Types (Niche)

Apple will now be required to allow dating app developers to offer in-app payment options for users, or face severe fines.

The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) issued the ruling, saying that Apple was taking advantage of dating app developers who rely on the Apple Store to make their products available to iPhone users. Because of Apple’s payment structure, app users are required to go through the Apple Store to subscribe or purchase coveted features on dating apps, rather than purchasing directly. Apple takes a 15 to 30 percent share of every purchase made in its store. 

In the ruling, the ACM said that: “If Apple does not adjust the unreasonable conditions within two months, it will have to pay a periodic penalty of 5 million euros per week up to a maximum of 50 million euros.”

Gay dating apps are leading the way when it comes to encouraging users to disclose their STI status when they use dating apps, according to public health experts. 

Health disclosures on dating apps have taken on new importance since the pandemic took hold, with more users asking potential matches about their vaccination and infection status before agreeing to meet in person. Because of the recent urgency and importance in keeping each other safe from Covid-19, and the rising cases of STIs, mainstream dating apps like Tinder and Bumble are now looking for effective ways of encouraging users to disclose their sexual health status, too. 

Gay dating apps have long been ahead of the curve on this, encouraging users to disclose their STI status up front in the name of public health, according to the National Post.

Gay dating app Grindr was fined $7.16 million (65 million kroner) by Norway’s Internet watchdog agency for violating the privacy rights of its users.

According to ABC News, The Norwegian Data Protection Authority said that Grindr had shared the sensitive personal data of its users, including sexual orientation, to hundreds of potential advertising partners without their consent. 

It’s not the first time Grindr has been accused of violating privacy rights by the watchdog. In 2020, it filed a complaint against Grindr not only because of sensitive data that was shared with third parties, but also because it shared IP addresses and GPS locations, which could identify individual users. 

Bumble says that singles are turning to dating apps more than ever, evidenced by its recent finding that over a billion matches were made on its app in 2021, a 25 percent increase from the previous year.

The dating app also shared that over 9 billion messages were exchanged globally, up nearly 40 percent from 2020, showing that dating app usage during lockdowns wasn’t a temporary thing. Rather, once restrictions lifted, people were more eager to login to the app and start looking for matches as well as virtual date, and were also eager to use dating apps to get back out there and meet matches in real life.  

Bumble said that the highest number of message exchanges were between October and early November, just prior to the holiday season. It’s also worth noting that this was just prior to the emergence of the highly contagious Omicron variant of Covid, which has led to global lockdowns and restrictions once again. Still, the company doesn’t see things slowing down as we enter into dating’s “high season,” between New Year’s and Valentine’s Day.

Tinder just debuted a new ad campaign in time for the holidays, one of the busiest times of the year for dating app users. The company hired creative agency Mischief@NoFixedAddress to appeal to young Gen Z daters, its target audience.

According to The Drum, the new ad tagline is “you’re not for everyone,” and highlights in a funny way some unusual passions of singles that not everyone will find endearing. The ad is meant to assure its users that no matter how unique their interests are, there will always be someone who’s into the same things.

The first ad features a woman doing astral projection from her living room floor surrounded by candles who loses her zen focus when a roommate wanders in.

Atraf Dating App Message to Users about Hack

A group of hackers called Black Shadow threatened to expose the personal information of more than a million users of Israel’s leading gay dating app unless they were paid a million U.S. dollars within a 48-hour period. 

The dating site Atraf became a target after Black Shadow hacked an Israeli internet service provider CyberServe, according to Agence-France Press (AFP). The hackers dropped tens of thousands of personal data records online as proof of making good on the threat, which were stolen from various websites that included public transportation firms, museums, and a travel company in addition to Atraf. About 1,000 user profiles were exposed from Atraf, according to the report, with the hackers saying more exposures were to come if they did not get paid.

These exposed records included HIV status, sexual orientation, and even some passwords. According to AFP, cyber security officials link the hackers to Iran.