Computers in Human Behavior Reports 3 (2021) 100055

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Computers in Human Behavior Reports

journal homepage: www.journals.elsevier.com/computers-in-human-behavior-reports

Threaten me softly: A review of potential dating app risks

Anh Phan a, Kathryn Seigfried-Spellar b, Kim-Kwang Raymond Choo a, *
a
Department of Information Systems and Cyber Security, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, 78249, USA
b
Department of Computer and Information Technology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The potential abuse of dating applications (apps), including during the current lockdowns due to COVID-19, has
Dating apps resulted in a growing community of research to learn to what extent the impacts of these apps have on the in-
Online dating dividual's psychological and physiological being, as well as the presumed security of their sensitive information.
Mobile forensics
In this paper, we seek to review the existing literature that encompasses the issues surrounding dating apps.
Dating app artifacts
Dating app risks
Specifically, we focus on crimes that can occur from the use of dating apps, potential mitigation strategies, the
Dating app forensics physiological and psychological effects on not only the general population, but also minority groups, and lastly, an
assessment on the associated cybersecurity risks and potential digital artifacts of interest in criminal in-
vestigations. Although research on dating apps will continue to struggle with the ever-changing technological
landscape, it is important to examine best practices and mitigation strategies that dating app developers can
utilize to create safer platforms. Finally, we conclude this paper with a number of potential research opportunities.

1. Introduction technology-facilitated intimate partner violence affects one in three

Internet dating websites first appeared in the mid-nineties (Brooks,
2011), and in recent times, dating applications (apps) became an
increasing popular way of accessing dating services. The popularity of
dating is partly due to the digitalization of our society and the perva-
siveness of consumer technologies such as smart mobile and wearable
devices (e.g., Android and iOS mobile devices). It has, for example, been
estimated that the number of users will increase steadily in the 30 million
range, with 2019 having 34.9 million dating app users (statista.com).
Dating app usage did not reportedly decrease in the recent COVID-19
lockdowns (businessinsider.co; newshour nation); for example, a recent
media article reported that daily conversations between users of Tinder
and OkCupid have respectively increased by 20% and 30% since March
11, 2020 (fastcompany.com).
Hence, it is not surprising that the research community is interested in
studying dating apps and its usage from different perspectives (Azzahro,
Hidayanto, Maulida, Zhu, & Sandhyaduhita, 2018; Buggs, 2019; Chak-
raborty, 2019; Chan, 2018a, 2018b; Eskridgeet al., 2019; Gavin,
Rees-Evans, & Brosnan, 2019; Zervoulis, Smith, Reed, & Dinos, 2020).
While there are positive aspects associated with the use of such apps
(Buggs, 2019; Lauckner et al., 2019; Mayshak, King, Chandler, & Han-
nah, 2020), there are also potential risks and these risks are not restricted
to cyberspace only. According to Smith et al. (2017),
women and one in six men in the course of their lifetime. In another more
recent PEW study, Anderson et al. (Anderson, Vogels, & Turner, 2020)
found that young women were more likely to report negative experiences
with online dating platforms, including harassment and receiving unso-
licited sexually explicit images. In addition, young women were twice
more likely to receive threats of physical violence compared to young
men (Anderson et al., 2020). In some parts of the UK, the number of
crimes involving dating apps doubled from 2015 to 2018
(refinery29.com).
This is partly due to the fact that dating app users are also seeking to
establish physical, face-to-face relationships after they are connected
online (Kallis, 2020). For example, Queiroz et al. (Queiroz, de Sousa,
Brignol, Araújo, & Reis, 2019) found that a ‘high prevalence of HIV was
observed among MSM [men who have sex with men] 50 years of age and older
who use dating apps’. This is partly due to unsafe sexual practices among
the dating app users, including users who are traveling (Boston, 2015;
Duguay, Burgess, & Suzor, 2020; James, Condie, & Lean, 2019; Vor-
objovas-Pinta & Dalla-Fontana, 2019). For example, according to
Sawyer, Smith and Benotsch (2018), dating app users ‘were twice as likely
to have had unprotected sex’.
There have also been a number of reported incidents involving dating
app users in the media. For example, an individual was reportedly
sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for the rape of two women he had

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: anh.phan@utsa.edu (A. Phan), kspellar@purdue.edu (K. Seigfried-Spellar), Raymond.choo@fulbrightmail.org (K.-K.R. Choo).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2021.100055
Received 31 August 2020; Received in revised form 8 December 2020; Accepted 4 January 2021
Available online 27 January 2021
2451-9588/© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc-nd/4.0/).
A. Phan et al.
met on Tinder between 2016 and 2017 (national/victoria). In another
reported incident, a couple allegedly used dating apps to pick a potential
victim for their sexual fantasy, resulting in a female Tinder match getting
strangled and dismembered (people.com). Another incident involved
Grindr, a popular dating app targeted toward “gay, bi, trans, and queer
people” (see grindr.com), where an individual used the app to rob two
men because they were gay (Mich). In 2019, a list of most dangerous apps
for children from Chron was issued after the arrests of 25 men in a child
sex sting, all of whom used one of the apps (Jordan). Among them were
dating apps, such as Bumble, Grindr, and Badoo. Another risk associated
with the use of dating apps is “cyber-flashing” where unsolicited sexually
explicit material is sent via dating apps. In February 2020, it was reported
that
Senator Connie M. Leyva (D-Chino) and Senator Lena Gonzalez (D-Long
Beach) today introduced the FLASH (Forbid Lewd Activity and Sexual
Harassment) Act, which would establish legal protections for technology
users when they receive unsolicited sexually explicit images and video-
s–also known as ‘cyber flashing’. (Senator leyva introduces flash, 2020)
In addition to the risks faced by app users, there are also potential
risks to the app developer. For example, Wang (Wang et al., 2019) re-
ported that a number of dating platforms were closed down by the Chi-
nese authorities as these platforms provided MSM services.
Some of the risks associated with the use of dating apps also exist with
the use of other online/consumer technologies such as the Internet, social
media, online gaming, and other communication mobile apps (e.g.,
Facebook Messenger and WeChat) (Ayalon & Toch, 2019; Douglass,
Wright, Davis, & Lim, 2018; Gainsbury, Browne, & Rockloff, 2019; Henry
& Powell, 2018; Kochuchakkalackal & Reyes, 2020; Kulyk, Gerber,
Marky, Beckmann, & Volkamer, 2018; Moor & Anderson, 2019; Wu &
Ward, 2019; Zhong, Kebbell, & Webster, 2020). However, these tech-
nologies are generally not designed to facilitate dating (or hook-ups). For
example, as explained by Shield (2019), ‘[p]latforms like Grindr also have
an undeniably sexual online culture, and sometimes the lines between social,
logistical, and sexual requests (or offers) are not clear’ and it has been
suggested that such apps can be, and have been, utilized to facilitate
prostitution (Albury, Burgess, Light, Race, & Wilken, 2017; Brennan,
2017). In addition, some dating apps allow users to post their HIV status,
and this feature (not available on most other online/consumer technol-
ogies) can be exploited by HIV-negative individuals seeking to have sex
with HIV-positive individuals, known as bug chasing (Díaz, Orlando--
Narv
aez, & Ballester-Arnal, 2019). Dating apps may also facilitate sexual
racism and other malicious activities (Carlson, 2019). Hence, we only
focus on dating apps in this paper.
Specifically, we perform a search on Google Scholar and existing
databases (e.g., ACM Digital Library, ScienceDirect, IEEEXplore,
Springerlink, and SAGE Journals) to search for existing literature, using
keywords such as “dating app” AND risks, “dating app” AND crimes,
“dating app” AND “security”, “dating app” AND “safety”, and “dating
app” AND privacy. Then, we review the publications’ abstract, intro-
duction, and conclusion, and categorize these publications as directly
related or not directly related to the potential abuse of dating apps and
their mitigation strategies. Publications that are not directly related to
the topic are excluded.
