Dating Services

Hinge just announced the relaunch of its new self-dubbed “relationship app” as an alternative to dating apps, which have garnered a reputation over the years that the people using them aren’t all that interested in finding relationships. Hinge developers overhauled the app's look and feel as well as its functionality, and are now charging $7 per month for members to use it.

Hinge has been working on the new app for a year, though details weren’t disclosed. However, the company did launch a website revealing its escape from the “dating apocalypse” that is now online dating, named for the controversial New York Times article declaring the end of dating culture thanks to apps like Tinder.

Tinder has become an incredibly popular way to meet, but it has led to a lack of serious online daters looking for real relationships. The game-like swiping functionality of Tinder has created several copycat dating apps in the industry, each one claiming to produce better results and cut down on the fake profiles. So far however, nothing has made a significant dent in Tinder’s appeal or market share.

Even the rich and famous have a hard time meeting new people to date. According to Teen Vogue, model and reality TV star Kendall Jenner has a profile up on popular female-centric dating app Bumble.

This isn’t the first time a celebrity has put up a public profile on a dating app. Hillary Duff had a profile on Tinder and was filmed dating a few guys she met on the app for her reality TV show. Lily Allen and Lindsay Lohan have been public about their profiles and experiences using Tinder, too. And Kendall’s older sister Kourtney put a profile on Bumble, and was encouraged by sister Kylie to start looking for dates via the app.

Everyone loves to skip the line. There’s a special satisfaction that comes from strolling past the unfortunates stuck in the queue, throwing a confident nod to the bouncer, and sashaying through the door without even flashing an ID.

Whether or not you have that kind of clout at clubs, you now have it online. Tinder is rolling out a new feature called ‘Boost’ that lets users skip the digital line for a fee.

“You’ve got people to meet and places to be. In fact, Tinder was designed with this in mind, providing you a simple, fun introduction to new people nearby so you can get out and meet them in the real world,” reads the official blog announcement. “Still, sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day and what you need is a boost in the right direction.”

The eHarmony dating service has free communication now for 5 days in the United States and Canada. Starting November 9th, 2016 until November 14th, 2016 you will be able to communicate for free with other members with whom you are matched too. This free event is available on their website and dating apps.

eHarmony has been a popular dating service for singles looking for a long term relationship. In fact over 2 million marriages have happen because of matching performed by eHarmony. Also according to a recent independent study this year, 57% of eHarmony users reported that they had found a relationship on the dating service. This means 100's of thousands of eHarmony members are successfully matched every month.

To participate in the free communication event at eHarmony all you need to do is sign up for a free membership and complete the profile questionnaire. Once complete you will then receive your matches, for which you can then start communicating with. Photos and skipping the guided communication process are not included with the free trial.

For more details about this online matchmaking service please read our eHarmony review.

A year ago, Vanity Fair ran an article dramatically called Tinder and the Dawn of the ‘Dating Apocalypse’. It caused a major stir in the media - everyone was debating whether the swipe made love easier to find or wiped romance from the equation completely.

The article wasn’t just a catalyst for discussion amongst daters and writers. Justin McLeod, founder and CEO of the dating app Hinge, was also struck by what it had to say.

“It was the first among many realizations that Hinge had morphed into something other than what I originally set out to build (an app for real relationships),” McLeod said in an email to the Vanity Fair writer, Nancy Jo Sales. “Your honest depiction of the dating app landscape has contributed to a massive change we’re making at Hinge later this fall.”

Dating app giant Tinder is trying to expand its influence beyond the dating scene. While the dating market has essentially built the app’s user base, Tinder execs feel that moving outside of this niche to include a larger portion of the population will reap some obvious benefits.

Fear not daters, you can still swipe left and right to date people with the original Tinder app. The new app is a totally separate experience, called Tinder Stacks, and it’s basically a social media voting tool. It’s all about group decision-making.

According to an article in The Verge, Tinder works through your iMessage app to allow you to contact multiple friends and choose a bunch of pictures from your phone to send to them. Message recipients will then be able to go through your “stack” of photos and swipe left and right, depending on whether or not they approve of or like each one. (You can also add a question to the stack, such as “which dress makes me look the most sexy?”) As the voting takes place, the sender will be able to see how many likes and skips each image receives.