Millennials take on average four days to swap numbers on dating apps, study finds

There’s no time to waste in the quest for true love

That Awkward Moment, starring Imogen Poots and Zac Efron (Rex Features)

Deciding when it’s the right time to swap numbers with someone who you’ve been speaking to on a dating app can be a very tricky business.

Maybe you’re one of those fast-paced daters who likes to swap numbers straight away, or perhaps you like to drag the conversation out for a couple of weeks before taking the plunge and scoring those digits.

Regardless of your personal preference, a recent study has discovered that the average amount of time it takes for millennials to swap phone numbers during the current digital age of dating is four days, after exchanging approximately 36 messages.

The study, which was commissioned by dating app Toffee Dating, also found that it takes millennials around a week to decide to meet up for a first date.

5,000 dating app users were questioned as part of the study, all aged between 18 and 30 years old.

According to Lydia Davis, CEO of Toffee Dating, these results demonstrate a change in the average millennial approach to dating, with more people in the age bracket adopting a serious attitude in regard to love and relationships.

“Millennials have always been given a bad rep, whether it’s that they’re lazy, self-indulgent, shallow or technology-obsessed, however, research shows that they’re now becoming a lot more ‘real’ - and this extends to their love lives too,” she says.

“We’ve seen that they’re now putting a lot more effort into their profiles, they’re prioritising personality over appearance, they’re taking longer to get to know a match before meeting and they’re handpicking people with similar interests.

“I think it’s important that the dating app industry continues to innovate and change with them, giving them new features to show off who they truly are.”

The study also investigated the various elements of a person’s dating app profile that may spur someone to swipe left for them.

72 per cent of the people surveyed said that they would turn down a profile if it didn’t include a bio, 66 per cent said that they would swipe left if the pictures on a profile were obviously edited and 68 per cent stated that they would swipe left if someone wrote that they were “looking for fun”.

In August, dating social network Badoo revealed the top 10 words to include on your dating app profile that can allegedly boost your rate of successful matches.

The results varied between men and women, with the top three words for a woman’s profile being love, drink and music, and the top three words for a man’s profile being 6ft, family and dogs.