As part of the search, we locate a small number of reviews (or surveys,
as these two terms are used interchangeably) focusing on dating (app)
Table 1
Existing literature reviews: A comparative summary.
Law Risks Motivations
Studies O'Keefe (2005) ✓
Anzani (Anzani et al., 2018) ✓ ✓
Murphy et al. (Murphy, 2018) ✓ ✓
Ciocca et al. (2020) ✓
This paper ✓ ✓
Computers in Human Behavior Reports 3 (2021) 100055
risks in the literature (see also Table 1). For example, O'Keefe (2005)
reviewed potential risk factors associated with the perpetrators and
victims of dating violence, as well as the effectiveness of existing pre-
vention and intervention programs targeting dating violence. Murphy
(2018) discussed the importance of finding a balance between privacy
interest associated with dating apps and the need for user protection from
crimes that can derive from them, with the most frequently reported
crimes being ‘rape, stalking, and the grooming and sexual exploitation of
children’. The study also provided an overview of the functionality of
dating apps, the different crimes associated with dating apps, and the
legal issues associated with the data stored on them. Anzani et al.
(Anzani, Di Sarno, & Prunas, 2018) focused on how dating apps could be
used to find sexual partners, specifically through apps that use geo-
location, and they examined the sociodemographics of the typical dating
app user, app use patterns, and profile presentation. More recently in
2020, Ciocca et al. (2020) reviewed 34 articles published between 2016
and 2017 to understand the sexual health and sexual behaviors related to
Tinder use.
We observe that existing reviews and surveys on dating apps gener-
ally do not include a cybersecurity or forensic focus, for example in terms
of what digital artifacts can potentially be recovered from either the
device or the app that could compromise the privacy of the users. This
paper addresses this gap by reviewing cybersecurity risks and digital
artifacts associated with data app usage.
In the next section, we will briefly describe the potential criminal
activities associated with the use of dating apps, as well as mitigation
strategies, based on the analysis of 120 articles identified in the litera-
ture. Furthermore, gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men
will collectively be referred to as MSM, unless otherwise noted based on
the original language used by the authors cited.
2. Potential criminal activities and mitigation strategies
While dating apps offer a range of benefits, there are also associated
risks, such as those described in Table 2. These potential risks/activities
are categorized as technology-facilitated sexual violence (TFSV), stalk-
ing, revenge pornography, and doxing (Douglass et al., 2018; Freed et al.,
2018; Henry & Powell, 2018; Zhong et al., 2020).
2.1. Potential criminal activities
Dating apps can be, and have been, abused to facilitate TFSV. Ac-
cording to Choi et al. (Choi, Wong, & Fong, 2018), there are two theories
on the association between the Internet (and in our context, dating apps)
and sexual abuse. One is the ease of accessibility to potential victims from
a much larger pool, and consequently, increases the risk ‘of meeting
someone who's sexually coercive’. The other theory is that people engaging
in online interaction will sometimes share personal and sensitive infor-
mation (e.g., personally identifiable information; PII) or sexually explicit
images or conversations) due to an immediate trust with people they
meet online.
Why is this so? Yeao and Fung (2018) focused on the sociotemporal
patterns underlying dating apps and discovered that ‘the tempo and
sequence with which we interact with someone not only reflect the significance
of our relationship with that person but also affect its perceived quality’. The
study's participants saw the pace of a relationship on the app as an
Crime Function Sociodemographics Psychology Physiology Digital Artifacts
✓
✓ ✓
✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
2
A. Phan et al.
Table 2
Features that can be exploited.
Crimes
Stalking TFSV
Features Geolocation ✓ ✓
Audiovisual exchange ✓ ✓
Chat ✓ ✓
Profile Presentation ✓
attribution of the quality of their connection. The convenience and speed
of dating apps do not stop when users meet a new potential match, but
continues beneath the surface when they decide to “open up” to one
another, even if the meeting time is recent. Such a feature can, however,
be exploited to obtain personal information about one or more users to
facilitate activities, such as cyberstalking or bug chasing. A literature
review of TFSV's effects on adults (Henry & Powell, 2018) distinguished
between three different TFSV behaviors: 1) sexual coercion occurs
through blackmail, bribery, or threats that force a user to take part in
unwanted sexual activity; 2) contact sexual offense refers to the use of
technology to facilitate physical assault (e.g., sexual assault); and 3) the
use of a third-party to assault an app user, based on false identity or
deception.
Stalking is a behavior that may be facilitated by features associated
with dating apps. One example is the popular geolocation feature, which
can be broadly categorized into real-time geolocation (that matches
people in close proximity at the same time) and post-hoc geolocation.
The latter category allows apps to add a temporal overlay as users walk
pass each other repeatedly, thereby showing them as potential matches
(Veel & Thylstrup, 2018). Utilized by many dating apps (e.g., Happn),
this feature would allow a stalker to track thier target in a much more
convenient and accurate way with a greater probability of staying hid-
den. Unlike cyberstalking, physical tracking generally involves a stalker
being in the same physical space as the target in order to learn their daily
routines/routes. Here, the risk of getting caught is higher, but when done
remotely, the culprit is able to do essentially the same task without the
fear of being discovered by the target. Along the same line is a term called
geoslavery, where geolocation is used by a stalker to punish their victim
for ‘location infractions without requiring constant physical surveillance’
(Eterovic-Soric, Choo, Ashman, & Mubarak, 2017). Location infractions
could be the victim visiting anyone deemed a threat by the stalker or
traveling a distance too far from them. Other technological means
include spyware, keyloggers, and even a stalker app (Eterovic-Soric et al.,
2017). Spyware can be used to monitor the victim's computer usage, such
as emails, without their knowledge while keyloggers are able to record
all keystrokes, thus giving the culprit unauthorized access to the in-
dividual's online affairs. The stalker app is a type of spyware for mobile
devices that allows another user to covertly monitor and control the
target's mobile device via geolocation, and also view or block commu-
nication with the target^ a€™s friends and family (Eterovic-Soric et al.,
2017).
One crime not often discussed in the realm of online dating is
nonconsensual pornography. Nonconsensual pornography may be
viewed as a sub-category of cyberharassment (Kamal & Newman, 2016).
Nonconsensual pornography, sometimes referred to as revenge pornog-
raphy, is the distribution of sexually graphic images of individuals
without their consent, often for the purpose of humiliation (Dymock &
van Der Westhuizen, 2019; Hall & Hearn, 2019; Kralji
c & Ünver, 2019;
Wexler, 2018). Sexually explicit or compromising photographs and
videos are often taken and given voluntarily to another individual in the
context of an intimate relationship (also referred to as sexting in the
literature) (Wexler, 2018; Albury & Byron, 2014; Dymock & van Der
Westhuizen, 2019; Franks; Hall & Hearn, 2019; Kralji
c & Ünver, 2019;
Kitchen, 2015; Schreurs, Sumter, & Vandenbosch, 2020; Walrave et al.,
2015).
According to Waldman (Waldman), 10.4 million US internet users
3
Computers in Human Behavior Reports 3 (2021) 100055
Revenge Pornography Attempted Murder Fraud
✓
‘have been threatened or victimized’ by nonconsensual pornography; they
found that participants saw sharing intimate images on dating apps as
necessary for the following reasons. One is that ‘sharing verifies identity’.
The anonymous nature of dating apps could cause users to be cautious
with those they meet online and therefore require the other to share
images that could validate their personal information/identity. The
second reason is that ‘if users want to see what others look like, they have to
share first’. The same way one partner in a relationship opens up about
themselves because the other has already done so, exchanging intimate
images could be seen as an online form of reciprocating and building
trust. The last reason mentioned is that sharing these images allows body
positivity and sexual freedom. The study also gave three reasons as to
why dating apps should be studied as platforms for revenge pornography.
