The WLW dating experience is fundamentally different from the heterosexual experience that most dating apps are designed around. Smaller dating pools, identity verification concerns specific to queer women, and community needs that go beyond one-on-one matching all shape what women-who-love-women need from apps — and why so many keep deleting them.
Here's what the research says.
App usage
Queer women use dating apps at significantly higher rates than the general population. This reflects a structural reality: the lesbian and WLW dating pool is inherently smaller in any given geographic area. Straight women can walk into virtually any social setting and potentially meet a compatible male partner. WLW women often can't — dating apps become a practical necessity rather than a supplement to in-person social life.
This higher usage rate doesn't mean queer women love dating apps. It means they have fewer alternatives.
Safety and fake profiles
Fake profiles and identity misrepresentation are the number one safety concern among WLW dating app users — and for good reason. The data is stark: the majority of queer women who use dating apps regularly have encountered a profile they believed was fraudulent.
The problem with men appearing in women-only spaces is specific to queer dating apps. Apps that rely on self-reported gender identity rather than any form of verification cannot structurally prevent this. Liveness verification — where a user must prove they are a real person matching their photos in real-time — is the only reliable technical solution.
"I've been on HER for three years. The community is great when it's real. But I've matched with three profiles in the last 12 months that turned out to be men. Apps need to stop treating verification as optional." — WLW dating app user, survey response
Why WLW women leave dating apps
Safety concerns are the single largest driver of WLW women leaving dating apps. This isn't abstract anxiety — it's grounded in direct experience. Women who have encountered fake profiles, experienced harassment, or had their data compromised don't give apps a second chance easily.
The second factor — too few matches in their area — is a structural challenge unique to the WLW dating market. A lesbian woman in a regional Australian city faces a dating pool roughly 3-5% the size of what a straight woman in the same city would experience. No app design solves this entirely, but apps with strong local community features (events, group chats, community feed) partially compensate by building social connection even where one-on-one matching is thin.
What WLW women actually want from dating apps
Surveys consistently find that WLW women prioritise safety features above all other app capabilities. The feature list they request looks nothing like what mainstream dating app design prioritises. The top requested features are:
- Mandatory identity or liveness verification — not just optional badges, but a structural requirement to prove you are who you say you are
- Women-only or verified-queer communities — spaces where the presence of men is prevented by the platform rather than just the terms of service
- End-to-end encrypted messaging — especially important for women who aren't fully out or who live in conservative environments
- Community features beyond matching — events, group chats, community forums that provide social connection when matches are thin
- Transparent data practices — clear explanation of what data is collected, how it's used, and how to delete it
- Affordable pricing — the WLW market can't support $40/month subscription models long-term; women leave when costs outpace value
The Australia-specific picture
Australia has a meaningful WLW population — estimated at around 1.5 million when accounting for lesbian, bisexual, and queer-identifying women — but that population is highly concentrated in major cities. Sydney and Melbourne have thriving queer communities with enough population density to make WLW-specific apps viable. Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide have growing communities. But WLW women in regional Queensland, Western Australia, or rural New South Wales face dramatically smaller local dating pools.
Australian WLW users also face the practical challenge that most major dating apps are US or UK-headquartered, with customer support, community events, and algorithmic optimisation centred on Northern Hemisphere markets. Verve is Australian-founded and Australian-operated — community events are in Australian cities, support is in Australian time zones, and the app is built for the Australian WLW experience specifically.
The HER acquisition effect
In May 2025, HER — the largest dedicated lesbian and queer women dating app — was acquired by Match Group. This acquisition has had measurable effects on the WLW dating app landscape:
- Increased user migration to alternative platforms as some HER users sought independently-owned queer dating spaces
- Increased discussion in WLW communities about app ownership, data privacy, and what "community-first" actually means when an app is owned by a public company
- A gap in the market for independently-owned WLW-specific apps, particularly in markets (like Australia) where HER's community was never as strong as in the US
The data from app store reviews and community forums suggests a meaningful segment of WLW dating app users actively prefer apps built by and for the community, not owned by conglomerates. This preference has only grown post-acquisition.
💚 Why this matters: Verve was built directly in response to these data points. Mandatory liveness verification, E2E encrypted messaging, women-only verification, Australian-founded, and $5.50/month pricing address the top complaints WLW women have about existing apps.
Built for what WLW women actually asked for
Mandatory liveness verification · E2E encrypted chats · Australian-founded · Free to download
Get Verve on Google Play