Revealed: Dating Apps with the Highest Carbon Emissions

Revealed: The dating apps with the highest carbon emissions

• 337 million people use dating apps worldwide, with many unaware of the environmental impact of their online dating activity
• A new study by Compare the Market AU looked into the dating apps causing the largest carbon emissions
• Bumble ranked as the app with the lowest carbon impact at 7.8 grams per 30 minutes, while German app Lovoo produced the most emissions at 49.8 grams per 30 minutes

With 337 million people using dating apps worldwide, many daters have taken their love search online. However, many of us might be surprised to learn the environmental impact of all the profile browsing, swiping, and message crafting that comes with using dating apps.¹

As dating apps often rely heavily on data centres and services to host their servers, which can often lead to higher energy consumption than other apps, a new report by the energy comparison experts at Compare the Market AU analysed dating apps using data from Greenspector, to reveal those which have the highest, and lowest, carbon impact.

Bumble tops the dating apps with the lowest carbon emissions

Overall, Bumble ranked as the best performing app for carbon emissions at just 7.8 grams emitted per 30 minutes – assuming that a singular user used the app every day for 30 minutes this would mean that person’s CO2 emissions on the app would total 2,847 grams every year. This efficiency is due to the launch phases on Bumble showing little data initially, and a low number of profiles being preloaded to users of the app.

Tinder, the world’s most downloaded dating app, followed as the second lowest, with 8.4 grams of CO2 emitted every 30 minutes on the platform.² However, considering the platform’s large usership, at 75 million, if every Tinder user was to browse the app for 30 minutes, this would, according to the figures, create 630 million grams of CO2 to be released. ³

Other apps to have relatively low emissions include French dating apps Happn and Adopte Un Mec which emits 11.7 grams and 11.8 grams of CO2 per 30 minutes respectively. Hinge rounds up the top five with 12.4 grams of carbon per 30 minutes spent on the platform.

Lovoo revealed as the dating apps with the highest carbon emissions

On the other hand, the top 5 dating applications with the highest emissions were revealed as:

Emitting over six times the carbon emissions of Bumble, the German dating app Lovoo ranks top, with a carbon impact of 49.8 grams of CO2 per 30 minutes. Despite having a similar number of users to Tinder at 70 million, if every user of Lovoo was to use the app for 30 minutes, this would cause 3.486 billion grams of CO2 to be emitted.⁴

Just behind Lovoo is LGBTQ+ platform Grindr, with an average 30-minute session resulting in 34.3 grams of CO2 being produced. OkCupid (17.8 gEqCO2), Badoo (15.3 gEqCO2) and Fruitz (13.0 gEqCO2) rank third, fourth and fifth respectively, producing carbon emissions significantly lower than Lovoo and Grindr – yet still have a significant impact.

Commenting on the research Compare the Market’s Head of Energy, Meredith O’Brien, said reducing your environmental impact could help you save money on household bills.

“In the modern world, like many other aspects of our everyday life, dating has taken a shift online. However, when using our smartphones, it’s easy to feel disconnected from the amount of energy our apps are consuming,” Ms O’Brien said.

“There are many factors that can impact an apps effect on energy consumption from system inefficiency to use of location services.

“To reduce your environmental impact, consider recharging your phone and other devices during daylight hours if you have solar, using smart plugs to manage the time you leave devices to charge, and where possible turn off or unplug the appliances from the wall when not in use.

“By being sustainable, you can counteract cost-of-living pressures by saving money on your energy bills, too.

“And consider comparing and switching to a carbon neutral or green-powered energy plan to offset or reduce your environmental footprint – whether you’re recharging your phone or running the fans.”

You can find more details on the study, including tips for taking dating offline through the following link: https://www.comparethemarket.com.au/energy/features/social-carbon-footprint-of-online-dating/

ENDS

Sources:

1.  https://www.statista.com/topics/7443/online-dating/#:~:text=In%202023%2C%20the%20number%20of,the%20United%20Kingdom%2C%20and%20Belgium.
2. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1200234/most-popular-dating-apps-worldwide-by-number-of-downloads/
3. https://www.businessofapps.com/data/tinder-statistics/
4. https://www.businessofapps.com/data/tinder-statistics/

Methodology:

This dataset ranks dating apps, based on their carbon footprint. To do this, we analysed the carbon emissions for 30 mins of use on each app. Once the data was collected, the factor was then normalised, to provide each app with a score between 0 and 1. If data was not available, a score of 0 was given. The normalised values were then multiplied by 10, to give each location a total score out of 10. The apps were then ranked from highest to lowest, based on their total scores.

The factors used are as follows:

• Carbon Impact – The carbon impact, in gEqCO2, of using each dating app for the recommended time of 30 minutes.

The factors were indexed as follows:

• Low values get a high score. High values get a low score.

All data is correct as of 30/07/24. The ranking data shown is a compilation of multiple data sources and may not be representative of real life. All data is accurate with regards to the sources provided. To calculate 30 mins worth of carbon emissions for each dating app, we calculated the carbon impact per second and multiplied by 1800.

About comparethemarket.com.au

Compare the Market is a comparison service that takes the hard work out of shopping around. We make it Simples for Australians to quickly and easily compare and buy insurance, energy, and home loans products from a range of providers. Our easy-to-use comparison tool helps you look for a range of products that may suit your needs and benefit your back pocket.

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Author: David Keech

David Keech is a retired teacher and works as a sportswriter, sports official and as an educational consultant. He has reported on amateur sports since 2011, known as 'KeechDaVoice.' David can be reached at [email protected]