How Indian dating app users prepare for real meeting

From doing an online search to sharing live location, Indian dating app users take various precautions before meeting their digital matches for the first time in the real world, said a new study ahead of Valentine's Day.

The research by cybersecurity company Avast showed that six out of 10 who use online dating apps or websites searched -- on Google or social media -- someone that they matched with on a dating app. Of this group, 40 per cent of them decided not to meet the person based on what they found online or because they could not find anything, showed the findings released on Friday.

The motivation for why those who used online dating in India searched for the person they were going to meet varied from wanting to learn more about their match, verifying the person was actually real, fact-checking what their match told them about themselves and wanting to see how their potential date interacted on social media.

Most of these users in India carried out their research on a social networking platform like Facebook, Instagram, or on search engines such as Google, Bing, or similar.

Some users looked them up on a professional social network like LinkedIn or similar platform or went a step further and performed a reverse image search using the person's dating platform profile picture. "Online dating means we eventually have to reveal a lot of personal information to our potential dating partners, and to the dating service provider as well," Petra Moravcova, Consumer Insights Expert at Avast, said in a statement.

"What information we decide to share and how we do this is critical for maintaining both information security and personal safety, both from the provider and potential matches."

The study also showed that when meeting someone for the first time for an in-person date, 24 per cent users make sure the meeting spot is a public place, 37 per cent let a friend or family member know who they are meeting or share their live location with them.

While 25 per cent set the meeting location to a place they are familiar with, 14 per cent asked a friend or family member to be at the same location and time as the date. "It is great to see that users in India are putting in practice security measures like meeting in public spaces or sharing details with a friend or family member ahead of the date," Moravcova said. The study, conducted between January 1-February 8, involved around 1,300 Avast users in India.