General News

Dating app Bumble announced the addition of three new COVID-related profile badges that users (it is unclear if this is just for users in India or all users) can choose from to indicate how socially distant they want to be on a date.

The three badge choices are virtual, socially-distanced, and socially-distanced with masks to clearly identify their comfort levels with dating during the pandemic. Company executives told The Hindustan Times that this alleviates the awkwardness of conversations surrounding COVID-19, and how each dater feels about interaction.

Dating app Hinge has partnered with popular meditation app Headspace to help daters calm their nerves before going on a date. Plenty of Fish also announced their partnership with Shine, a popular self-care app designed by women of color, to help users take care of themselves during this stressful time. Both dating services are owned by Match Group.

The Hinge and Headspace partnership will offer pre-date meditations that Hinge users can access directly at hinge.co/headspace at no cost. Each meditation lasts about six to seven minutes and is intended to address a range of potential pre-date emotions, from “self-doubt” to “negative self-talk” according to Mashable.

The page to access the meditation also includes a link to Headspace’s website, where the company lists resources for help with mental illness through a variety of hotlines, accessible for users around the world. There is also a helpful “how to meditate” guide if you are new to the practice.

Match Group, parent company to popular dating apps like Tinder, OkCupid and Hinge, has appointed Tracey Breeden to be its new Head of Safety and Social Advocacy.

Breeden is in a newly created position and will be overseeing trust and safety policies for Match Group’s dating apps, and will also be working with the company’s product teams to develop new safety features. According to Inside Hook, Breeden is the former Head of Women’s Safety and Gender-Based Violence Operations at Uber, another tech company that has encountered safety issues for both its customers and drivers. She is also a former investigator and police officer.  

A new report revealed that dating app scams in the UK had significantly increased during the summer as the coronavirus spread and lockdowns continued, and as more people turned to the apps for connection.

More than 600 reports of fraud a month were reported during June, July and August according to Sky News. In addition, there was a 26 percent increase in reported frauds overall during the past year. Since August of 2019, UK police have seen about 400 reports of fraud per month on average, with victims losing over 66 million pounds total over the past year.

Match Group joins several prominent tech companies including Spotify, Epic Games and Tile to rally app developers against App Store policies and to create a fairer marketplace.

These companies have banded together to form The Coalition for App Fairness, whose mission is broader than just the App Store. According to The Verge, they aim to “create a level playing field for app businesses and give people freedom of choice on their devices.” The goal of the organization is to create a united front to protest Apple’s regulations regarding its store, essentially to amass their power against Apple. The Coalition also allows smaller developers to join so they can have some leverage against the tech giant.

Dating app Bumble has announced it will donate a “high six-figure commitment” to the National Domestic Violence Hotline’s new “love is respect” initiative, which aims to empower young people to end abusive relationships. According to news site Built in Austin, the partnership will continue for a three-year period, building on the $100,000 donation Bumble made to the organization back in March. 

When the pandemic progressed and stay at home orders went into effect, many women were placed at risk, because they were essentially trapped with their abusers. Domestic violence is a problem in the U.S., where guns are pervasive and far too often women are the victims in domestic assaults.