Are you watching the Winter Olympics? Maybe you’ve fantasized about what it would be like to meet one of the athletes, especially because they are competing at peak physical fitness – what’s not to love?

Some Tinder users are taking it a step further and actually changing their locations to match with Olympic athletes.

Tinder users with a premium service such as Tinder Plus or Tinder Gold have the option to use the “Passport” feature, which allows them to change their location so they can swipe left and right on matches from any other city in the world. This feature was created for those who travel and want to connect with people in more than one place.

For restaurant reviews, you turn to Yelp. For travel reviews, you turn to TripAdvisor. And if a new app plays its cards right, you could soon be turning to it to review your dates.

Do I Date boldly dubs itself “the essential pre-dating discovery experience.” Founded by Terry Amsbury and Jamie Forsyth, the app aims to become a ratings hub for singles where users can review and share their dating adventures (and misadventures) for the benefit of others. The lofty long-term goal, as Amsbury explained to the London Evening Standard, is to “be the most honest dating app out there.”

Forsyth and Amsbury were struck by inspiration after hearing female friends discuss their split opinions on receiving explicit pictures from male dates. Some were pro, some were con, and the future founders had a revelation: wouldn’t it be great if you knew what you were getting into ahead of time?

Bumble is starting 2018 with another power move in its quest for global dating app domination. The female-focused app announced on January 23 that Bumble profiles would now support Instagram integration, allowing potential matches to scroll through each other’s photo feeds.

To activate the feature, simple visit the Edit Profile menu, select the “Connect Your Instagram” option, and grant Bumble access to your Instagram profile. Once approval is granted, your 24 most recent Insta-snaps will be displayed at the bottom of your Bumble profile.

The option is currently available for both Android and iOS, but only for Bumble Date and Bumble BFF. Instagram integration is not offered - at least not yet - for Bumble Bizz users.

Image: wired

The next time you swipe right on a Tinder match when you’re sitting at a bar, consider that hackers might be taking notes.

Website MarketWatch reported that vulnerabilities were found in the popular app, exposing users to hackers. The vulnerability stems from Tinder not using encryption on users’ photos. Instead, they use a basic HTTP, an unsecure older protocol, rather than HTTPS. This means when you swipe, hackers have the ability to see not only profiles, but the actions you take with swiping, super-liking, and rejecting photos as well. Think of it as someone looking over your shoulder as you’re swiping.

Tech Times reported that users aren’t at risk of spies seeing their actions when they are swiping at home over a private Internet connection, but they are when using public WiFi networks.

Here is the summary of the 11th annual Dating Sites Reviews Choice Awards. These awards honor the best dating apps and sites of 2017 in 11 different categories. These will be the dating services worth checking out in 2018 for those interesting in online dating.

Our top award is the Single's Choice Award and is decided by this poll that all of our visitors can vote in. This poll ran from October 1^st 2017 until December 31^st 2017. The poll asked 2 questions. The first question asks you to recommend your choice for the top dating service from a selection of the ten leading dating services on the internet. The top three dating services who receives the most votes will be the recipient of a Gold, Silver, and Bronze award. The second question is similar, but it asks you to recommend your selection from 10 of the most popular free dating services. With the free question there is only the gold award for the service with the most votes.

Single's Choice Award

Recipient Match.com

Our Gold Single's Choice Award for 2018 goes to Match.com. This dating service has been around since the late 90's and has remained the top choice for singles in North America and abroad thanks to it's easy of use and large number of members.

For full award information see the article: 2018 Dating Sites Reviews Single's Choice Award

Recipient eHarmony

Our Silver Single's Choice Award of 2018 goes to eHarmony. This matchmaking service is known for its algorithm for matching members together based on not just regular attributes like location and physical appearance but personality.

For full award information see the article: 2018 Dating Sites Reviews Single's Choice Award

Recipient OurTime

The 2018 Bronze Single's Choice Award recipient is OurTime.com. It says something when a niche dating service makes it into our Single's Choice Award. This dating service for senior singles must have struck a chord with it's members because they certainly turned out to vote them as their favorite dating service.

For full award information see the article: 2018 Dating Sites Reviews Single's Choice Award

Recipient Plenty of Fish

The 2018 Single's Choice Award for a Free Service recipient is Plenty of Fish. It is no surprise that POF continues to be the popular choice for singles looking for a free dating service. They continue to innovate the dating space and bring in new features to make it easier to find that special someone.

For full award information see the article: 2018 Dating Sites Reviews Single's Choice Award - Free

2018 is off to a rough start for eHarmony. Shortly after one of the company’s advertisements was banned in the UK for being “misleading” comes the news that the popular dating website has taken another hit - one that will cost them more than $2 million.

Last month, eHarmony settled a consumer protection lawsuit in California, agreeing to pay $1.28 million to four counties - Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Napa - and the city of Santa Monica.

The complaint against eHarmony alleged that the company failed to sufficiently explain its subscription fee policy, leading to unexpected charges for consumers. The complaint further alleged that eHarmony did not provide a contract explaining the service, nor did it explain the cancellation procedure as required by law.