Profiles

Many dating app users have complained about getting unsolicited nude photos, and are now demanding digital consent before a communicating with a match.

Dating apps have been struggling with what to do about this issue for a while, but since the pandemic attracted many new users to dating apps, the problem has grown. According to The New York Post, A World Wide Web Foundation survey found that 52 percent of young women and girls said they had experienced online abuse, including threatening messages, sexual harassment and being sent lewd photos without consent. A whopping majority of 87 percent said they believe the issue is only getting worse. 

Dating app Bumble launched a feature called Private Detector to counteract this problem. Private Detector works with AI to detect when a nude photo is sent and blurs the picture before the recipient can see it, allowing them to block and report the user without having to see it first.

Image: Tinder

Tinder announced the launch of its new feature Festival Mode, designed to bring singles together through their mutual love of live music.

The dating app company partnered with Live Nation, as well as event producers AEG Presents and Superstruct Entertainment to offer users who plan to attend festivals this year the opportunity to connect with other attendees over the app, so they can meet up. Participants can match with others as early as a month before the event, and the app will feature over 20 of the biggest festivals across the globe, including The Governors Ball, Bonnaroo, Stagecoach and EDC Las Vegas, as well as Lollapalooza Paris, Falls Festival in Australia, Sonar in Spain and All Points East in the UK. 

The feature will also include a “Festival Goers” space for those who don’t see their event listed or simply want to be part of “festival culture,” according to Tinder’s press release. Festival Mode will be part of the Explore section of the app.

Tinder announced this week that it has added background checks to its features, thanks to its ongoing partnership with security company Garbo.

Starting now in the U.S., Garbo’s new online background check platform will be available to the general public and launched to Tinder members via the app’s Safety Center. The new service allows easy access to public information about a potential match’s history of violent or harmful behavior, including arrests, convictions, and sex offender registry records.  

According to the company's press release,  Tinder users can tap on a blue safety shield from anywhere in the app to be taken to the Safety Center. From there, they can tap on the Garbo article to be redirected to Garbo’s website where they can provide information about their match – typically only a first name and phone number. If Garbo needs more information, they’ll ask, which may include age.

Nevermet, a new dating app that operates exclusively in the metaverse, aims to help people cultivate virtual relationships instead of encouraging them to meet IRL.

Nevermet was designed specifically for VR users who are looking for a virtual dating experience. Users can create a profile with traditional dating app preferences like age and gender filters, but the big difference is no physical address is necessary because the app isn’t location-based. Instead, users add a virtual location like Rec Room, Horizon Worlds, or VRChat where they can be found. 

When the profile is complete, users can swipe through potential matches, but instead of real-life photos, they see only a VR avatar of their matches. According to Virtual Reality Times, the app is monitored to ensure people aren’t posting real photos.

Dating app Tinder said that it would be ending the controversial aged-based pricing structure for its premium service Tinder Plus by the end of the second quarter.

The news follows a recent UK study that found users were paying wildly different prices to access Tinder’s premium service, typically based on age, which raised questions about discriminatory pricing.

According to Buzzfeed, the Mozilla Foundation and Consumers International took up where the UK consumer watchdog Which? and Australian consumer advocacy organization Choice left off when they first pointed out the issue of price discrepancies on the app. The researchers at Mozilla and CI didn’t find statistically different prices based on race, gender or sexual orientation, but did find it among different age groups.

Fourplay, a new dating app that lets friends create joint profiles and go on group dates with their matches, has become a hit in the New York dating scene. The app now boasts a waiting list of 9,000 people.

According to The New York Post, the app was created by two friends who were healthcare workers and didn’t have much time to devote to their jobs, friends, and the dating scene, so Danielle Dietzek and Julie Griggs decided to create a profile together on a dating app and look for matches who were willing to recruit their friends and go out all together on a double date. (Hint: they got a lot of positive responses which led to the idea for the app.)

The way Fourplay works is two friends set up a joint profile and then match with other pairs of daters. When there is a match, the four proceed to a group chat. The idea is to take the pressure and awkward conversation off of first dates, which can often be more stressful than fun, to make it a more engaging, communal experience. If there’s no romantic connection, then at least everyone got to spend time with friends, and maybe make new ones.