The first reason is the wide use of online dating platforms. The second is
that dating apps are ‘designed to promote and facilitate the free disclosure of
intimate images and other personal information’. The app can only provide
users with suitable matches if they are willing to share with it personal,
and sometimes sensitive, information - information that at one point in
time was usually only shared with close friends or family members.
Thirdly, the study recalls that ‘apps remind us that our embodied,
phenomenological social experiences are simultaneously digital and physical’,
meaning that dating apps are created with the ultimate goal of joining
two users, who met online, together in the real world by using features
that follow both the individual's physical and online presence. These
reasons open dating app users to the potential of being victimized by the
very same information they decided to share with that app's community.
Similar findings have also been echoed in other studies (Fehlbaum &
Bowden, 2020; Riggs & Punyanunt-Carter, 2020; Snaychuk & O'Neill,
2020).
Finally, along with the sexual images, ex-partners often post identi-
fying information, including work address (14 percent), email (26
percent), and the victim's full name (59 percent) (cybercivilrights.org).
This sharing of personal documents is known as doxing. Doxing, also
spelled doxxing, refers to “dropping documents” that disclose a person's
identifying information on the internet to retaliate against and harass the
outed person. Like nonconsensual pornography, doxing is a form of
cyberharassment (Citron, 2014; Douglas, 2016; Freed et al., 2018). Ac-
cording to Douglas (2016), doxing falls under threat categories: dean-
onymization (i.e., victim loses anonymity), targeting (victim loses
obscurity), and delegitimization (i.e., victim loses credibility). For vic-
tims of intimate partner violence, ex-partners may release sexually
explicit photos as a form of delegitimization (Douglas, 2016). In addition,
the release of personally identifiable information can expose the victim to
cyberharassment (Blanch & Hsu, 2016).
2.2. Potential mitigation strategies
While there are potential mitigation strategies and solutions, we first
must examine the assumptions that app developers make when creating
online programs, and whether those assumptions are a part of the
problem or solution when discussing the potential dangers of dating
apps. For example, Bivens and Hasinoff (2018) examined 807 features of
215 anti-rape apps to examine if and how mobile apps address sexual
violence. If sexual violence can be facilitated by technology, so can the
perceptions of it. 87% of the apps' features were designed for potential
victims, 12% designed for bystanders, and 1% for perpetrators where the
A. Phan et al.
features either targeted incident intervention or education and aware-
ness. For the potential victims, 80% of the features were made ‘to be used
during a specific incident’ – alerting a list of contacts about the incident or
monitoring the user with GPS to alert contacts if they remained idle too
long or veered off a suggested route. While these elements might sound
reassuring, they would most likely be ineffective in a real attack because
they do not address the various forms of coercion a perpetrator would
probably use nor are they specific to the various circumstances a po-
tential victim may find themselves in. Bivens and Hasinoff argued that
the prominence of Incident Intervention features and ‘victim-centric ap-
proaches’ in anti-rape apps do not challenge rape myths, but rather
reinforce the two most common ones, namely: sexual violence is pri-
marily committed by strangers and ‘potential victims are responsible for
preventing sexual violence through personal vigilance and risk reduction’.
Thus, the support the apps provide do not reduce our society's tendency
toward victim-blaming. This is similar to the study by Debnam and
Kumodzi (2019) on adolescents' viewpoints on a safety planning app
designed to address sexual violence (the authors focused on adolescents
due to the issue of teen dating violence). The teenage participants found
that the app was designed to address common perceptions of sexual
abuse – gender exclusiveness and generalized safety dilemmas. However,
the app's language implied that females were always the victims and
seemed to assume only heterosexual relationships. As for the safety di-
lemmas, the participants noted that the app poorly addressed psycho-
logical abuse – a form of abuse that they believed was ‘strongly present in
their relationships’.
Other potential solutions to facilitate the design of safety apps and
staying safe when dating online are summarized in Table 3. In Debnam
and Kumodzi (2019), youth proposed installing quicker ways in safety
apps to help a friend in a dangerous situation, such as having a button
that when clicked would provide immediate service or instructions when
in an emergency. Bivens and Hasinoff (2018) also explored various so-
lutions for both the victim and perpetrator. As discussed earlier, the
common myths of sexual assault cause app developers to create programs
that do not necessarily aid in fighting against a rape culture in which
victim-blaming occurs. It was also explained that new apps can ‘facilitate
collective forms of resistance to rape culture by coordinating and collecting
testimonies of personal experiences’, such as making anonymous reports
with the option to pursue the case only if another person reports the same
assailant (Bivens & Hasinoff, 2018). However, apps seem to lack edu-
cation on effective self-defense techniques, emotional and physical
self-defense training, or other resources that could provide better pro-
tection against perpetrators. The study also stated that ‘it is clear that an
effective anti-rape app would need to be part of a broader rape prevention
program’ (Bivens & Hasinoff, 2018). The most successful programs pro-
vided, over a long period of time beginning in teenage years, education
that aimed to break gender stereotypes and relationships and focused on
empathy for the victim, rather than placing blame. Aware that potential
perpetrators ‘would likely not seek out an app on their own’, Bivens and
Hasinoff suggested ‘the use of such an educational app [to] be required in
schools or workplaces … and as part of a comprehensive evidence-based sexual
violence prevention program’ (Bivens & Hasinoff, 2018).
Table 3
Potential mitigation strategies against dating app-facilitated crime.
Strategy Effective Against
Install app features with immediate Unsuspecting emergencies
help
Collect testimonies of personal Victim-blaming in rape culture
experiences
Training in emotional þ physical Perpetrators that try to cause emotional þ
self-defense physical harm
Educational programs over a long Breaking stereotypes in gender þ
time period relationships
4
Computers in Human Behavior Reports 3 (2021) 100055
What all of these potential solutions have in common is their goal of
breaking the common myths associated with sexual assault. As mobile
apps are so ubiquitous in today's society, the potential change these so-
lutions could have may be able to impact the way society perceives sexual
violence, and thus help so many individuals move past the common
myths that exist in today's safety apps. However, it is also not realistic to
expect app developers to be responsible in mitigating all risks due to the
use of dating apps. For example, a background check on an app user can
only reveal previous criminal history but not predict future offending.
3. Physiology
One aspect of dating apps' risks that literature reviews lack is the
possible effects dating apps have on the individual's physiology. This
section will focus on the association of dating app use with sexual
behavior and unhealthy image perception, specifically eating disorders.
Due to the geosocial-networking (GSN) feature of many dating apps,
meeting a potential match face-to-face (FTF) has reached a new level of
convenience and speed that may be seen by many as lucrative. However,
because of this convenience, some users may be more motivated to
engage in risky sexual behaviors, such as sex without protection or with
the use of drugs. Hahn et al. (2018) conducted two experiments with the
goal of highlighting “the importance of understanding GSN app use in the
spread” of risky sexual behaviors “among emerging adults.” However,
the study found no statistical difference between users and non-users.
However, Choi et al. (2016) explored the association between dating
app use and risky sexual behaviors among college students and found
that the use of dating apps was associated with having more sexual
partners, more unprotected intercourse, increased likelihood of incon-
sistent condom use, and not using a condom in their most recent sexual
encounter. Choi et al. also believe that individuals who are sexually
active may be more likely to use dating apps because of their convenience
and accessible nature. Again, this research suggests dating apps may
facilitate risky sexual behaviors.
