The Chinese technology giant has unveiled three brand new dating apps in the last month or two.

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Tencent (OTC:TCEHY) guidelines China’s mobile texting market with WeChat, which acts 1.15 billion month-to-month active users (MAUs). Its ecosystem of more than a million “mini programs” allows users to search, purchase meals, play games, hail trips, make re payments, and much more — all without ever making the software.

Meanwhile, Momo (NASDAQ:MOMO) could be the top internet dating platform in Asia. Its namesake software started off as a social network software|networking that is social, but gradually developed in to a platform for internet dating and real time videos.

Momo’s smaller app, Tantan, is basically a Chinese clone of Match Group’s Tinder. Momo’s core application had 114.1 million MAUs last quarter, and 13.4 million of them purchased gifts that are virtual subscribed to premium online dating services on Momo and Tantan.

Image supply: Getty Photos.

Both of these organizations generally speaking aren’t considered rivals, but Tencent recently established three torpedoes at Momo: an anonymous movie dating app called Maohu (“Catcall”), a Tinder-like application called Qingliao (“Light Chat”), and a reboot of the Pengyou (“Friends”) app as a social networking having an dating feature that is opt-in.

What’s Tencent up to?

WeChat’s MAUs expanded 6% yearly last quarter, but it is just a matter of time before this ubiquitous “super application” runs out of room to develop in Asia. Meanwhile, Gen Z-oriented competitors like ByteDance’s TikTok and Bilibili are attracting younger users, while WeChat seems shackled to its reputation being an application for older users.

A current research by research firm Jiguang unearthed that simply 15% of Chinese users created after 2000 posted day-to-day updates on WeChat, compared to 57% of users created into the 1960s. Which is much like the generation gap between Twitter and Instagram in Western markets, where moms and dads saturated the former and sent teens scurrying toward the latter. WeChat is also commonly considered a “work software,” since supervisors make use of it to keep monitoring of their workers.

Basically, Tencent requires new approaches to reach younger users, and Momo’s streak of double-digit income development shows that online relationship is nevertheless a fertile market.

Meet Maohu, Qingliao, and Pengyou

Maohu, which established over the , lets users talk anonymously with strangers while donning masks that are digital. Male users can wear the mask for at the most five moments, while female users can wear a mask indefinitely. Once a person eliminates his / her mask, beauty filters are used immediately towards the real time film.

Qingliao, escort in augusta ga which was introduced in belated November, resembles Momo’s Tantan and Match’s Tinder, but does not adopt the swiping mechanic of the two apps. Alternatively, it merely provides two choices regarding the side that is right of profile — anyone to “like” it, and another to dismiss it.

Its primary page shows a carousel of possible matches, and users can scroll down seriously to see extra information like a individual’s occupation, educational history, hobbies, location, and social networking postings. The matches are refreshed every 18 hours. The application is being tested on an invite-only foundation.

Image supply: Getty Pictures.

Pengyou, that was relaunched in mid-December, is definitely an updated form of a mature networking that is social that ended up being discontinued in 2017. This new application resembles Instagram with its principal feed of solitary pictures, however it splits its feed into three categories — buddies, peers, and individuals who are now living in the city that is same.

Users have to validate personal credentials to their identities, and so they can opt-in for dating matches. This approach that is subtle just like Facebook’s opt-in strategy with Twitter Dating. Like Qingliao, Pengyou continues to be being tested on an basis that is invite-only.

Should Momo worry?

Tencent plainly wants to leverage the effectiveness of its WeChat and QQ ecosystems to achieve fresh footholds into the online market that is dating. bad news for Momo, which struggled with decelerating development in MAUs and revenue over the year that is past