With 380 million people using dating apps globally, it was only a matter of time until someone looked at how these apps actually work.  Why do you see the people you see? What really drives the algorithm? And, do these apps, of which 2/3 are owned by the same company, actually want you to succeed? Documentary Love Apptually asks these questions and more.

Filmmaker Shalini Kantayya finishes off a technological trilogy of sorts with this film.  In 2020 she looked at AI in Coded Bias, following up with an exploration of viral culture in TikTok, Boom. in 2023.  She has made herself a set of films that almost feel like episodes of Black Mirror.  

Take one of the subjects of the film for instance, Judith Duportail, a French journalist who started using dating apps early on.  But what started as euphoria, a punch of dopamine at every match, ended with compulsive use and a depleted feeling of self worth.  This made her investigate Tinder and its invisible internal rating system.  Not only that, but the information they’re amassing about each user (and spreading to other companies) is invasive.  Duportail got her Tinder file, a whopping 800 pages of her most personal data.

Weaving some of your favourite rom com clips throughout the film, Kantayya speaks to users of apps, as well as experts in technology and science to really get to the heart of what love in this technological age is about.  Have apps actually taken away our ability to connect? At a tight 75 minute run time, Kantayya could have abandoned a VR storyline that didn’t really fit as well with the algorithm plot to dig even deeper. There’s so many interesting ideas running through the overarching theme of technology and connection. It left me wanting even more of this fascinating doc.