Communication

Match Group and its partner Garbo, a nonprofit provider of background checks, have parted ways, according to a story that broke in The Wall Street Journal.

Garbo announced in a blog post that it will be shutting down its consumer-facing business as a result of the split. While details were not shared about exactly what happened, Garbo blamed Match Group for both the difference in priorities and the execution of the service on its platform.

Garbo’s service was integrated into Match Group’s Tinder platform and allowed users run background checks on potential dates using just a name and phone number. Garbo would give them a report stating if the person had any public reports issued against them for past violence, arrests, convictions and restraining orders.

Dating app Hinge is looking for a new head of AI, and is willing to pay almost $400K to the right person who will lead the team.

AI has become increasingly important to dating apps, and Match Group CEO Bernard Kim is capitalizing on the versatile technology to expand product offerings, especially for star app Tinder. Now, he’s focusing efforts on AI for its fastest-growing dating app, Hinge.

According to Business Insider, the new position was created to confirm Hinge as an “AI-first company.” The VP of Artificial Intelligence will lead a team of data scientists and machine learning engineers “to create and deploy AI features across the app,” as reported by Business Insider. The new hire will be based in New York, and report to Ben Celebicic, Hinge’s Chief Technology Officer.

Dating app Bumble is releasing new features for its free and premium services, aimed at fostering a kinder, more curated dating experience, according to the company’s press release.

Mashable noted that one of the new features is Review Before You Send, and will be part of its Compliments feature. While Compliments is intended to encourage positive interactions over the app, sometimes the message isn’t received well, no matter the intention of the sender. In fact, as Bumble tested Review Before You Send, they found that 46 percent of people chose to edit their Compliment after they received the prompt, because it encouraged them to reread their message and think twice about sending it.

Another new feature the app is launching allows users to add their interests to the top of their profile (modeled after the app’s hit “Top Artists” feature, where a favorite band or singer is placed front and center in a user’s profile).

Parents in China are taking matters into their own hands with their single adult children and using dating apps to help them find someone to marry.

Parent-facing dating apps are taking off in China, according to Rest of World, which reports on tech trends globally. Many parents are using online matchmaking platforms like Perfect In-Laws, Family-Building Matchmaking, and Parents Matchmaking to set up dates for their grown and unmarried children.

On platforms like these, the parents set up profiles for their children, sometimes without their knowledge or consent, according to Rest of World. When the match is made, it’s the parents who meet and get to know each other first, similar to matchmaking apps used in India.

Dating app Tinder is testing an AI feature that will select the best profile photos for users, according to reports from parent company Match Group’s latest earnings call.

Tech Crunch noted that the AI feature will examine a Tinder member’s photo album and select five that “best represents them for their dating profile.” According to Match Group CEO Bernard Kim, choosing pictures is a stressful process for daters, and typically they have doubts about which ones they pick, what he labeled as a “pain point” on the earnings call.

“Sometimes, people are really excited to jump into the Tinder experience,” Kim said. He continued: “then in that exact moment where you upload five pictures, people get generally nervous or uncomfortable, like, ‘What is the right picture that I’ve taken over the last year to make my dating profile more me?’”

Singles are turning to their travels to find romance this summer, a term that’s being dubbed “wanderlove.”

According to a new survey from Bumble, a majority of 53 percent of people on its app are looking for a holiday fling this summer instead of searching for longer-term options closer to home.

Part of this trend could be due to the number of singles who choose to travel alone to explore new destinations and are looking to meet new people along the way. Bumble found that almost 30 percent of its users meet people over the app when they travel alone, and 52 percent say that dating people abroad is a fun way to learn about new cultures, according to UK website Indy 100.