Korean Dating App
Prince was stuck at home, days into the most recent Covid-19 lockdown in Istanbul, when he decided to open Azar, a South Korean “social discovery” app that resembles Chatroulette. “My friend told me I could meet girls on here, but I’m not really looking for that,” he said after matching randomly with a Rest of World reporter in April. “I thought, let me see if I can just have fun and chat with people.”
Prince, who asked to be identified by only his first name for privacy reasons, is one of the estimated 40.7 million people who installed Azar in 2020, according to the market research firm Sensor Tower, about double the number who downloaded Tinder in the U.S. that year. The app puts users on selfie mode and lets them swipe through a carousel of video calls with people from around the world. In February, the online dating giant Match Group announced it would acquire Azar’s parent company, Hyperconnect, for $1.7 billion — its largest acquisition ever.
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A professional football player originally from Ghana, Prince immigrated to Turkey two years ago to join a local team. But when the league placed restrictions on foreign footballers last spring, and the country went into lockdown, he found himself working odd jobs to make money and hunkering down in a city far from home. During the pandemic, users like Prince say they’ve turned to Azar in the hopes of curing boredom and loneliness by chatting with strangers they will likely never meet.
“If Azar is providing a solution for lonely people that are looking for someone to talk with, then it definitely goes beyond a local search service,” said Niloofar Abolfathi, a visiting business professor at the National University of Singapore, who has researched the dating app industry. “It’ll be interesting to see how the market will evolve and whether people are going to start seeing [dating apps] as a broader concept.”
Launched in 2014, Azar essentially took the video cam sites of the mid-aughts — think Omegle and Chatroulette — and built a fully formed app ecosystem on top. The platform uses a proprietary algorithm to make video matches, which takes into consideration your hobbies and language preferences, according to Hyperconnect spokesperson James Kang. “It’s different from a dating app, in which you are only communicating with a desired gender for dating purposes and, typically, to meet offline,” he said. “Azar can be used for making friends from around the world regardless of gender and age, sharing daily life and interests and hobbies, and studying languages.”
Most of the cam websites of yesteryear earned reputations for being overrun with nudity and sexual propositions. Azar has taken several steps to avoid a similar fate. Because it’s an app rather than a website, it benefits from tying users to their smartphones, making it harder for banned accounts to come back online under new names. The company says it also uses artificial intelligence to moderate inappropriate content and allows users to easily report violations themselves. Still, you don’t need to use Azar for long to realize that plenty of people are there to sext, and violators of the platform’s nudity and hate speech policies can slip through the cracks.
Prince said men and women have flashed him on the app, and he’s also been called racist insults and epithets by other users. The harassment was enough that he decided to take a break from Azar last year, before picking it up again during lockdown. “My friend told me they have new features now and have improved. So I said, I still have it on my phone, let me check it out,” he said.
Despite the challenges associated with live video moderation, Azar has continued attracting new users and revenue. In 2020, it earned the sixth highest revenue among non-gaming apps in Europe, according to Sensor Tower. Hyperconnect, which also owns the video and audio chat app Hakuna Live, reported earning more than $200 million last year, a 50% jump from 2019.
Much of that revenue is likely driven by in-app purchases. When users tap through Azar, they’re greeted by a barrage of prompts encouraging them to buy Gems — tokens used to acquire everything from stickers and virtual gifts to extra daily matches. Users can also pay $14.99 to gain “VIP” status, which allows them to narrow matches down according to stated gender and country (the cost may vary in different markets).
If you don’t pay for those add-ons, you’ll easily find yourself chatting with someone on another continent. Prince said that, aside from people in Turkey, he’s spoken to users in Hong Kong, Thailand, India, and France. Part of the novelty of Azar is the ability to flirt across borders: The app has embedded Google Translate’s API, which allows speakers of different languages to send translated messages in real time.
“Spending time on Azar is [a way of] coping with stress for me, as I’m in the middle of finishing my thesis,” said Ulfa, a graduate student from Indonesia’s South Sulawesi province, who heard about the app from a close friend and asked to use only her first name for privacy reasons. She’s rarely connected with other users in Indonesia, talking instead to foreigners who help her practice English. “Most of the users on live video here are Turkish men,” she said.
Hyperconnect is based in Seoul, but 99% of Azar’s user base is outside of South Korea, according to the company. That makes the app one of only a few Korean social media platforms to prioritize international users. While official demographics are not publicly available, the app’s public marketing campaigns, interviews with users, and hours spent on the platform suggest some of Azar’s main markets include Turkey, India, the Gulf states, and Southeast Asia.
