Dating
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UK to question Tinder, Grindr over age checks in dating apps
Tinder and Grindr are about to face close scrutiny over their age policies. The UK's Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Jeremy Wright, plans to ask the dating app giants about their age verification and safety systems after a Sunday Times report revealed dozens of incidents of sexual assault and exploitation against children who managed to sign up for the app, including over 30 instances of rape. He wanted to know what tools Tinder and Grindr had in place to "keep children safe from harm," and vowed "further action" if the dating services didn't provide adequate answers.
Netflix reality series 'Dating Around' debuts on Valentine's Day
Dating sucks. Watching other people date, though -- that's entertainment. Netflix realized that and is releasing its first-ever reality dating show. The series, called Dating Around, will premiere on the streaming video platform on Valentine's Day, February 14th so you can watch it with your significant other to remind you how glad you are to no longer be in the dating pool.
Tinder settles lawsuit over age discrimination
Mature romantics just caught a break. Tinder has settled a lawsuit accusing it of age discrimination for charging the 30-and-up crowd double to subscribe to its premium Tinder Plus service. The Match Group-owned brand will pay $17.25 million in cash and in-app features (such as $25 checks, Super Likes and Plus/Gold subscriptions) to users who had to pay $20 per month instead of the $10 offered to younger customers. Tinder will also have to stop charging general age-based rates in California, although it will have the option of discounting service for people 21 or younger.
Tinder's Swipe Surge tells you when there's a rush of potential dates
If you've used dating apps long enough, you know it tends to be easier to find a potential match at certain times than others -- you might have better success on Friday night than Wednesday afternoon, for example. And Tinder wants you to capitalize on that. It's testing a Swipe Surge feature that alerts you when there's a rush of activity in your area, increasing the chances of both finding a match and striking up a conversation. People who've joined the Swipe Surge will bump to the front of the queue, and you'll even know who's currently active.
Facebook Dating expands to Canada and Thailand
Facebook's quest to help singletons find love continues. After launching its Dating feature in Colombia in September, it's now rolling the service out to Canada and Thailand. And, presumably based on feedback from its Colombian users, it's adding a couple of new features.
Tinder borrows Bumble's women-message-first feature
If Tinder was hoping to bring its feud with Bumble to a quick end, it's not helping matters. It has been testing a "My Move" feature in India that gives women more control over conversations. If women enable the feature in their settings, only they can start a conversation after a match -- you know, like Bumble. Tinder had launched the feature in the country as it needed to draw more women to the app by making them feel safer, the company's Taru Kapoor told Reuters. India also uses the in-app messaging more than anywhere else, so it's an ideal testing ground.
Bumble forges ahead with Tinder countersuit while pursuing an IPO
Earlier this year, the Match Group, which owns the dating service Tinder, filed a lawsuit against rival Bumble, alleging that the company had infringed on patents and misused intellectual property. Just weeks later, Bumble countersued the Match Group for accessing trade secrets fraudulently. Now, Bumble has filed court paperwork for the lawsuit while "actively pursuing an IPO," CEO Whitney Wolfe told TechCrunch. We've reached out to Bumble for a comment.
Facebook's Dating feature aims to prevent harassment and dick pics
Where will you meet your next bae? If Facebook has anything to do with it, it'll be through its new dating feature, which it's now testing in Colombia. Announced back in May at the F8 developer's conference, Facebook wants to help its 200 million+ single users find more meaningful, deeper connections – and given its monopoly in online social interactions, it's pretty well-placed to do that.
A date with my Tinder data
I was on Tinder for almost four years. I'm no longer single, but Tinder and its parent company, Match, still have data on me. I didn't delete my profile -- I didn't even think to -- so using GDPR to request what information they had on me was more exciting, or at least more personal, than doing so for other tech companies and services. On the dating apps, I swear I'd tried to keep it classy. I didn't succeed. According to other writers' requests, asking for your data from Tinder leads to varied results, but with FOI requests and GDPR a persistent issue for all tech companies, the dating app thankfully packages everything into a pretty easy to understand and navigable HTML file.
Tinder's new matchmaking service is just for college students
Today, Tinder introduced a new matchmaking service aimed at students attending a four-year college or university. Called Tinder U, it is primarily a dating service, but can also be used to find new friends, a study partner and more. You must have a .edu email address from an accredited university and be located on campus when you sign up for Tinder. Once you restart the Tinder app, you'll be logged into Tinder U automatically according to TechCrunch. The swipe mechanics are the same as the regular app.
