Is group dating the future of dating apps?

We've all been there. You do weeks of hopeful messaging with someone on a dating app, and when you finally meet up you realise there's no chemistry and that actually, in the wrong light, he looks quite a bit like Donald Trump.

It's a waste of an evening that you could've spent hanging out with your friends. 

That's where new free dating app Instnt comes in. It connects you and your friends with other groups of friends, instantly (do you see what they've done there with the name? Apps famously don't like vowels. Other names on the shortlist probably included Grpz and Frndz). 

Then both groups decide whether to meet up and take it from there. 

Being single is a numbers game, and Instnt works on the premise that it multiplies your chances of meeting someone worth meeting. 

Even if you don't, at least you've spent the night with your mates instead of listening to Donald Trump guy bore on about Brexit for four hours.

And according to science, being part of a group makes you actually look fitter. It's called the Cheerleader Effect. 

Research by the University of California published in the journal Psychological Science found that group shots of friends blur the distraction of an individual's 'asymmetries' – meaning that faces 'average out' hotter. 

Drew Walker and Edward Vul, the authors of the study, concluded that "having a few wingmen or wingwomen may be indeed a good dating strategy, particularly if their facial features compliment and average out one's unattractive idiosyncrasies."  See. It's science. You can't argue with science.

You're much more likely to relax and be yourself around your mates, which means Instnt really might have a better success rate compared to one-on-one dating. 

As the old saying goes, there's strength in numbers. 

But then there is also an old saying about a woman's place being in the home, so perhaps we should ignore old sayings...

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Emma Ledger

When I’m not writing LOLfest stories on here I can be found browsing terriers on the Battersea Dogs Home website or in a Post Office queue collapsing under the weight of my ASOS returns. I’m obsessed with (in no particular order) denim, France, gin, Ryan Gosling and wild swimming. Oh, and games. I really like games. Mind ones especially. Thanks for them, guys.