On YouTube, for example, Azar’s official channel has published dozens of promotional videos in Turkish, including one that garnered more than 38 million views. Notably missing from the global pool of conversation candidates are people from Match Group’s home turf in North America — Ulfa said she’s never spoken to a user in the U.S., even though the app is available there.
In the last two years, Match Group has made efforts to reach more users abroad. In 2019, the company announced it would hire 40% more employees in Asia. The hiring spree coincided with the launch of localized marketing campaigns in Korea and India, the opening of a new office in Jakarta and Seoul, and the appointment of devoted leadership for its Middle East and Asia operations. “With more than 400 million singles outside of North America and Europe, two-thirds have not yet tried a dating product,” the company said in a press release at the time.
Match Group has a history of aggressively buying up its competitors, most famously Tinder and Hinge (it also tried and failed to acquire Bumble). Still, it’s not clear exactly how a “social discovery” app might factor into the company’s long-term ambitions. Match declined to answer questions about the acquisition and pointed to its official press release.
Bringing apps originally built for American users to local dating cultures in Asia and the Middle East has been a challenge for Match Group. “There is still a stigma [with] online dating in Asian markets in relative terms, compared to, for example, a market like the U.S.,” said Abolfathi, the business professor. Azar, though, may provide one way to circumvent that problem.
Many people don’t want to say they’ve met their partner on a dating app, Abolfathi explained, but something like Azar might not have the same negative association, since it’s not really akin to, say, Tinder. “Going beyond dating and trying to frame it as a platform for conversations with another person may be a way to convert noncustomers to customers in the Asian market,” she said.
Ulfa herself shies away from calling Azar a dating app. “I don’t know, it’s just like talking to people, and all of them are men,” she explained. “If the conversation is really going well, it may go further than friendship. I can’t trust people easily on here; it’s more like they talk sweet to me, or they just flirt.”
Korean women are pretty, cute, sweet, quite attractive and have an innocence about life. they are the best girlfriends to have in the world. If you’ve ever been to South Korea you might have noticed that there are many foreigners walking with their Korean girlfriends in street, especially in cities like Seoul and Busan. Actually a lot of Korean women want to date a foreign man, most consider it is “cool” and “exotic“ to fall in love with a foreign man. So, dating a Korean girl is usually quite easy for foreign men.
However, before traveling to Korea to find your love, you should resort to online dating, you can browse thousands of Korean females just at your home. You can get to know a potential date before meeting in person very soon, without much risk or time commitment. But do not to be overwhelmed by access to too many choices, you should narrow them down and find who is a good fit for you.
Online dating is a number game, a normal response rate is around 1-10% depending on how good your profile is, so do not feel frustrated when getting few responses at first. Just be patient and keep sending out messages until you find the person you are looking for.
Without more ado, here is a list of several popular Korean online dating websites with detailed reviews.
1. Korean Cupid
Korean Cupid is a well-known website for foreigners to date Korean singles. The site has 500,000+ members and thousands of Korean women sign up everyday. This is a considerable number of members among many Korean dating sites. This website is especially popular among foreigners looking for Korean girls.
You can sign up and start browsing profiles under a minute. With its advanced search function, you can easily narrow down the results. The good news is that it seems there are more women than men on its platform.
The site is free for standard members, you can create your own profile and browse profiles, I personally prefer Korean Cupid as it allows you to see all the profile details without having to upgrade unlike other friend finder site.
With free member, you can only talk with women who are paid members. If you want to contact all members, you need to upgrade to its Gold and Platinum paying members. You will find lots of exciting and useful options available instant chat and video chat. I personally recommend its Gold membership, with just $10 per month, you can enjoy most if its features such as messaging and live chat. And you can contact any member you want.
The site has both English, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Dutch, Italian, French and other language versions, However if you want to talk with a girl who speaks Korean only, you can user their advanced translation tool.
Though Korean Cupid actively screen for scammers, you’ll still find fake profiles. But it is not difficult to identify fame profiles, those with only one or two attractive picture posted or poorly written profile tend to scammers, stay away from them.
KoreanCupid also has an Korean Dating App available on Google Play, which you can download and use it on your smart phone after becoming a member.
All and all, Korean Cupid is one of the best Korean dating sites in existence. You’ll find lots of real local women hoping to meet a foreign gentleman. I highly recommend this site to anyone who is interested in making friends or dating with Korean women.
Pros:
- It is owned by Cupid Media, a large dating company.
- Free to register and create your profile
- Advanced search functions
- Many Korean women on the sites are looking for foreigners
Cons:
- Need to upgrade to a paying member to communicate with others.
