ARC 360 REPORT • FEB. 2015 THE HIGHEST RATED DATING APPS Analyzing the quality of U.S. dating apps as rated by their customers By Ben Gray 42 The average app quality score of the 100 most popular dating apps in Google Play and iTunes App Store, on a 100-point scale. Find the Perfect Date with the Perfect App eeting people isn’t easy. It’s why millions of single people have turned to dating apps. But finding the perfect app is nearly as difficult as finding the perfect date. Why? Because there are are hundreds of apps to choose from across Google Play and iTunes App Store that cater to all kinds of personalities and preference types. Applause, the 360º app quality company, analyzed the state of the U.S. dating apps economy to help people find the highest quality apps as rated by customers, so they can find the perfect date just in time for Valentine’s Day. 1 10 Popular Apps Earn High Quality Marks Applause has commissioned this report on the state of the U.S. dating apps economy to help the world’s most popular lifestyle and social brands to understand how customers perceive their app quality. In all, 53 dating apps qualified for the innaugural ARC Dating APPLAUSE ANALYTICS Mobile App Quality Index, The average app quality score which are comprised of across nearly 4 million apps in dating apps that earned the U.S. app stores is 67. more than 1,000 user reviews across Google Play and the App Store. Some popular—but demographically concentrated—apps did not make the cut. Better luck next year Christian Mingle, FarmersOnly, Jdate, Luxy and more. Just 10 dating apps earned quality scores of 50 or above with more than 10,000 reviews: ■ Jaumo [Android | iOS] ■ OKCupid [Android | iOS] ■ GROWLr [Android | iOS] ■ SCRUFF [Android | iOS] ■ Qeep [Android] ■ Skout [Android | iOS] ■ DateHookup [Android | iOS] ■ Moco [Android | iOS] ■ Tinder [Android | iOS] Jack’d [Android | iOS]. ■ 2 FIGUREAPPLA 1 APPLUSEAUSE DA TINGDATING MOBILE MOBILE APPAPP QU QUALITYALITY INDEX INDEX AVERAGE ANDROID IOS SCORE POOR FAIR GOOD EXCELLENT WINNING REVIEWS REVIEWS Jaumo 79 14,489 278 Friends Talk 74 744 361 OKCupid 62 30,456 36,093 GROWLr 62 6,818 6,134 DATING (meet singles) 59* 9,115 N/A SCRUFF 56 5,246 5,406 Let's Date 56** N/A 8,585 Qeep 54* 11,345 N/A happn 53 1,395 1,249 Skout 53 39,973 78,794 DateHookup 53 9,264 3,263 Coffee Meets Bagel 52 212 1,094 Hornet 51 7,220 1,672 datemyschool 51 728 1,449 Moco 50 24,218 6,281 Daily 50** N/A 2,880 VGL Gay Dating Network 50 90 1,044 NAIJing 50* 1,080 N/A Tinder 50 54,170 33,721 Jack'd 50 14,745 14,427 MiuMeet 49 10,793 1,134 Planet Romeo 49 4,112 261 Plenty Of Fish 49 70,744 13,338 SinglesAroundMe 48 3,870 451 Badoo 47 560 1,238 BoyAhoy 46 5,635 7,576 Lovoo 46 5,426 643 Tagged 46 30,896 14,350 Bender 46 2,071 234 DatingDNA 44** N/A 1,168 Mister 44 970 917 AsianDate 42* 1,374 N/A DOWN 38 1,133 312 Are You Interested 37 2,870 2,864 GuySpy 37 1,036 320 Match.com 36 6,652 4,324 Cupid.com 36* 5,985 N/A HowAboutWe 33 1,633 2,335 Waplog 33 11,243 287 Zoosk 32 29,075 14,537 Blendr 31 2,148 1,638 eVow 31 2,737 375 Brenda 31 1,020 50 BeNaughty 29* 9,682 N/A Grindr 29 16,668 31,324 SayHi 28 10,720 2,470 Twoo 27 4,652 571 eHarmony 22 6,137 6,716 Hinge 22 529 472 Flirt 20* 2,783 N/A Mamba Dating 17 2,225 350 Adam4Adam 12 2,172 916 Gaydar 12 1,335 74 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 * ANDROID ONLY ** IOS ONLY SOURCE: APPLAUSE ANALYTICS, OCTOBER 27, 2014 AVG. SCORE ANDROID IOS 3 As a Group, Dating Apps Have Room to Improve On average, the 100 most popular U.S. dating apps lag all other apps in quality by 25 points—a significant margin. Unlike other app categories, dating is affected by sociology and psychology. If you meet a creep on a dating app, it may be reflected in a user’s review. Key elements of dating apps—signup, messaging and pictures—also play a significant role in dating app reviews. Plenty of opportunity exists for development, QA and product teams at lifestyle and social companies to raise their bar for app quality and reliability while navigating finnicky matters of the heart. Six brands received more than 10,000 reviews and were rated by their customers with average app quality scores less than 40: ■ Match.com [Android | iOS] ■ Waplog [Android | iOS] ■ Zoosk [Android | iOS] ■ Grindr [Android | iOS] ■ SayHi [Android | iOS] ■ eHarmony [Android | iOS]. Brands looking to improve their app quality through the eyes of their customers would be wise to invest in usability and security audits to prioritize product improvements. If these brands can advance beyond merely working to deliver flawless, reliable and intuitive experiences, they have the opportunity to make significant leaps in both market and mind share. 4 About ARC 360 ARC 360 from Applause is a research group dedicated to providing insights and data on the apps economy. ARC 360 leverages data from a variety of sources, including proprietary Applause data, to provide a 360º view of app quality. ARC 360 combines this data, with analysis, into reports to help brands and app developers understand what is happening in the apps economy. Learn more at http://arc.applause.com. About Applause Analytics Combing through half a billion ratings and user reviews submitted across more than 30 million apps in the Android and iOS app stores around the world, Applause Analytics closes the gap between mobile app developers and their customers, generating actionable insights and quantifiable metrics based on what users are actually saying about their app experiences. Learn more at www.applause.com/analytics. 5.