Their parents may be scrounging matrimonial websites but young Indians with smartphones are spoilt for choice when it comes to desi dating apps. Homegrown free apps such as Thrill, Woo, DesiCrush, Truly Madly and more, and are available on both Android and iOS.

Woo claims to have made 12,000 matches on the app since July. Thrill, that started beta testing about a year ago, claims to have nearly 50,000 users, while Desicrush, also active in the US and the UK, has about 60,000 from India alone.

This is how they work: a user signs up with a picture, and basic details. The account is more often than not linked to the person’s Facebook profile for authenticity. A person can define certain parameters and is then shown different profiles which s/he can then either like or reject. It is only when two people like each others’ profile mutually are they notified and can begin chatting within the app. If they wish, they can meet offline.