Hinge Rolls Out New Features and Updated Look to Help Engage Matches 

Dating app Hinge has rolled out some impressive new features to help users connect with matches who spark their interest, and to help them engage in conversation.

According to Adweek, the app is offering new visuals that don’t resemble a traditional dating app, intended to capture the attention of its users – specifically, hand-drawn illustrations of people, dogs and plants in a color palette of purple, green and red. These illustrated characters will also offer users prompts and tips for starting conversations. Hinge intends to create more warmth and fun to the dating app experience, which they feel will help users connect. 

Hinge CMO Nathan Ross told Adweek that the new visual palette “utilizes colors found in nature so that distractions are reduced and users focus on developing a connection face-to-face. Also, our new illustrations have a more human feel by showcasing hand-drawn people with imperfect features, representing the real people who make up our community.”

Hinge has also unveiled two new features, Standouts and Roses, both an extension of Hinge’s “Prompts” feature. Standouts organizes matches in users’ feeds so that those who seem most compatible show up first in the queue, but more notably it offers topics that interest both of you to spark better (and stickier) conversations, according to Adweek.

Hinge adds New Features Roses and Standouts

Image: Hinge

The feed will refresh daily so that new prompts will appear based on previous likes and comments from each user’s chat history. The idea is that you get a more curated experience based on machine learning. (Hinge launched its own AI research arm called Hinge Labs in May of this year to study patterns in dating behavior and develop features accordingly, and it seems to be paying off. Hinge’s revenue and subscriber base has grown considerably in 2020.) 

Roses works in conjunction with Standouts, in that users are able to send a Rose to someone to get their attention, rather than just swiping and waiting for a response (a new twist on Tinder’s “Superlike” feature). According to Hinge, in beta testing Roses, the company found that users are twice as likely to get a virtual or even in-person date from sending a Rose to a potential match.

Hinge plans to give out a free Rose to every member on Sundays, which is good news as we enter dating’s high season and the busiest day for online dating all year – the Sunday after New Years Day. (Members can also purchase Roses on the app if they want to send more.)

“With the launch of Standouts and Roses, we want you to quickly zero in on the person you’ll best connect with and start a conversation that leads to a date,” Roth told Adweek. “We also want to be a digital brand that feels analog, and this refreshed design reflects the real world where dates actually happen.”