General News

Since Tinder launched in 2012, new users have been given two options to describe themselves: male or female. For much of the population, the decision was easy. But for a significant portion, those two words posed a problem.

Transgender and gender non-conforming Tinder users had no way to accurately identify, and many experienced harassment as a result. When news of their troubling experiences reached company CEO Sean Rad, he decided the app was in need of an update.

New Tinder users are now presented with three options: 'male,' 'female,' and 'more.' Selecting 'more' reveals dozens of new terms members can use to describe their identity. The company partnered with media advocacy organization GLAAD to develop a list of nearly 40 auto-fill suggestions. Users can also type in their own perferred terms.

Though the US Presidential Election is over, the nation remains deeply divided along party lines. Many Americans have made jokes about moving to Canada in the past, but this week, the Canadian immigration website’s server broke down because of all the traffic from unhappy American voters.

Enter Maple Match, a dating app which matches Americans and Canadians for potential romance. The company took an opportunity to make lemonade out of political lemons.

Maple Match was beta testing its service earlier this year, and this month seized the opportunity to launch its new app to help Americans feeling less than happy with their country’s choices. The app's tagline is “make dating great again,” similar to the slogan for President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign.

Maple Match’s technology is straightforward. It offers the same photo-based profile that Tinder does, but there is no swiping. You indicate your citizenship and your desired citizenship, and then you can look through potential matches and start messaging whomever you like.

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.

Is your date a stud or a dud? A new mobile app called Stud or Dud hopes to boost safety and transparency in the online dating world.

A 2011 study by the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that approximately 81 percent of dating site users lie about their height, weight, or age in their profiles. On average, the female participants described themselves as 8.5 pounds thinner in their profiles than they really were. Men only subtracted 2 pounds, but they lied by a greater magnitude than women about their height.

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.