In recent years, we are experiencing a digital revolution regarding the forms of interpersonal communication used to establish affective-sexual relationships. Unlike previous generations, today adults have access through their mobile phones to infinite possibilities to connect with potential candidates to establish affective and/or sexual relationships.

Online dating platforms are specialized in offering their users the possibility of meeting and contacting people in order to find a partner. They consist of databases to which interested parties can belong after completing a registration. In addition to filling in essential data such as age, sex or physical appearance, the user has the option of completing his personal file with photographs, tastes, preferences and, finally, a description of what his ideal partner would be like. The purpose of its use is for users to get to know each other by personality, tastes and affinities and, finally, make a face-to-face appointment to explore the beginning of a relationship. The most recent form of online dating is mobile dating, with applications for mobile phones such as Grindr or Tinder. It is based on geolocation and allows users to interact and (eventually) meet if they agree to 'like' each other.

The popularity of Tinder and Grindr, the two applications that are analyzed in this research project, may raise questions about their influence on 'matchmaking' practices, as well as the expectations and desires generated in users. This research project seeks to answer these questions, in order to understand the uses and practices, the communication/interaction between users and the motivations that, confluently, inform mobile dating activities, which reveal the nature of affective and/or sexual relationships in the era of digital culture. The perspective we adopt is supported, on the one hand, by theories about love, relationships and sexuality in the contemporary era; on the other hand, in approaches to communication and interpersonal interaction on the beginning and formation of relationships.