Match Group's Crown App Turns Online Dating Into A Game

Trending News: Tinder's Newest Rival Wants To Turn Online Dating Into A Game

Why Is This Important?

The folks behind Match, Tinder, OKCupid, PlentyOfFish and more are rolling out a new competitor called Crown, which they hope will disrupt the online dating space. 

Long Story Short

Keeping up with the onslaught of new dating apps and picking the right one for you can be quite the challenge. Intimidating, even. Which is exactly what the newest Tinder rival is on a mission to change. Meet Crown, the app that turns dating into a game. 

Long Story

It's easy to get overwhelmed (and downright confused) when it comes to online dating these days. Between all the apps and sites and matches, it's almost impossible to know if you're finding the right people and FOMO on potential dates is real. Very real. 

Taking this anxiety into consideration, the folks over at Match Group, which owns a slew of sites, from Tinder to (of course) Match.com, came up with an innovative new approach to online dating, turning the process into a fun (and fast!) game.

Enter Crown, the brainchild of Match's product manager, Patricia Parker, who, incidentally, met her husband online. Earlier this year, a study found that Millennials spend an average of 10 hours a week 'dating' online when the ideal amount should be no more than one or two hours to avoid burnout and fatigue. Taking this into consideration, Parker made sure to do things a little differently than usual.

Crown sets itself apart from competitors by not allowing you to swipe your way to oblivion. Instead, it presents you with 16 curated matches - no more, no less - picked via an algorithm, then helps you choose your Top 4 through a game similar to Who'd You Rather? Basically, you're shown two possible dates at a time and forced to pick one until you crown your final four winners. Those matches can then chat with you or pass. 

Here's the app's official description: "Crown is the new dating game in your pocket! Everyday, cute singles vie for your attention in head-to-head competition. Who will win your crown?"

At the same time, you may also be crowned a finalist by someone else, thus getting more matches. Comparing the concept to the Bachelor/Bachelorette, Match Group's VP,  Andy Chen, explained, Crown is meant to "help users choose between quality over quantity" because "research shows that the human brain can only track a set number of relationships [and] technology has not helped us increase this limit.” Hmm, scoring better matches in less time sure does sound nice...

If you're curious, you can download the app on iOS (yes, it's free) or wait for the Android version to be rolled out soon.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question

Is 'traditional' dating basically dead? 

Disrupt Your Feed

There's a new dating app that limits how many matches you get in a day. *gasp* 

Drop This Fact

Online dating surpassed $3 billion (yes, BILLION) in revenue in 2017.