Before discussing the relationship between dating apps and eating
disorders, it is important to understand the underlying issue: image
perception. This stems from the Objectification Theory, which tries to
explain the pervasive tendency to equate humans (in particular, women,
but this section focuses on both genders) with their bodies (Calogero,
2012). Sexual objectification involves the fragmentation of a person into
a collection of sexual parts, thus stripping them of a personality so that
they exist merely as a body. To objectify oneself (called
self-objectification) means to adopt a third-person perception instead of a
first-person one, thus placing greater value on how one appears to others
instead of how one feels. This creates “an objectified body” that is
“malleable, measurable, and controllable.” Research suggests dating app
users prioritize physical appearance to any other feature of a person's
profile (Shimokobe and Mirandaa). This emphasis on evaluation by
physical appearance led Coor et al. (2016) to examine the association
between dating apps and disordered eating. A large body of evidence
indicates self-objectification directly predicts more disordered eating
behaviors (Calogero, 2012). Coor et al. expected to find that dating app
users would demonstrate elevated rates of unhealthy weight control
behavior (UWCB) compared to non-users; six UWCBs were identified
including fasting, diet pill use, and anabolic steroid use among the male
and female participants. Laxative use was 11.7% while 25% reported
vomiting for weight control. Dating app users had significantly higher
odds of UWCBs compared to non-users, with female users having
2.3–26.9 times the chance of engaging in all six behaviors and male users
having 3.2–14.6 times the chance. This study highlighted an
under-researched issue associated with the use of dating apps. The
attention paid to physical appearance on dating apps may cause users to
feel pressured by the probability of success – number of matches,
exchanged messages. To increase that probability, they may be motivated
to take potentially harmful actions in order to fit into their belief of
accepted physical beauty and thus be accepted by those online.
A. Phan et al. Computers in Human Behavior Reports 3 (2021) 100055

4. Psychology offline world continued to have high dating anxiety when using the on-
line platform. Future researchers should be aware of these contradicting
Majority of the research on dating apps explored the psychological ideas when investigating the impact self-esteem may have on a person's
impact and reasons why people seek dating online. This section discusses dating preferences online.
the factors for using dating apps, the dangers, and the unique effect The motivation of sexuality has two perceptions – to meet someone of
dating apps have on minority groups. the same sexual orientation or to gratify one's sexual desires using the
most convenient tool. The Solis and Wong study (Solis & Wong, 2019)
found that women were more motivated by self-esteem and sociability to
4.1. Contributing factors use dating apps while men were more motivated by sexuality. The latter
concurs with Sevi et al.‘s (2018) finding that men's use of the popular
Table 4 summarizes five key motivations of using dating apps. dating app, Tinder, for casual sex was positively correlated with socio-
For many users, the impact of dating apps resides psychologically by sexuality – a person's willingness to take part in uncommitted sexual
playing a role in shaping how the individual perceives oneself. Solis and activity.
Wong (2019) investigated the motivations behind dating app use and Another motivation to consider because of its psychological inheri-
found that the most popular reason was fun and ease of connectivity. tance is attachment orientation, as examined by Chin et al. (2019).
Many enjoyed the app's ability to allow easy communication with a large, Attachment orientation has two dimensions – anxiety and avoidance.
diverse population; this was also found by Chin et al. (2019) where the Those with higher attachment anxiety enjoy physical intimacy while
reason for dating app use with the highest frequency was to “meet having concerns about abandonment; those with high attachment
others.” Three other popular reasons were self-esteem, sociability, and avoidance dislike physical intimacy while those low in both dimensions
sexuality. Again, because of the Internet's capability of vast communi- are typically securely attached and feel comfortable in a relationship.
cation, users found that dating apps provided another avenue to meet Thus, “anxious and avoidant attachments emerged as significant pre-
new people with whom friendships could be made, in addition to or dictors of reports of reasons to use dating apps,” where “people who
instead of, meeting people for romantic purposes. Self-esteem could be reported higher anxious attachment reported greater likelihood of dating
taken in two ways. One perception is that individuals with low app use,” and the higher the person's avoidant attachment, the less likely
self-esteem may wish to use a dating app due to the possibility that their they were to use dating apps (Chin et al., 2019). The potential reasons for
profile will receive positive reactions (i.e., many matches, many mes- the former finding have already been discussed. As for the latter, the
sages and likes). For those who fear rejection and/or have trouble reason lies in the theory that those with avoidant attachment tend to stay
meeting people physically, dating apps provide a unique mode of emotionally distant from others, including intimacy. Thus, it is possible
communication in that they are given the opportunity to become familiar that they have less motivation to use dating apps. It should be noted,
with strangers without having to meet them in person, thus taking away however, that this study was correlational and not causal. While it is
the pressure they may feel in physical social situations. This could also be plausible for an individual to use/not use a dating app based on a certain
seen as dating anxiety where people with high dating anxiety may be attachment orientation, it is also plausible for one's attachment orienta-
more likely to use dating apps because of the ease of communication tion to shift because of dating app use. Nevertheless, the impact that
(Sumter & Vandenbosch, 2019). In Chin et al. (2019), results showed attachment orientation on dating app use should be further examined by
people who were more anxious were more likely to use dating apps. future research.
Despite this common viewpoint, however, the same study's survey
showed those who were low in dating anxiety had a higher likelihood of 4.2. Dangers
using dating apps. In addition, those with high dating anxiety in the
Dating apps can also be used as a platform to engage in behaviors that
Table 4 would be considered as potentially dangerous, psychologically, by
Motivations of using dating apps. others. Table 5 presents some potential risks associated with dating apps
Motivations Definition Studies and the studies that highlighted them. Two potential dangers – deception
and geolocation – will now be explored.
Fun & Ease of To easily explore profiles & (Anzani et al., 2018; Chin,
Connectivity meet new people Edelstein, & Vernon, 2019; Due to the possibility of anonymity in the online world, many dating
Rosenfeld, Thomas, & Hausen, app users could find themselves communicating with a fabricated profile.
2019; Veel & Thylstrup, 2018; Even though many dating apps use links to other social media “as a
Yeo & Fung, 2018) warranting cue to hamper deception,” (Murphy, 2018) people can still
Eating Unhealthy eating behaviors (Calogero, 2012; Shimokobe and
Disorders to control online image Mirandab)
get away with hiding behind a fabricated online persona. Doing so causes
perception potential dangers for the victims to arise, such as coaxing them into
Sexuality To fill sexual gratification or (Blackwell, Birnholtz, & Abbott, sharing sensitive information or agreeing to meet FTF to discover too late
to meet others of the same 2015; Chan, 2018a, 2018b; Choi that they are someone completely different. Duncan and March (2019)
sexual orientation et al., 2016; Ferris & Duguay,
investigated whether gender, sadism, and the Dark Triad – Psychopathy
2019; Hahn et al., 2018; Sawyer
et al., 2018; Sevi, Aral, & (empathy deficits), Machiavellianism (cunning behavior to reach one's
Eskenazi, 2018; Solis & Wong, own goals), and Narcissism (exaggerated self-importance) – could predict
2019; Sumter & Vandenbosch, antisocial behaviors, like deception, on a dating app known as Tinder.
