Match Group launches new dating app Stir for single parents

Match Group, owner of popular dating apps like Tinder, Match.com, OkCupid, and Hinge, rolled out Stir on Monday, an app for single parents. The new dating app focuses on meeting the specific dating needs of single parents in the US that aren’t addressed in mainstream dating apps.

The main feature of the app is ‘Stir Time’, a scheduling option where members can view ‘my time’ along with matches to make it easier for them to coordinate calendars and make sure they don’t get matched with someone who doesn’t have the same free time.

“​​Every year, we survey and interview singles, and every year, we find the same recurring theme: single parents are having a hard time dating,” Dinh Thi Bui, vice president of new verticals at Match Group, told CNN Business. “They felt stigmatized in the dating world, like it is a turn-off to disclose they have children. We also saw that single parents naturally gravitate towards other single parents because they didn’t have to explain their constraints as they were in the same stage of life.”

Stir, which launched on National Single Parent Day, is available on the App Store and Google Play. It is free to download and message others after you match. Premium membership costs $39.99 per month and $89.99 for three months.

Alongside new products like Stir, Match Group also continues to introduce new features on its apps, including a new in-app background check on Tinder using Garbo. 

Dating apps continue to maintain and increase their popularity. Global consumer spending on dating apps increased by 30% since 2020 and 95% since 2018, reaching $4.2 billion in 2021. Last year, the market leader in both app downloads and consumer spending was Match Group’s Tinder.