Design

Tinder's New Look

Will dating apps soon be saying sayonara to the swipe? Tinder, the app often credited with popularizing the swipe gesture, has gotten an updated look and new navigation gestures to go with it.

“Over the past few months, we’ve been hard at work refreshing the user experience,” said a company blog post. “Today, we’re excited to start rolling out a more seamless way to navigate Tinder for our users around the world.”

Tinder promises a new user experience that is both smarter and better looking. On the aesthetics front, the app now boasts a cleaner design and photos take up more real estate, extending all the way to the edges of the screen. Tinder calls the makeover “part of an ongoing effort to make our app as fun and attractive as the community it serves.”

Plenty of Fish is keeping things fresh with an updated look for its iOS and Android apps, and a brand new feature designed to help singles get the conversation started.

PoF is all about the chat right now. After releasing Conversation Nation, the largest study of singles and conversation ever conducted, the dating service is putting communication front and center.

Data from the study found that 74 percent of single Americans believe small talk is worthwhile because it helps break the ice and provides basic information about a potential date. The majority of singles also believe a great conversation is the top indicator of a successful date. However, 61 percent of singles believe the rise in technology usage has impacted our ability to have meaningful, face-to-face conversations, and 65 percent say conversation is a lost art.

Jdates New Look

Earlier this month Jdate.com new makeover was launched along with an updated logo design. The JDate dating apps for iOS and Android also was updated to version 3.0.0 supporting a new and improved interface and features. Not to be left out, the JDate online magazine Jlife also got a face lift as well. All of these updates are designed with JDate users in mind and are focused on making the online dating experience easier, more streamlined, and engaging.

One of the main changes includes profile browsing. It has been simplified offering 5 main options for sorting members including New, Online, Distance, Match %, and LookBook. Each of these views are based on what you are seeking (called Discovery Preferences) and include attributes like gender and age range. These can be easily changed on the browsing page (or on your profile) to refine your searching.

As we close out the first quarter of 2017, Happn has big plans to drive growth during the remainder of the year.

CEO Didier Rappaport told Business Insider that the company is working on a “new business model” that adds subscriptions to the service. Though the subscription model is still being tested, the tentative plan is to remove the ads (which currently fund the company) for users with paid accounts.

Since launching three years ago, Happn has built a user base of 25 million people. However, the company has yet to become profitable, and that’s its chief goal for 2017.

The company that popularized mobile dating has now announced the launch of a new desktop platform for its service, dubbed Tinder Online.

Tinder Online takes an old-school approach to online dating with its latest offering, a web-optimized version of its app that is more reminiscent of its predecessor's desktop applications, a la Match and eHarmony. Tinder’s new platform requires the same login process of signing up with your Facebook account, but currently it is only offering the free basic service. Tinder Online doesn’t include certain revenue features like “Super like” and “Tinder Boost,” so it’s not yet clear how Tinder will try and monetize the new platform.

According to Tinder’s blog, the move was aimed at serving users who were struggling with the app’s storage and WiFi capabilities:

If anyone can make bold predictions about the future of online dating, it’s industry game-changer and Tinder CEO Sean Rad. This month at the StartUp Grind Global Conference in California, he shared that dating apps could soon be using augmented reality technology to help users meet.

He explained that the technology would help people meet in real time, and work similarly to Pokemon Go. For instance, if you walk down the street and point your smartphone at someone you find attractive, you can find out immediately whether or not they are single. And if you are single and dating, you could also send virtual signals to someone you pass, letting them know you’re interested. This could work through technology like Google Glass as well as your phone.