Bumble

Dating app Bumble has awarded new grants to three female leaders as part of its Moves Making Impact program, which honors female leaders taking on some of the greatest challenges the world faces today. 

Bumble’s “cause” feature, which funds the program, was introduced to bring attention to women who are making a real impact in their communities and the larger world, and to inspire and empower women using the app. When setting up a profile, Bumble users are prompted to choose a cause that is important to them – like public policy, human rights, or economic development, and each time you send someone a message on the app, Bumble will make a donation to a woman doing that work in her community.

The company announced the newest recipients of the fund, which focuses on human rights, women’s health, and inclusivity in art and culture. In total, Bumble has donated to eighteen female leaders through Moves Making Impact, along with Vital Voices Global Partnership.

The attitudes of Indian singles towards dating, sex and intimacy are changing as a result of the global pandemic. Interestingly, their parents’ attitudes are shifting along with them.

According to Mint, a recent survey of Bumble users pointed towards this cultural shift, with 34 percent of respondents from India saying they were “more open to exploration” when it comes to sex, ahead of users in the U.S., Australia, Canada and the U.K. This finding was part of a larger study of users across different countries taken over the summer, including over 2,000 participants from India.

A majority of Indians – 65 percent – said the pandemic has changed their approach to sex and intimacy. Almost one in three respondents (33 percent) said they have started living with someone they met on a dating app since the second wave of Covid hit India in March and lockdowns began, according to Mint.

Image: Hello Sunshine

Dating app Bumble has partnered with Reese Witherspoon’s production company Hello Sunshine and Baileys Irish Cream Liqueur to produce three short films on romances inspired by real-life Bumble users.

According to Deadline, the film series is currently branded as “Meet Cute” vignettes, featuring three female and non-binary filmmakers. Bumble and Hello Sunshine are both platforms that elevate women and LGBTQ+ voices.

The filmmakers - Carly Usdin, Sadé Clacken Joseph, and Haroula Rose – will all be taking these real-life stories and retelling them in their own unique voices.

Dating app Bumble’s platform was found to have a security vulnerability capable of leaking the exact locations of its users, putting them at risk of potential attackers.

The researcher who discovered the security flaw created two fake profiles, one for the “attacker” and one for the “victim,” to check vulnerabilities in the app’s API. He was able to bypass signature checks for API requests, which meant he got around Bumble’s paywall to execute the attack.

His test revealed the exact location and the distance of the fake victim from the fake attacker through a process of trilateration, according to security trade magazine The Daily Swig. In other words, he figured out how the app calculated and matched approximate user locations by rounding down the exact distance they are from each other. 

Dating app Bumble is taking another step to address concerns of abuse and harassment on its female-friendly platform: offering trauma services for those who need help.

The company partnered with remote trauma support site Bloom, operated by non-profit Chayn in the U.K., to offer free therapeutic services to users, according to Mashable. Bloom provides online courses on mental health topics for survivors of sexual assault and harassment, such as managing anxiety.

In addition to Bloom’s online courses, Bumble users can receive up to six therapy sessions and can chat online with therapists when they need. Chayn’s therapists are trained in sexual assault and trauma therapy, and some are survivors themselves, according to Mashable. 

Dating app users flocked to dating apps during the month of July, setting a new record for activity and engagement, according to a recent study from Apptopia.

The app research firm has been collecting data since 2015 and found that active daily users on the most popular dating apps – including Tinder and Bumble – jumped to almost 15 million in July, an all-time high, as reported by Bloomberg. 

This follows news from media outlets anticipating a “hot vax summer,” where singles were getting ready to meet dates in person again after a series of lockdowns due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With the distribution of vaccines on the rise, especially in the U.S., U.K. and Australia, dating app users were getting vaccinated and flocking to apps to connect and schedule dates.