2019; Waldman; Wu & Ward, They believed that gender and the Dark Traid would predict significant
2018)
Self-esteem To feel a greater sense of (Anzani et al., 2018; Hallam,
variance in the perpetration of antisocial online behaviors. Results sug-
confidence from the Walrave, & Backer, 2018; gested that while gender was not a significant predictor of antisocial use
validation of others Shimokobe and Mirandab) (which goes against prior research that showed men were more likely to
Love To find a committed (Anzani et al., 2018; Chan, have antisocial behaviors; this could be due to the survey having an
relationship 2018a, 2018b; Sawyer et al.,
uneven balance of females and males), the four different psychological
2018; Solis & Wong, 2019)
Social To find social relationships/ (Franco, 2019, p. 91; Anzani traits were all significantly positive predictors of antisocial-general use.
friendships et al., 2018; Bivens & Hoque, The anonymity of the Internet may motivate people to participate in
2018; Chan, 2018a, 2018b; Chin antisocial behaviors by existing through any kind of online persona they
et al., 2019; Lauckner et al., desire, thus creating a separation between the online persona and one's
2019; Sawyer et al., 2018)
true self. Whether this type of separation exists could be a notable topic to

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A. Phan et al. Computers in Human Behavior Reports 3 (2021) 100055

Table 5 following discussion will elaborate assess geolocation on the basis of

Risks associated with the use of dating apps. psychology. One study (Veel & Thylstrup, 2018) discussed geolocation
Risks Definition Studies from a cultural-theoretical viewpoint to help understand its flaws in the
world of dating apps. It looked to German sociologist, George Simmel,
Lies & Causing someone to accept a (Anzani et al., 2018; Ferris &
Deception false claim as the truth to reach Duguay, 2019; Henry & Powell, who saw the stranger as someone who may be a member of a group in
a certain goal with them 2018; Hu et al., 2020; Lauckner spatial, but not social, terms. This “familiar stranger,” as built upon by
et al., 2019; Markowitz & Stanley Milgram, is a person whom one recognizes regularly – the person
Hancock, 2018; Murphy, 2018; seen on the train every morning or a classmate in a weekly yoga session.
Shetty, Grispos, & Choo, 2020)
Sexual Risk Unsafe sexual behaviors (e.g., (Anzani et al., 2018; Choi et al.,
When an encounter occurs outside of that regular environment, the in-
bug chasing) 2016; Coor et al., 2016; Duncan dividuals who are “familiar strangers” are more likely to interact with
& March 2019; Hahn et al., one another instead of with complete strangers because their regular
2018; Sawyer et al., 2018; YSet spatial encounters are seen as something shared. This can be applied to
al, 2019)
dating apps that match users based on their physical proximity because it
Dangerous Those who cause physical & (Bivens & Hasinoff, 2018;
People psychological harm to others Carlson, 2019; Choi et al., 2018; contains the theory of the “familiar stranger” – in that a person within
purposefully Debnam & Kumodzi, 2019; one's temporal space will have some common ground and therefore be a
Eterovic-Soric et al., 2017; better match than someone outside of it. While this can give users a
Gillett, 2018; Henry & Powell, “reassuring sense of urgency” since it provides opportunities for romantic
2018; Lauckner et al., 2019;
Murphy, 2018; Scannell, 2019;
endeavors within physical proximity, there still exists a fine line between
Shetty et al., 2020; Stoicescu, the familiar stranger and someone who evolves into a stalker. Because
Matei, & Rughinis, 2019; Veel & stalking involves repeating ordinary routine behavior that then turns
Thylstrup, 2018) menacing toward the target, geolocation is a resembling attribute due to
Cyber Allowing one's personal (Atkinson, Mitchell, Rio, &
its spatio-temporal configuration that emphasizes repetition as a
information to potentially be Matich, 2018; Cahyani, Choo,
accessed without permission Ab Rahman, & Ashman, 2019; matching criterion. The trouble then lies in the concept of the familiar
Choo, Farnden, & Martini, 2015; stranger. If perceived as a potential romantic partner with whom there is
Kim, Kim, Lee, Kim, & Kim, a common ground, a prospective stalker may see no restriction in their
2018; Mata, Beebe, & Choo, attempt to become intimate with and gain knowledge about the target;
2018; Murphy, 2018; Shetty
the repetitive nature geolocation can possess in dating apps may cause
et al., 2020; Waldman)
Harassment Repeatedly attacking another (Franco, 2019, p. 91; Bivens & that person to view the other as someone they must interact with by
person to make them feel Hasinoff, 2018; Bivens & whatever means possible, even if those means evolve into dangerous or
aggressive pressure or Hoque, 2018; Carlson, 2019; inappropriate endeavors.
intimidation Chan, 2018a, 2018b; Duncan &
March 2019; Gillett, 2018;
Henry & Powell, 2018; 4.3. Minority groups
Lauckner et al., 2019; Murphy,
2018; Scannell, 2019; As previously discussed, understanding the effect of dating apps on
Waldman) minority groups is an understudied area. For example, the experiences of
minority groups with regard to online dating may be unique to their
explore as individuals' online presences become more prominent in the characteristic(s), whether that be sexual orientation, lifestyle, or
modern age. Continuing in the world of deception, Markowitz and ethnicity. Even though one may think that the rise of online dating would
Hancock (2018) evaluated the frequency of this act in exchanged mes- offer the benefit of being able to expand one's knowledge about various
sages between dating app users; specifically, when lies occurred during types of individuals and lifestyles, users may still have negative experi-
the three important periods in an online dating relationship: 1) the ences that reflect common stereotypes. Three groups will now be dis-
profile stage where users try to give their best presentation through their cussed to further explain those experiences – users in rural communities,
profile; 2) the matching stage that shows which users are compatible women, and those in the LGBTQ þ community.
with whom; and, 2) the discovery stage when two matches have estab-
lished mutual interest and begin communicating. Deception does not 4.3.1. Rural communities
necessarily stop after the user creates their profile, but may continue into There is little research on dating app experiences within rural com-
the communicating process in order to “fulfill certain impression man- munities despite the constant expansion of technologies. This is, perhaps,
agement goals.” The authors categorized messages in three ways, due to the fact that most dating apps use location as a key feature to
namely: self-presentation lies, butler lies (messages for availability perform matching and the population of dating app users in rural areas is
management), and other. One key finding was that nearly two-thirds of likely to be (significantly) lower. A follow-up question would then be
deceptive messages involved self-presentation and butler lies, where the whether or not online dating experiences would differ between those
latter took up 30%. The less a user liked their partner, the more likely living in and out of urban areas, as well as those from a different culture
they were to give a butler lie to appear unavailable. As for or ethnicity. For example, Carlson (2019) looked at the experiences of
self-presentation lies, messages confirmed that users often lied to amplify Indigenous Australians. It was found that Indigenous people struggle
their attractiveness. Another finding was that more lies were created at between the public and private self due to expectations from family,
the start of the interaction than the end, but the magnitude of lies community, and the workplace, which at times results in strategic out-
remained similar for both periods. Despite these deceptive behaviors that ness – a process where people assess certain social situations before
evidently exist in dating app communications, participants of another deciding what to disclose. For example, a gay Aboriginal man said he had
study (Lauckner et al., 2019) felt that they were simply a part of the not come out as gay on Facebook, but regularly used Grindr to meet other
dating app experience. This could be interpreted as a growing mindset gay men. He reportedly saw Facebook as his public self and Grindr as his
that inappropriate behaviors like deception should be expected and/or private self.
accepted in the world of online dating. Such an interpretation should not Other gay Indigenous men in the study revealed that they have been
be ignored by future research. subject to racism on dating apps, specifically sexual racism where sexual
The second danger to explore revolves around geolocation, a feature preference is based on racial exclusion. This could include profiles
already discussed as a facilitator for crimes such as stalking. The explicitly saying which ethnicity they did not desire or being sent racist
messages simply based on profiles (Lauckner et al., 2019). While chatting

6
A. Phan et al.
with a potential partner, one participant was sent a racial comment about
Aboriginal people and after taking offense, “was then sent a barrage of
texts similar” to the first. Similar to these participants, eight Aboriginal
women in the study revealed that they received numerous Tinder mes-
sages with “sinister undertones” for sexual violence once they disclosed
themselves as Aboriginal.
Having to maintain one's online profile in order to avoid possible
penalties from the other romantic party is something Indigenous people
are familiar with, coming from remote areas, having to navigate unfa-
miliar cultural landscapes while keeping aware of the perceptions of both
sides.
