Marketing

Apple announced in early April that it will soon be rolling out its new privacy notification for users who download any app from its store. The company didn’t give a specific launch date but said that it would happen “in the coming weeks” according to Reuters. 

Apple has created a one-time notice that requires an app developer to ask for the user’s consent before the app is able to track personal data and share it with third parties, according to Reuters. CEO Tim Cook described the notification in a podcast with tech journalist Kara Swisher, saying it will appear as a short checklist of how the app will use data, to make it easier and more transparent than sifting through the standard pages-long privacy policies that most people do not read. 

Digital advertisers and app developers are worried that the notification would cause many more users to decline permissions. 

Dating app Grindr announced the premiere of its new comedy special called Gag Reflex, featuring a lineup of up-and-coming LGBTQ comedians, who share stories of dating and the queer experience.

The special originally aired as a livestream on April 1st on YouTube and the Grindr app, and is now available to watch anytime on YouTube. According to Variety, the featured comedians include Joel Kim Booster (NBC’s Sunnyside, Hulu’s Shrill), Sydnee Washington (Broad City), Jay Jurden (The Tonight Show), Jaye McBride and Zach Zimmerman.

Image: Tinder

Tinder has formed a new partnership with ride sharing app Lyft to offer its users the ability to gift rides from within the app.

The popular dating app announced in a press release that it will be rolling out the new feature where users can gift their dates a Lyft ride directly without having to leave the app. (Lyft already allows its users to book rides for others, so it extends this ability to Tinder.) The partnership comes on the heels of a new surge of interest from its users to meet each other in person again after a year of lockdowns from coronavirus. Tinder wanted to make it easier for users to stay on the app while planning and meeting their dates.

Match Group’s star dating app noted that additional features of its partnership with Lyft will be rolled out in the future, including exclusive perks for members, though it didn't specify what these features or perks would be. Tinder also noted that its users can take advantage of Lyft’s safety features now, including “the ability to share their location with family and friends and silently request assistance through Emergency Help, supported by ADT.” 

Tinder has announced it will bring back its popular paid premium feature Passport for free, but only for a limited time. The promotion advocates for users to take advantage and enjoy “fantasy flings” while they can. 

Passport lets users to set their current location to any zip code or city in the world, allowing them to match with users in the same areas. The feature is usually a paid premium service, but Passport will be free for all users during the month of April according to CNet. 

The company said of the promotion: "it could be a way of testing the international waters while [users] wait for a vaccine passport.”

Gay dating app Jack’d sent a notification to all of its users that read “All Waves Matter” as a marketing tactic to encourage them to engage on the app. The company came under fire because this was interpreted widely as insensitive to the Black Lives Matter movement.

On Jack’d, virtual “waves” can be sent between users to express interest in one another. According to Insider, when users of Jack’d got this notification, they were understandably upset at the reference to “All Lives Matter” – the phrase used by those who opposed the Black Lives Matter movement. 

Jack’d has long marketed itself as a more progressive dating app, noting on its website that it is the "most diverse community for gay, bi, trans, and queer people," and is used overwhelmingly by people of color, which make up about 80 percent of its user base. 

Tinder and Everywell are giving away Covid Tests

To prepare for a surge of daters looking to meet in person, Tinder is giving away free at-home Covid test kits. The kits will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, and will be offered on March 20th at 7pm EST – the first day of spring.

In partnership with Everlywell, the maker of federally approved Covid-19 test kits, Tinder will give 1,000 kits to people (500 couples) who have made plans to meet up, according to CNN. The kits come with a nose swab, which you use and return back to the lab to wait for results to post online, usually 1-2 days later. 

The popular dating app company said that 40 percent of its customers under age 30 haven’t met in person because of fear of the coronavirus, so it’s hoping this will help ease some anxiety.