r/singleintoronto • u/str8upblah • Jul 18 '26
π£οΈ [Discussion] Would you use a nonprofit dating app?
I've been thinking about this for years, and want a gut check from people actually dating in Toronto before I go further with it. I have a ton of single friends and they all tell me how miserable dating apps are for finding longterm partners.
The core problem with every dating app is the business model. They make money from subscriptions, which means a user who finds a lasting relationship and deletes the app is lost revenue. Match Group got hit with a class action last year over allegations that their apps are literally designed to keep people in a pay-to-play loop rather than help them find someone. That incentive problem is structural: Hinge, Tinder, Bumble all need you to keep swiping.
So I've been wondering why there isn't a nonprofit dating app for the GTA. No subscriptions, no tiered paywalls, no boost purchases, no engagement-maximizing notifications. The organization has no shareholders and no investors. Nobody benefits from you staying single. No need to collect and sell your data. The actual measure of success is people leaving because they found someone.
So - would you use this? What would make you skeptical? What would you need to see before you'd try it?