4.3.2. Women
A popular dating app known as the “first feminist dating app,”
Bumble, was studied (Bivens & Hoque, 2018) to analyze the intersections
between gender, sex, and sexuality on dating apps. It was noted that in
2015, there were one million users on the app and that by 2017, it had
increased to 18 million. The MeToo movement was mentioned as a
possible trigger for this rise in female users “who were tired of being
spammed with annoying messages” – females who wanted to experience
something other than the traditional heterosexual romantic occurrences.
However, what Bivens and Hoque (2018) found was that the logic of
Bumble was perhaps more restricting than what the creators intended – a
dating app that allowed women to take the lead in communicating with
potential partners. Its logic “relies on policing the male body as if it al-
ways exists in an intrinsically brusque and brash state of being,” only able
to act in a savage form of masculinity. This assumes that a male seeking
potential partners will by nature act “uncivil” and will be unable to
behave in any other way, thus creating a clearly narrow “construction of
masculinity.” In the same breath, the female user is seen as naturally
more genteel. The issue with this construction is that despite the app's
goal of breaking down the gender stereotypes often seen in the dating
world, they are still evident in the way Bumble perceives each gender's
natural behavior. A female user stated that after sending the first message
to a male, the control was taken right back by him.
What Bumble and other “feminist” dating apps are trying to accom-
plish lies in the perspective of techno feminism, which sees technology as
something that co-evolves with gender relations. Chan (2018a, 2018b)
looked at this perspective through the experiences of heterosexual
women in China. The significance in dating app use for the interviewed
women included the following. Because they felt the education system in
China provided little for its citizens to think about intimacy or sexuality,
dating apps gave an environment where they could do further explora-
tion and come to their own conclusion about the relationship between
sex and love. Dating apps also made it easier to expand their relationship
pool, a feature that has been explained before. The apps also provided
women with new social avenues. Many saw it as a third place between
home and the workplace where social interactions could occur; many
informants even felt that their social lives were on dating apps. Because
they have people from all walks of life, they also felt that they could learn
and explore new experiences. Despite these benefits, there is still stigma
against using a dating app in China that could even hurt a person's
reputation. Some informants had first-hand negative judgements for
using dating apps and to earn approval, would have to prove their
innocence by doing something like deleting the app in front of the other
person. Another challenge the informants experienced was handling
sexual harassment. All of them reported being asked for hook-ups, which
reflects the public impression that dating apps are mainly used for sexual
meetings. To combat these sometimes unwanted efforts, the informants
would either explicitly say in their profiles that they did not desire
hookups or report harassment within the app. One participant felt she
had more power as a female dating app user than as an employee because
of her ability to report harassment and then see the profile get deleted.
Gillett (2018) states that “little is known to date about women's
everyday lived experiences of intimate intrusions facilitated through
dating apps.” Where there is the issue of “gendered cyberhate” on various
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Computers in Human Behavior Reports 3 (2021) 100055
Internet platforms, there is also the potential for female users on dating
apps to experience hostile interactions and/or online harassment, such as
inappropriate images, offensive messages or threats. Women in another
study reported making changes to their lives because of the aggressive
messages received (Franco, 2019, p. 91). Occurrences like this show that
dating experiences in the real and online world have continued to be
similar in their negativity where men “simply feel more comfortable with
making women less comfortable” (Franco, 2019, p. 91). Currently, it is
unclear if women's experiences of intimate intrusions through dating
apps are more similar to dating abuse or sexual harassment and it may be
the case that the two behaviors overlap (Gillett, 2018). What this high-
lights is the still-present ambiguity in the different relationships when it
comes to the mistreatment of females; many do not even report sexual
harassment as the commonality of it makes them think it is part of the
everyday experience. Because of the lack of insight on women's experi-
ences with intimate intrusions through dating apps, there are some
questions to consider in order to move forward: how do women under-
stand intimate intrusions and what do they do in response? What is the
impact of intimate intrusions and how do online platforms address the
abuse that can take place?
4.3.3. LGBTQþ
There is a growing number of dating apps that have specific de-
mographics in mind, one of them being the LGBTQ þ community. It was
found that, in a pool of 541 respondents for one study, there were more
non-heterosexual dating app users than their counterparts (Sumter &
Vandenbosch, 2019). In Texas alone in 2019, there's a LGBTQ þ popu-
lation estimate of 500,000 to 1.4 million with neighboring states con-
taining 50,000 to 199,000 (lgbtmap.org). As the community grows larger
and meets more attention in society, so does the amount of research
interested in how individuals of this group interact and are affected by
dating apps. Interviewees who used Grindr (Blackwell et al., 2015)
viewed the platform as a virtual place where they were co-situated with
similar people, “like having a gay bar in my pocket.” There are two
reasons for this. One is that in cities where there are few or no physical
spaces for gay, trans, and bisexual men to meet, apps like Grindr can
provide those spaces and allow users to interact as similarly as they
would if in a physical space. The other reason lies in the possibility that
an individual who has not “come out” yet publicly would still be able to
express their sexuality on the app. This reason is one more unique to
LGBTQ-targeted apps than those that do not necessarily target this de-
mographic. In the States, 46% of LGBTQ þ individuals remain closeted in
the workplace for reasons such as not wanting to be stereotyped or
worrying if doing so would cause the loss of relationships with
co-workers (Paul). 53% of LGBTQ þ employees have reported hearing
jokes made about their community when working. It is evident that there
are still spaces where LGBTQ þ people either feel uncomfortable to
reveal their identity or have to gauge whether it is LGBT-friendly first.
Again, apps like Grindr give individuals opportunities to explore their
sexuality and interact with others similar to them while still allowing
them to keep it private in their physical environments; being able to meet
“someone who is also gay, also about the same age … also looking for the
same thing you're looking for, just seems less likely to hurt you than
someone else who does not share the same personal narrative”
(Waldman).
One aspect that many users of Grindr (can be applicable to other
LGBTQ-targeted apps too) have discussed is the prioritization/emphasis
on the physicality of users. Like other dating apps, profile pictures are the
first things seen by users searching for matches. Depending on what is
shown in those pictures, such as one's face versus a certain body part,
different cues on the user's intentions will be interpreted. For example,
one interviewee (Blackwell et al., 2015) said that in order to convey that
he was looking for more social interactions than casual sex, his profile
picture contained his face instead of a torso “because that may be taken
as looking for sex.” The opposite was also evident as another individual,
through his profile pictures, made it explicit that he was on the app for
A. Phan et al.
sexual encounters. The emphasis on how a person looks physically in
dating apps could lead to the issue of racism. Waldman (Waldman) saw
that multiple users have seen profiles stating ethnicities that were not
desired and that even after reporting them, would not see those profiles
get taken down. A platform that does not enforce ways to give users a
safer environment and/or ignore those who do not feel safe potentially
allows for other offensive behaviors to arise. This could be seen as a
particularly significant issue for the LGBTQ þ community since, as
mentioned earlier, many join LGBTQ-targeted apps to meet people with
whom they can relate and thus feel more comfortable with.
Another issue deriving from this emphasis on physicality is noncon-
sensual or revenge pornography. 15% of LGB users have been affected by
this act compared to the 4% of general US internet users (Waldman).
With this in mind, is it possible that MSM dating app users are more
frequently threatened with or victimized by non-consensual image
sharing than the general population? Waldman (Waldman) discovered
that 14.5% of the 917 participants reported someone on a dating app had
made public their intimate images without consent and that more than
68% cared if their images were shared with others. There was a senti-
ment made by many that someone sharing photos of his attractive
physique would not have a problem if those photos spread beyond his
knowledge. 82.6% agreed that sharing photos is a necessary part of the
process of meeting people on apps like Grindr. The “lax approach” – as
said by one participant – when it comes to sharing intimate images in the
gay community suggests “that some gay men … on dating apps do not
understand the privacy invasions inherent in sharing graphic images
without consent.” Knowing this, future research could attempt at finding
if comparisons exist in the culture and interactions between dating apps
that target LGBTQ þ individuals and their heterosexual counterparts.
