Unless you’re one of the rare few who are both happily-hitched and have learned to tune out the endless complaints from your single friends, you probably know that people seeking love are tired of the apps in 2024.

From a 2024 survey of dating app users, conducted by Forbes Health and OnePoll, we found the above combination of stats to be particularly discouraging. One could argue that the high rate of burnout is a result of the apps being overused, but this begs the follow-up question: why does so much time need to be spent on these apps? We refuse to believe it’s because swiping is as fun or addictive as TikTok. More likely, it’s because they are not giving users what they need — or not doing it nearly enough.

In 50 minutes you can read ~40 pages of a book, burn 600 calories on a run, make a loved one’s day with an impromptu phone call, or take that much-needed afternoon nap. This time is too valuable to be spent swiping to dissatisfaction.

There are plenty of theories about the causes of this high rate of exhaustion. Most of them manifest as criticisms against the current suite of apps, and the lack of better alternatives. To be fair, the makers of these apps had a tough job. Dating & relationships are a central component of human life. As important, for many people, as what we choose to eat or where we choose to live. It should never have been expected that the first (second, or third) attempts to capture these complex processes through apps would be a glowing success.

We find the centrality of this problem to human life to be fascinating, and believe that a fundamentally different model could bring the revitalization to online dating it desperately needs. In the early stages of developing of our new dating app, Cheers, which relies on the matchmaking potential of users’ existing network, we asked ourselves two questions:

• 1. Can we boil down the issues people are facing with the current suite of dating apps into a basic set of problems?

• 2. Is there an underlying model for a dating app which elegantly addresses them?

In this article, we open the doors of those initial brainstorming sessions to you.

Characterizing The Problem

A redditor’s entertaining flow chart of their online dating experience. A few quick calculations reveals their rate of matches resulting in an IRL date to be 0.0008%. Sound familiar?

Honestly, the issues plaguing dating apps are so widely discussed nowadays that it feels a bit trite to list them out in a clickbait-y “10 biggest flaws of dating apps” type article. The more important exercise in compiling these problems was to boil them down to something more fundamental — a Root Cause Analysis, per corporate lingo. After putting together an extensive list of common user issues, we categorized them into three main buckets:

NO VETTING

The algorithms are smart. They have a pretty good feel for what you want. But as any user of ChatGPT knows, human touch is a necessary addition to raw computing power. For all their intelligence, algorithms still can’t pick up when a set of images looks sketchy, or when a match looks too good to be true. Plus… are we really SO straightforward that our preferences for a partner can be simplified to a handful of checkboxes? These baseline preferences should be STEP ONE of the equation which determines compatibility — not the entirety of it.

LOW BUY-IN

Due to the overwhelming volume of options, and the dehumanizing + unromantic experience of swiping through hundreds of strangers, people struggle to buy into potential connections. As a result, they have no problem abandoning them on a whim.

ANTISOCIAL

Dating is an inherently social activity. Socializing is (mostly) fun. Restricting the process to an app with no social signals strips dating of this quality, making it rote and depressing. After you’ve shot your shot in the DMs, it’s nice to know that you can calm your nerves in a social environment with puppy videos, wedding pics, and memes. These two worlds should not feel separate.

The Formula for a Bad Swiping Experience

Our (extremely scientific) venn diagram which breaks down the problems with dating apps into three key categories. Of course, the list of problems is not comprehensive, but these are amongst the most common.

Ask yourself a simple question: would you go to a party if one of the factors above (let alone all three) was true? We certainly wouldn’t. And that’s just one night of our lives.

We truly feel that if each of these three categories were adequately addressed by a new model, we’d be on our way to the promised land of online dating. Of course — easier said than done!

Turning Problems into Solutions

Alright, let’s take one key issue at a time.

On the problem of NO VETTING.

Human input needs to be integrated into the dating app architecture to more closely mimic the IRL vetting process which occurs in the early stages of dating. It’s a logical next step that this input should come from the people who know you best. Your friends + family + colleagues + their extended networks are your #1 resource in dating, and they aren’t being relied on nearly enough.

