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BLK, the dating app for black singles, has announced a new feature to help alumni and students who attended HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) connect with each other.

Homecoming Mode lets users add a sticker of their HBCU, allowing them to discover others who attended their college and show their school pride, according to Afro.com. BLK created the feature as a way of creating more ways for singles to strike up conversations, as communities are a big focus of the app. The goal is also to encourage each other to make plans as homecoming season is around the corner.

The stickers are available now, and so far, the company says that the top three stickers that users are adding include Florida A&M University, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, and Howard University. Currently, BLK offers 15 stickers for HBCUs but plans to expand to include more in the future.

Dating app Hinge announced that users can now add their astrological signs - as well as what kind of pet they have - to their dating app profiles.

Hinge is adding popular features that offer more insight into potential matches, and many singles want to know if their stars align. Astrological signs figure prominently into dating today, with dating apps noticing a surge of interest starting in 2020.

According to The Verge, the new astrology feature lets users add their main “sun” sign to their profiles, along with age and other important information. And while some zodiac-focused singles may only be interested in compatibility with certain signs, for the majority of singles, it provides a way to strike up conversation.

Dateability is the latest new dating app to launch and is designed specifically for helping disabled singles connect.

The app was founded by two sisters, Jacqueline and Alexa Child, inspired by Jacqueline’s challenging time on traditional dating apps. According to the Washington Post, she recalled messaging a match she made on a popular dating app to meet for dinner or drinks (nothing strenuous) due to her connective tissue disorder, and he responded: “well, I hope you’re not planning to have children. You shouldn’t pass that on.”

He wasn’t alone in that type of abuse, according to Jacqueline. Dating apps were fraught with people who didn’t understand her disability, or worse, were hostile towards her. She had a hard time processing these conversations, and even talking with her friends and family about her dating experiences but wanted something to change.

Dating app Plenty of Fish had a brand refresh on Monday, October 17th. The logo has been updated along with the design of their website and apps. The last brand update happened in September of 2019. The new look goes even more modern with less colors and minimalistic styling. Instead of blues and almost a florescent pink of the old look, the makeover contains several shades of pastel pinks along with black and white. The new design also incorporates some animation touches. For example, on the POF homepage the fish drawings actually move around.

It also looks like they have reverted back to calling the service by its full name "Plenty of Fish" again, instead of using the shorter version "POF". This reverses the original name switch which happened back in 2019.

With monthly downloads of the POF app falling since the last refresh, it looks like POF is hoping the new look (which is designed to appeal to younger adults) and a few other new features will hopefully turn things around.

Image: Bumble

Dating app Bumble will offer a real-life Bantr on its platform, the fictional dating app made famous on hit TV series Ted Lasso.

Starting October 13th and through the end of the year on Thursdays at 7pm, Bumble is offering Bantr Live, and operates much like the fictional app, according to the company’s blog post. When you decide to play, you won’t be able to see or swipe on other daters’ profiles. Instead, you will be paired at random to strike up a text chat with someone who matches your location, age and gender preferences, but you won’t be able to see photos or their profile (just their name). Much like Bantr on Ted Lasso, these events are meant to spark conversation ahead of seeing what someone looks like to make for a more genuine match from the start.

Participants get three minutes to decide if they want to keep chatting, and then they are matched with the next participant to see if a connection can be made. At the end of the event, users can see who matched with them. At this point, they will be able to see the profiles and photos of these matches.

Bumble is testing a new speed dating feature in the U.K. to see how effective it is in getting users to engage with each other over the app.

According to Tech Crunch, the company has been alerting U.K. users to a specific date and time when the virtual speed dating event happens, so they can choose to join. When they do, they are not shown their dates’ photos up front – instead, they briefly chat before photos are revealed.

Tech Crunch did share how the feature worked, and that it’s being presented as a game rather than an event (referring to attendees as “players” who click a “play game” button to start). Participants must agree to some rules (similar to Facebook’s speed dating app Sparked), where they are asked to “keep it respectful” before they can play. They also must agree to not ask about their date’s looks – the reveal comes later, after the two have decided there’s a connection. Each couple is given three minutes to chat before they can see each other’s photos.