Another potential solution, as suggested by Brandtzaeg, Pultier and Moen
(2019), is to adopt privacy-by-design, where users have to opt-in to share
data with the app provider and any third-party entity.
Finally, dating apps, like Grindr, provide an opportunity for MSM to
engage in serosorting (Newcomb, Mongrella, Weis, McMillen, & Mus-
tanski, 1999). Serosorting is the selection of sexual partners based on the
individual and his partner's HIV status (Parsons et al., 2005, 2006), for
there are a number of HIV biomedical prevention strategies, including
antiretroviral therapy (ART), pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and
post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). According to Newcomb et al. (1999), it
is not uncommon for MSM to disclose their use of biomedical prevention
strategies on dating apps. In Newcomb et al.‘s study, the majority of MSM
who made these disclosures specifically requested to have condomless
anal sex (CAS). Newcomb et al. (1999) concluded ‘dating apps may provide
a more efficient and less stigmatizing environment in which HIV-positive MSM
can disclose their status and seek partners to whom transmission is less likely’
due to their use of biomedical prevention strategies. However, a meta
analysis by Purcell et al. (Purcell, Higa, Mizuno, & Lyles, 2017) suggests
that although serosorting may be a strategy for reducing HIV risk when
condoms are not consistently used, for HIV-negative MSM who consis-
tently use condoms, the switch to serosorting is more risky. Future
research should continue to explore the role of serosorting on dating apps
for men seeking sex with men.
Although dating apps provide a mechanism for disclosure of HIV
status, and subsequent serosorting, it may also lend itself to a type of
fetish referred to as bug chasing. Bug chasers “fetishize semen from an
HIV-positive man and wish to be infected by it” (Jaspal, 2019). In other
words, the HIV-negative man seeks to have unprotected sex with an
HIV-positive man with the primary motivation being HIV infection (Díaz
et al., 2019). Research suggests only a small minority of MSM are bug
chasers (García-Iglesias, 2019); however, the exact prevalence is difficult
to determine for several reasons (Jaspal, 2019). First, it is illegal in some
countries to deliberately infect a person with HIV (i.e., the person who
infects the bugchaser is referred to as the gift giver). Second, it is
considered a stigmatized sexual behavior (Jaspal, 2019). However,
Garcia-Iglesias (2019) argues that bug chasers do not necessarily exhibit
a fixed identity, but instead, their fetish can be ‘fluid and evolving’. In
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Computers in Human Behavior Reports 3 (2021) 100055
addition, biomedical prevention strategies now complicate fantasy
versus reality, in that bug chasers can ‘play out their fantasies while
remaining safe from HIV’ (García-Iglesias, 2019). Overall, dating apps
allow MSM to share their HIV status, which may be a strategy for
reducing HIV risk. However, it can also facilitate risky sexual behaviors,
such as bug chasing.
So far, only apps like Grindr, which specifically target the LGBTQ þ
community, have been mentioned. One study, however, wanted to see
the experiences of women in this community on the Tinder app (Ferris &
Duguay, 2019). Despite Tinder's ability to switch sexual preferences so
that only those who also had those preferences would show up, partici-
pants still reported the opposite sex showing up. In this case, women
seeking women (WSW) said that men and heterosexual women still
showed up in a space thought to only allow other WSWs. Some believed
that these profiles switched their sexual preferences to do things such as
sway the potential partner's mind, act deceptively, or suggest unwanted
sexual acts. These intrusions caused participants to not see Tinder as a
queer women-friendly space. Another problem found was that the lesbian
digital imaginary that many saw within Tinder, such as the expectation
that users would make static claims about their sexual identity or their
stereotype-filled references to LGBTQ þ culture, made users feel as if
their identities were stigmatized. Within dating apps – that do not
necessarily target a certain demographic while still allowing for speci-
ficity of a sexual preference – exists ‘conventional and stereotypical pre-
sentations of sexual identity’ that restrict not only those who may still be
figuring out their sexual identity, but also LGBTQ þ users to feel the need
to present themselves along those stereotypes in order to feel recognized
in their community.
5. Digital breadcrumbs
When creating an account on a dating app, personal information (e.g.,
date of birth, age, lifestyle, sexual preferences, and profile picture) needs
to be provided so that the app can find the most preferable/most-fitting
matches for the user thereby providing an opportunity to communicate
with others. For example, (private) data stored in the app could also be
recovered when one has access to the mobile device the app was installed
on. Given the number of dating app users steadily increasing, it is also
important to explore and understand the security and data risks associ-
ated with dating apps, as well as the potential digital artifacts that could
be acquired from the forensic analysis of a dating app or the device. For
example, Cahyani et al. (2019) suggested that in order to begin a digital
investigation process, some of the following questions should be asked in
regards to who, what, when, where, and how.
 Who is the user?
 Who is the partner and/or potential partners?
 What online dating activities were conducted?
 When were they conducted?
 How can artifacts be extracted from mobile devices where the apps
were installed?
Using these questions as a guide, the following section will look at the
mobile artifacts/information that can be found when using dating apps
while also providing some recommendations on mobile security.
5.1. Digital artifacts
To secure the sensitive data often associated with using dating apps,
developers rely on various protocols, such as SSL, PKI, or TLS, to encrypt
communication. However, the use of these protocols does not necessarily
guarantee against data leakage. For example, an attacker can exploit
vulnerabilities (e.g., technical flaws) either in protocols or their imple-
mentations to bypass the security measures and hijack the communica-
tions, as we have previously demonstrated (Shetty et al., 2020; D'Orazio
& Choo, 2017).
A. Phan et al.
Generally, a dating app is considered insecure if any of the three CIA
aspects (i.e., confidentiality, integrity, and availability) are violated
(Shetty et al., 2020; D'Orazio & Choo, 2017). Confidentiality is
compromised when an user gains unauthorized access to someone's
personal information; Integrity is compromised when a user changes
someone's information; Availability is compromised when a user is able
to deny access to someone's information. To test these aspects, Shetty
et al. (2020) examined seven popular dating apps, including Tinder and
Happn (both of which utilize the geolocation feature), and created victim
dating app accounts, and an “evil” wireless access point that would be
able to intercept traffic between the mobile devices. If a dating app is
secure, that traffic should remain encrypted and unusable. For the apps,
Tinder, Happn, Badoo, and MeetMe, confidentiality, integrity, and
availability were able to be compromised. Profile images, chat messages,
Facebook profile information, and credentials that many users attach to
the dating app were some of the artifacts found in the network trans-
actions that occur between mobile devices on a certain dating app. One
noticeable data leak that these four apps contained relates to the user's
credentials. If a person uses their Facebook credentials to log into the
app, an intruder can either obtain those credentials or an authentication
token. An authentication token is used by many apps to allow a user to
bypass the login process after the first login. If an intruder knows the
token value, they are able to use it to login as the user to whom the token
belongs. For example, the authors were able to intercept and store the
victim's Facebook authentication token. After creating a fake Tinder
profile, they intercepted another network packet containing the fake
profile's token and then replaced it with the victim's. This gave the
intruder complete access to that person's profile.
There are some dating apps that target a specific demographic in
terms of sexual lifestyle or orientation. Mata et al. (2018) analyzed the
Feeld app, which targets users who seek unconventional sexual lifestyles
through either sexuality or behaviors. This type of app deserves attention
because of the highly personal information a user would need to input. A
dating app is unique in that while the information is often intimate, users’
profiles are public. One scenario of risk to consider is that if an individual
of high status or position is also a user of an app, such as Feeld – what
would the consequences be if someone was able to gain access to their
intimate information and communications? Through the network activ-
ity and prediction of app activity, one study was able to identify one such
dating app user as most likely wealthy, gay, male, and a sufferer of
anxiety (Atkinson et al., 2018).