Facebook has begun internally testing its dating feature
At its annual F8 conference in May, Facebook revealed that it was working on a dating service for its users. Now, app researcher Jane Manchun Wong discovered evidence that the company has begun internally testing the feature among its employees. Facebook confirmed to multiple outlets that it started testing, but didn't elaborate further.
Tinder adds Bitmoji so you can flirt with cartoons
Now we know why Snapchat started letting third-party services use their cartoon-like Bitmojis: To up your flirting game. Starting today, you can use them in Tinder to impress matches with your hilarious sticker jokes.
Hinge uses AI to suggest a 'most compatible' date every day
Now that dating giant Match owns Hinge, what's its first move? It's using a dash of AI to help you find a partner sooner. Hinge is trotting out a Most Compatible feature that uses machine learning and the Gale-Shapley algorithm (aka the "stable marriage" algorithm) to send daily recommendations for people who it thinks would be just as interested in you as you are with them. It's effectively a virtual matchmaker -- you might not have to spend ages swiping right on people who never swipe back, or participating in conversations that go nowhere.
Tinder adds GIF-like video loops to spice up your dating profile
If you're a dating app regular, you know that a photo only says so much about yourself. But do you really want to go to the trouble of recording a whole video for people who could swipe left before you've even spoken a word? Tinder thinks there's a better balance between the two. It's launching a Loops feature that (surprise) adds two-second looping videos to your profile alongside the usual still shots. You just have to trim an existing video to portray yourself as a fun-loving party person or tender romantic.
Tinder Places matches you with people from your favorite hangouts
The science involved in making a match on Tinder is rudimentary at best: you can narrow your pool of potential baes by age and distance, and after that you're largely on your own, relying on carefully selected photographs and vague bios that reveal how your potential match "enjoys having fun", like every other human in the world. There's not a lot to work with before you get to the chatting stage. So Tinder is upping the ante with a new location-based feature, narrowing your prospects to those you cross paths with at your favourite bars, coffee shops and other hangouts.
Facebook's upcoming dating service will be a heartbreaker
Facebook is getting into the dating game, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced to the assembled crowd at its annual F8 developers conference today. Citing a 2017 Forbes article about how one in three US marriages now start online, Zuckerberg pointed out that some 200 million Facebook users currently list themselves as single on the social media site. So why not use Facebook's practical monopoly in online social interactions to help folks find lasting love?
Facebook removes the middleman with its own dating feature
During the F8 developer conference keynote today, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook will be launching a dating feature. The CEO said that people often tell him that they met on Facebook and since so many relationships now being online, a dating feature seemed like a logical next step. Of course, a dark cloud of data privacy concerns are hanging over the conference and in light of that, Zuckerberg made sure to note that the upcoming tool was designed from the beginning with privacy and safety in mind. The dating feature won't suggest any of your Facebook friends as a match and your friends, even those that have also opted into the feature, won't be able to see your dating profile. And only your first name will be displayed.
Tinder suffers sign-in problems following Facebook's privacy changes
Virtual romance has run into a momentary setback -- Tinder has confirmed reports that many users can't sign into its dating service. Those affected are frequently stuck in a login loop where they're asked for extra Facebook permissions, only to be sent back to the original Facebook sign-in request when they tap the relevant button. Others have had success signing in, but have reported losing all their messages or matches. Suffice it to say that this is worrying if you've had your eyes on someone special.
Grindr reportedly shared HIV statuses with other companies
Grindr's privacy issues may extend beyond access to data with a login. BuzzFeed News and Norwegian non-profit SINTEF report that Grindr has been sharing its users' HIV statuses (including their last test date) with two app optimization companies, Apptimize and Localytics. As that data is attached to info like email addresses, GPS info and phone IDs, it's possible for an intruder to link specific people (beyond just their public profiles) to their health info.
Tinder's parent company sues Bumble over patents
It's no secret that Tinder (or rather, its parent company Match Group) and Bumble are arch-rivals in the swipe-right dating app space, and that battle just escalated. Match Group has sued Bumble for allegedly violating two patents, one for the "ornamental" look of its app and another for the all-important swipe-based system. The Match team wasn't exactly subtle about its claims -- it asserted that Bumble (founded by former Tinder execs) explicitly copied Tinder's core formula with subtle variations on the same interface elements. However, the motivations behind the lawsuit might not be so clear cut.
