An article published on CNN.com Wednesday, "Swiping for salvation: Why Mormon singles put their faith in a dating app," features Mutual, the app aimed at matchmaking LDS single adults.
"Now ... singles wards could be considered a secondary social venue — the place you may run into the match you chatted with the night before on Mutual, a dating app created exclusively for Mormons and monitored by members who ensure only faithful users participate," CNN's Lauren Jackson wrote. "Mutual has collapsed the singles wards onto a digital platform, providing an alternative to the church-sponsored matchmaking venue."
The article compares Mutual to other dating apps, which "have been blamed for tectonic social shifts, from delayed marriage to relaxed sexual mores. Vanity Fair hyperbolically credited Tinder as the source of a 'dating apocalypse.'"
But the article suggests that Mutual has offered Mormon single adults renewed hope and may even bring some LDS adults back to the faith.
"In the face of declining millennial religiosity, Mutual, which is named after an old church program that brought Mormon youth together, may have another benefit: ensuring the longevity of Mormonism," CNN reported. "One swipe at a time, Mutual is uniting the Mormon diaspora, perpetuating lineages, and addressing the anxieties of youth facing familial and cultural pressure, as well as a personal desire, to marry within their faith."
The founder of Mutual, Cooper Boice, told CNN that "more than 100,000 Mormons in more than 100 countries around the world have swiped through the app more than 250 million times" and claimed that the app has produced "dozens of marriages," including international unions.