To see which artifacts could be obtained from Feeld, we created two
profiles that would then match and communicate with one another. From
the network traffic alone, the users' GPS coordinates could be found. With
these coordinates, a process known as trilateration was attempted to see
if it was feasible to get an accurate location of another user. The distance
from a targeted user could be found from the app's database file –
db_app.db. In some dating apps, it is even contained in the packets sent
from device to server (Kim et al., 2018). This would be used as the radius
at the current location of the “adversary.” If the adversary obtains 3þ
distances between their coordinates and the target's, an accurate location
can be found (Kim et al., 2018). This can be done by using tools that allow
Table 6
Digital artifacts that could potentially be acquired during dating app forensics.
Artifact Types
Messages Images Location
Studies Shetty et al. (2020) ✓ ✓
Atkinson et al. (2018)
Cahyani et al. (2019) ✓ ✓
Choo et al. (2015) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Kim et al. (2018) ✓ ✓
Mata et al. (2018) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Knox et al. (2020) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Computers in Human Behavior Reports 3 (2021) 100055
a user to have fake GPS coordinates multiple times, create new distances
from the target, and draw out the radii at the fake coordinates. Besides
the GPS coordinates, other personal data found included the following.
Within the mobile device's memory, user information such as real name,
gender, and email could be obtained. In one database file named “asso-
ciated_person,” there were matches to the user. The database previously
mentioned – db_app.db – contained various information on other users,
including profile descriptions, sexual orientation and desires.
In addition to dating apps that have specific demographics like Feeld,
Cahyani et al. (2019) forensically analyzed 28 other dating apps and
found that apps such as MyCupid, Happn, and SayHi contained messages
between users that can be obtained using a mobile forensic tool. From
many of the apps, including Jack'd and Amores Possiveis, photos that had
been sent between users could be found with the latter app even
providing the ID of the device that took the picture(s). This should be
highlighted as this artifact gives an adversary a piece of information that
is outside of the app, which could provide them with the opportunity to
find ways to not only target the user within the app, but also the user's
device.
In another more recent work (Knox, Moghadam, Patrick, Phan, &
Choo, 2020), Knox et al. studied two recent Android and three recent iOS
versions of the Happn dating app. Unlike most other dating apps, this app
allows users to track other users who had previously crossed paths and
view these users’ information (e.g., profile, pictures or other
user-uploaded information). Using both freely available and commercial
forensic tools, we were able to recover a broad range of digital artifacts
from the devices that had the apps installed.
Table 6 summarizes the types of digital artifacts found within each
reviewed study.
In addition to the digital artifacts that could be recovered from the
user's devices (e.g., Android and iOS devices), data about the users are
also available via the app developers and platforms. One such risk, as
described in Table 5, is the unauthorized access of user data (e.g., sexual
orientation, preferred sexual positions, HIV status, and geolocation in-
formation). For example, app developers or platforms may be compelled
to monitor, search, or hand over data of national security interest to
foreign government agencies. Such data could then be used to facilitate
honey trap operations. Due to such concerns, a Chinese company was
reportedly required by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the
United States (CFIUS) to sell its stake in Grindr (reuters.com;
washingtonpost.com).
Despite the security standards put into place by both dating and all
other app developers, it is clear that data/privacy leakage remains an
ongoing concern (Barrett, 2018; Jozani, Ayaburi, Ko, & Choo, 2020; Li
et al., 2014; Lutz & Ranzini, 2017; Pentina, Zhang, Bata, & Chen, 2016;
Reardon et al., 2019). To combat this, there are security and
privacy-preserving countermeasures that developers can incorporate to
achieve enhanced security and privacy for their users, including solutions
designed for other geolocation-based services (Argyros, Petsios, Siva-
korn, Keromytis, & Polakis, 2017; Shen, Zhou, Cao, Dong, & Choo, 2020;
Zhang, Mao, Choo, Peng, & Wang, 2020).
Credentials Authentication Token Personal Information Matches Matches' Information
✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
✓
✓ ✓ ✓
✓ ✓
✓ ✓
✓ ✓ ✓
9
A. Phan et al.
6. Conclusion and future research
As the popularity of dating apps continues to grow, it is important to
also understand the potential risks associated with the use of such apps.
Potential crimes, such as stalking, fraud, and sexual abuse, could affect a
user for example in terms of physiological effects (e.g., sexual diseases or
eating disorders) and psychological effects (e.g., emotional abuse or
injury to self-esteem). In this study, we focused only on the dating app
literature published in English. However, there is a risk that the study
may ‘lose sight of the cultural specificities of Internet use’ (or in the context of
our paper, dating app usage), as explained by Dhoest and Szulc (2016).
Hence, a potential future research agenda is to extend the literature re-
view to include articles published in other languages (e.g., Chinese -
Mandarin, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, and French), and study potential
cultural aspects associated with dating app usage.
While there are existing best practices and mitigation strategies that
dating app developers can utilize to create safer platforms for their users
physically and online, there is also a need for future research to inves-
tigate other possible solutions and whether the dangers explored are
correlational or truly caused by dating app usage. In addition, one of the
challenges faced by dating app researchers is the fast-paced technological
landscape (e.g., app features). Wang (2020), for example, noted that the
Chinese gay dating platform
Blued has evolved from a single-feature location-based dating app into a
multipurpose digital platform that includes newsfeeds, live streaming,
gaming, online shopping, and overseas surrogacy consulting [and this]
process of adding new features to the basic dating structure [is referred to]
as ‘functionality imbrication’ (gongneng diedai). This means that new
functionalities overlap rather than replace old ones, so as to cater for
multisided markets.
Any supplemental features or functionalities introduced by the dating
platform could have legal, security, and privacy implications.
In addition, there are potential ethical issues involving the collection,
mining, and sharing of data from dating apps (Vitak, Shilton, & Ashk-
torab, 2016; Woodfield & Iphofen, 2017, pp. 1–12). For example, insti-
tutional review board (IRB) approval is generally required for studies
that involve the interviewing of or collection of data from dating app
participants, such as in the study of Pond and Farvid (2017). However, do
researchers need IRB approval if they design tools to automatically crawl
and scrape data from these dating services (e.g., the OKCupid dataset
obtained using a data scraper (Kirkegaard & Bjerrekær, 2016))? Such
data can potentially be on a much larger scale, more revealing (including
PII), and most certainly obtained without the expressed consent of other
app users. Birchall (2016, 2017), for example, coined this phenomenon
as ‘shareveillance’. Hence, how should ethical practices evolve in our
increasingly digitalized society?
In the foreseeable future, dating experience may also be augmented
with other technologies (e.g., augmented reality or immersive reality)
and data from other devices such as devices on the users (e.g., smart lens
and smart clothing whose data collectively can be used to infer a user's
lifestyle preference), devices in the users (e.g., embedded medical de-
vices whose data can be used to infer a user's medical condition), and
devices in the user's physical proximity (e.g., data from other users' de-
vices may also be used to profile the user's physical movements and who
the user interacts with and the nature of the interaction). This may result
in new security and privacy risks. Hence, it is also important to keep a
watchful brief of existing and emerging security and privacy risks with
the aims of designing security and privacy best practices and mitigation
strategies.
The constantly evolving technological landscape can also complicate
the drafting of new regulation and legislation (Hashemi & Hashemi,
2019; Mauer & Reppucci, 2019; Senator leyva introduces flash, 2020;
Waldman, 2019), which generally lag behind technologies. Hence, one
potential future research agenda is to comprehensively review the legal
10
Computers in Human Behavior Reports 3 (2021) 100055
literature relating to dating apps and identify potential gaps.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
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