiest day for online dating. The swipe spike that occurs on the first Sunday in January is such a widespread phenomenon that Coffee Meets Bagel has dubbed it Dating Sunday.
The dating app says the day in 2019 was the biggest in their seven-year history, with a record 1,030,000 messages sent. The second-biggest day of the year was the following Sunday, which saw just a 3% decrease in messages sent compared to the first.
January overall is the best month for online dating, according to Coffee Meets Bagel’s data. It’s the most popular in terms of sign-ups and, as a result, activity throughout the month.
Likewise, dating app Bumble defines the time between Thanksgiving and the first Sunday in January as “online dating season,” and expects to see more than 3 million new users join and over 20 million messages being sent. That busy period also aligns with “cuffing season,” or the time of year when singles scramble to find a partner to snuggle with throughout the winter.
But aside from just finding a warm body for the rest of these chilly months, experts say the uptick for Dating Sunday is likely the result of all that nagging over the holidays coming to a head.
“You’re coming off the holidays, so you might have had pressure from family to get into a relationship, or maybe you’re comparing yourself to that one cousin,” Marisa T. Cohen, a Long Island-based relationship researcher and coach, tells The Post.
Plus, “Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching,” Cohen says. Thus, the dating holiday is “sandwiched by family time from the holidays and a day that puts a lot of emphasis on being in a couple.”
Dating site Match defines “peak dating season” as the day after Christmas through Valentine’s Day. In a statement, Match predicts it’ll see its biggest turnout of 2020 on Dating Sunday as well, with 9:15 p.m. Eastern time marked as the peak time for singles to be connecting on the app.
Cohen advises singles to get an edge on the increased competition by preparing your profile. Choose plenty of photos — and accurate ones, too. “No catfishing,” she says. Also, fill out every question on the apps’ prompts so the algorithms will work better to find a match, she adds.
Of course, the uptick in singles using dating apps this Sunday could also have something to do with an expansion of the dating pool: January is the biggest month for divorces, with filings shooting up about 30%.
“Hopefully these people have left the relationship prior to getting on the apps, but there’s definitely a lot of assessing other [potential] partners and who’s out there,” Cohen says.