2. Badoo
Badoo is a free and popular app for both social networks and dating site. It is available on both desktop, Android and iOS platforms. Its members are very active and it is one of the best platform to make Korean friends online.
Unlike KoreanCupid which focuses on Koreans, Badoo is a worldwide site claiming to have over 430 million users from 190 countries. People there are from different countries and speak different languages. But one good thing is that you can find girls from other Asian countries as well.
There are two ways for you to meet others: “Encounters” and “People Nearby”. The “Encounters” section helps you find matched women based on shared interests, while the “People Nearby” allows you to find people in your area who have common interests with you.
It is free to use, but you have limits of girls you can contact in a day. If you want to talk with more girls, you have to pay for upgraded features at about $10 a month. You can buy credits if you want to rank higher and get more exposure.
Most Badoo users are late teens and young adults and Badoo users tend to find a casual sex, hookups and flings, rather than a serious relationship, give it a try if want to have a casual hookup with South Korean women.
Pros:
- 3 months Free trial
- Leading Kenyan dating site
- Free and easy registration
- Good response rate
- Live video chat and message chat
- Android app is available
Cons:
- At least one member need to be paid member before exchange message.
3. Asiandating
Asiandating is probably the best dating site for men who are looking for mail order brides from Asia. Unlike Badoo, it is more of a site for you to find serious relationships, instead of casual hookup.
It has 2.5 million members, making it one of the biggest dating sites for you to find Asian singles. When browse through profiles, I find that there are many members from Asian countries Indonesia, China, Malaysia, Philippines, Japan, Thailand, and others. There are also many others from the USA, Australia and UK, who interested in finding an Asian love.
Of course you can also find many Korean singles on its platform. Most of the registered Korean girls here can speak at least simple English, the great benefits of Asian Dating is that you can find singles from almost all Asian countries, which gives you more choices.
It does not matter if you do not know how to write and read Korean, the site offers instant translator for platinum accounts.
Though the site has take excellent measures to prevent users’ abuse. However, just like any other dating websites, it is impossible to screen all fake profiles. You need to be careful of some scammers.
AsianDating supports Androd App but iOS app is not available. It is availalbe in almost all major languages in the world. and its members are mainly from USA, Europe, Japan, Korean, Philippines and China. Most female members are from Asian countries aged 25-44.
If you are looking for Asian girls for love, the traditional dating methods may do not work. Asian dating is your best choice out there. I highly recommend this site for those who are interested in girls from both Korean and other Asian countries.
Pros:
- Free to register and create profile
- Easy to use interface
- Lots of attractive members
- Automated advanced matching system
- Support multiple languages, text message and live video chat
Cons:
- Limited free account
4. Ublove
Established in 2,000, UBLove.com is a middle sized Korean dating site. The site is based in Korea and operated by a Korean company. It focuses on connecting Korean singles with their Western guys especially American.
Ublove owns thousands of Korean singles from Korea and other countries such as Japan, the USA and Canada. An excellent function is its live chat. you can start chatting with the one whose profiles attract you.
Compared with other dating sites, Ublove has a cluttered and busy look, that’s a disadvantage of it. However, the site is available in several languages such as Korean, English and Japanese.
On the whole, UBLove.com is a decent Korean dating site for you to find Korean friend, girlfriend or even lifetime match.
Pros:
Korean Dating App For Teenager
- A couple of minutes to register
- Free to register and have a few basic features available
- Free members and browse others’s profiles
- A site for relationship, pen pals or international friends
Cons:
- Interface is not well designed
Korean Dating App For Pc
5. Plenty of Fish
Plenty of Fish, or known as POF, is a free worldwide online dating platform and especially popular among students and young singles. It has a large member pool, whcih makes easy for you to find a Korean lady there.
The site claims to have 150 millions of user to connect, flirt, and share with each other. And every day more than 1,500,000 daters are active on Plentyoffish. And you can meet a variety of singles from different backgrounds.
The members on the site are very active and most people use the service via mobile app on Android, iOS and Windows phone.
South Korean Dating Apps
When conduct a research, you will find thousands of local Korean singles on the site, many are in the big cities like Seoul, Busan. Since the site does not have cost barrier, so be careful with married people and scammers.
Pros:
- A big user pool.
- Members either look for a long-term relationship or a hookup.
- Unlimited messaging for basic members.
- Advanced search features by specific criteria like “education”, “income”, and “profession”.
- Both desktop and mobile apps are available.
Cons:
- Lots of spammers, scammers and fake profiles.
- Need to upgrade to view extended profiles and get rid of all the ads.