Dating Services

Some of October’s biggest dating news came courtesy of Hinge. The dating service announced a total overhaul, complete with a rebrand, an updated app, and a new advertising campaign. Two changes in particular made big news: Hinge was ditching the swipe and adding a $7 monthly fee.

The move was inspired by a Vanity Fair article called Tinder and the Dawn of the ‘Dating Apocalypse’. In the article, writer Nancy Jo Sales criticized the current state of the dating landscape, painting it as superficial and sex-crazed, and placing the blame on dating apps like Tinder and Hinge.

Justin McLeod, Hinge’s founder and CEO, was dismayed by the portrayal and resolved to take action. He announced that big changes were coming to Hinge in the fall, ones that realigned the company with its original, relationship-focused intentions. Then came the news about the swipes and the membership fee.

Snapchats new logo.

The company behind Snapchat, which recently changed its name to Snap Inc., is now facing a trademark lawsuit over its new moniker. Snap Interactive, a company that operates dating applications for social media websites, filed the suit at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Tuesday, October 25.

Snapchat’s rebranding was intended to reflect the company’s expanding goals. "We rebranded our company to Snap Inc. because we are bigger than just one app," chief strategy officer Imran Khan told Adweek. "Snap Inc. is a camera company—we believe that reinventing the camera represents our greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate."

This Thanksgiving weekend eHarmony is offering users in the United States free communication. This offer runs for 5 days and starts Thursday November 23^rd and runs to the end of day Monday November 28^th (ends at 11:59PM PST). You can enjoy free communication on their website at eHarmony.com and the eHarmony dating apps (which you can find on Google Play and iTunes).

If you are interested in trying out eHarmony the first thing you need to do when you visit their website is create a free membership. This includes providing basic information about yourself like your email address, gender, and age. From there you will then be prompted to fill out the profile questionnaire. This takes about 30 minutes (you can pause and come back anytime to complete) and is important because your answers are used to match you with other eHarmony members who live in your area and who have compatible personalities. Once your profile is complete eHarmony will determine your first set of matches and send you them to you. From there you can then start communicating with the matches that peak your interest. Please note this free communication promotion does not include profile photos, secure call (an anonymous phone call service), or skipping the guided communication process to go straight to emailing. Also no credit card is required for this promotion.

For more information about this popular dating service please read our review of eHarmony.

Tinder is on a roll. After announcing a partnership with Spotify and introducing the ‘Boost’ feature to promote profiles, the dating app is launching yet another update. The newest feature is called Smart Photos, and it hopes to help users put their best face (literally) forward.

The Smart Photos algorithm automatically determines which pictures are a user’s best. It works by cycling the photos on your profile so different ones appear as your primary image. As it does so, it logs the response to each image and calculates which scores you the most likes or right swipes.

Once the algorithm has fully assessed your photo selection, it determines which image is the strongest to lead with and automatically reorders your pictures to show the best ones first. In testing, users saw up to a 12% increase in matches.

Bumble stands with Planned Parenthood. The woman-centric, feminist-leaning dating app led by Whitney Wolfe raised $28,747 for the nonprofit organization by harnessing the power of Instagram.

On Friday October 21, Bumble posted an image to the social network that said: “For every like this post gets, Bumble will donate a dollar to Planned Parenthood.” In the caption, the company was careful to note that it wasn’t “a political post.”

“Our team is a mixing pot, some of us are republicans, some are democrats, some are independents, and some aren’t even from America, but every single one knows how important it is for women to have safe and affordable healthcare,” reads the note. “At the end of the day, women’s rights are fundamental human rights.”

Think about your least favorite photos on dating profiles. There’s the group shot where it’s impossible to tell who the subject is supposed to be. There’s the picture of a pet or an inanimate object that doesn’t include the subject at all. There’s the unsolicited dick pic sent in messages.

And there’s the shirtless mirror selfie. It’s not only the butt of countless Internet jokes, it’s also the most left-swiped profile picture on Bumble. A full 86% of reported profiles on Bumble include mirror selfie photos. It got the Bumble team thinking…

If they’re not enriching the dating app experience, why allow them at all?