Originally launched as a Tinder-like and text-only Chinese dating app, Yidui failed to attract people in its focused market, the company founder Ren Zhe said during an interview with local tech media 36Kr. This video-based speed matchmaking app, developed by Beijing Milian Technology in 2017, gained substantial traction in the second half of 2019, specifically targeting singles in lower-tier cities.
The nine largest dating apps in China in 2020 by China iOS app store rank, as of Apareįoreign major players, like Tinder and Bumble, are not nearly as popular in the country and have fallen far behind local competitors. However, Chinese dating apps have also added elements that are not so common, such as matchmaker-mediated chats, voice message speed dating, and more. In fact, as Chinese dating apps continue become more and more mainstream, they have adopted features familiar to anyone who has turned online to find a date: Swiping, chat boxes, and location-based discovery, to name a few. Luckily, more than 622 million people used dating apps in China last year, and the market set to hit USD 290 million in revenues by 2024, according to market research site , so online dating is not completely foreign to the country. In the world’s most populous country, people still want to meet, but the coronavirus pandemic has made this no easy task. Dating apps in China have become an unexpected necessity in 2020.