On the problem of LOW BUY-IN.

The reminder that there are plenty of fish in the sea feels great after a breakup, but maybe we don’t need it every time we open a dating app. Instead of dumping us into that cold, vast ocean, why can’t dating apps recreate the cozy vibes of a house party? In this environment, you can rely on “green lights” such as eye contact, an inviting smile, a throwaway comment (how long is this bathroom line!?), or an introduction, instead of chasing down strangers in the street like an excited puppy.

On the ANTISOCIAL problem.

There’s a sense with the current apps that you’re putting forward a version of yourself which is separate from the rest of life. Sure, there are people who are perfectly valid in wanting to keep their dating lives private, but we don’t believe this separation should be the default. Stumbling across the dating profile of someone you know shouldn’t feel like reading their diary. A socialized dating app experience makes the process fun, and allows potential connections to get a more authentic feel for who you are.

Maybe you’ve identified the same through line between these 3 takeaways that we did?

Here it is:

Turning Solutions into Cheers

Cheers incorporates each of the takeaways outlined above by bringing the best of social and dating apps under one safe and friendly roof.

There are so many Cheers features that we’re excited about, but we know you don’t have all day. Here's how it works at a glance.

On Cheers, everyone is a matchmaker.

This is the beating heart of Cheers. Whether you’re seeking a life partner, already have a life partner, or anything in between, to sign up for Cheers is to embrace your inner cupid. Regardless of your relationship status, by using the app you are actively laying the groundwork for your single friends to make a connection with the other singles in your network.

On second thought, “laying the groundwork” sounds too passive. In some cases, you’re driving the car. In the Matchmaking section of Cheers, you can set up your connections by voting on potential matches as a good fit (or not), or reviewing potential matches on behalf of someone in your network. If you deem two people to be a good match, you can share your approval with either person in the party, or both.

You know the friend who’s been in a relationship with their high school sweetheart since 2004 and lives vicariously through the turbulent lives of their single friends? Introduce them to this section and sit back while they put in the hours for you.

Or that friend who claims to know you better than you know yourself… the one that always has that smug “I told you so” face when your relationships fall to pieces? Here is their chance to prove it…

Cheers is a social app, the way social apps used to be, but with a flirty layer on top.

Remember when Instagram used to show you what people in your life were doing? That’s what the Home page of Cheers looks like. People in your network, single or otherwise, share casual updates about their lives to the feed. These posts function just like social networks used to. You’ll be shown what’s relevant to you based on your network. But, let’s not forget that this is a dating app. So when you see that hottie in a picture posted by your friend, say a quick prayer before checking out their profile to see if they’re single. If they are, you can directly request your friend to make the connection (if they’re comfortable doing so).

Cheers recommendations are extremely curated.

We’ve introduced the Home and Matchmaking pages. Last, but not least, is the Today’s Picks page. Single folks — this one is exclusively for you. Each day, 3 algorithmically generated picks will be shared with you based on your dating preferences, with a bias towards people with a mutual connection. Given the dating app models we’re used to, 3 options might seem bizarre. But remember — we’re trying to bring the apps back to reality. Are you choosing between hundreds of options in your day-to-day life? No. In real life, there’s that one person you always make eye contact with at your favorite cafe, or the person you walked past at the grocery store who you recognized from a party and always thought was cute. That’s how real life works. These high-potential connections are the ones we’re trying to capture in Today’s Picks.

Closing Notes

Writing this article has us feeling nostalgic for those early Cheers brainstorming sessions. We knew we were on to an idea that directly addresses the frustrations with today's (soon to be yesterday’s) dating apps, which has the potential to alter the way we think about online dating. Today, with the app up and running with incredible early-user feedback, we believe in the idea more than ever.

As more users join Cheers and our networks become more robust, each user’s personal network of highly vetted, like-minded singles will grow exponentially. And they’ll only be one “ask for an intro” button away.