Swipe-based dating app Tinder has announced plans to release a new feature that's designed specifically for making connections during a pandemic. The new feature was revealed by parent company Match Group as part of its Q1 2020 financial details; the company cited social distancing and a willingness to virtually date as the reasons for the new feature.
Catfishing, the activity that involves pretending to be someone other than yourself on the Internet, is a big problem on dating apps. Many users have found themselves led on by and otherwise tricked into meeting up with a stranger who wasn't the person they were expecting, leading to, in the best-case scenario, a huge waste of everyone's time. Here to help solve that problem are blue checkmarks on Tinder.
Near the end of 2018, Epic Games made a lot of noise that criticized Valve's and Google's, but not Apple's, practice of taking a large chunk out of both direct app sales as well as in-app purchases or IAPs. This isn't really news, however, as the 30/70 revenue cut has long been in place and only now being questioned. Some apps and services have taken matters into their own hand and Tinder might be the straw that breaks the Google Play Store camel's back.
If still images can't quite capture your dating majesty, great news: Tinder has gone live with video loop in its app. The new Tinder Loops feature was announced back in April, giving users the opportunity to add a GIF-like animated clip to their profile in the hope of making it more attention-grabbing.
Facebook Dating was a subject of Mark Zuckerberg's keynote this morning at F8 2018. There, the CEO and co-founder of Facebook suggested Facebook would be doing more to get people together. He quoted a figure: 200m people on Facebook are listed as single. Zuckerberg made clear he wants to be the cupid that puts all people together, forever.
![Tinder app broken by Facebook: Here’s the workaround [Update: It’s back!]](https://www.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/tinder-app-980x620.jpg)
Facebook probably didn't expect its privacy and API changes to impact peoples' love lives today, but it has inadvertently taken Tinder offline in the process. The dating app uses Facebook to authenticate its users and, it seems, wasn't set up to deal with the changes in the social network's policies.
Tinder introduced a new feature called Feed in December, one that makes the dating app feel a bit like an actual social network. At the time, Tinder Feed was only available to users on a limited basis; only people in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada were getting access to the test. That is changing as of today, with Tinder quietly updating its announcement to reveal a global rollout to all users.
A major Tinder security vulnerability has been revealed by Appsecure security researchers. The issue left Tinder accounts potentially exposed to infiltrators by only requiring a phone number to log in. This was due to issues with the Facebook API and the Tinder app's login process, both of which have already been fixed.
While Tinder itself is a free app, some of the features are locked behind a subscription-based paywall. Users who want access to those features must pay more to get them, and in doing so they have two options: buy Tinder Plus or buy Tinder Gold. The Tinder Plus subscription was recently the focus of a lawsuit accusing the company of engaging in age-based discrimination.
YouTube Red's original programs have yet to catch up to those from Netflix and Amazon in terms of quality and viewership, but the premium service continues to expand its catalog of content. The company has now greenlit a scripted comedy series based on the dating app Tinder, titled — wait for it — Swipe Right, and focuses on a woman who decides to go on a date with all 252 of her Tinder matches.
Popular dating app Tinder rolled out a new optional, paid subscription feature this week dubbed Tinder Gold, allowing users to find out who has liked them without the need to do the same by swiping to the right. This certainly isn't the first paid option Tinder has debuted, but what's interesting is that the app shot to the number one spot on the top-grossing list in the iOS App Store only a day after Tinder Gold launched.
Those of you who use Tinder on the regular will notice that the app looks quite a bit different today. Tinder has delivered a new redesign that aims to make the process of looking through another user's profile even faster. Also on the docket are larger photos, putting them front and center when you're swiping through profiles.