Profiles

Popular dating apps like Tinder and Bumble that operate in Australia and New Zealand are starting to add vaccination badges as a new profile feature to entice people to match and date. Bumble is rolling its badge out at the end of July, while Tinder is still a few weeks away.

The apps have already rolled out this popular feature in the U.S. and U.K., and now that Australians and New Zealanders are signing up to receive a vaccine, they will be expanding the feature to offer it in these countries, too. 

According to The Guardian, only 11 percent of Australians are fully vaccinated, which might make it more difficult for dating apps to offer as an incentive to match, at least for now. The Astro-Zeneca vaccine is available to eligible adults in the countries, but many are opting to wait for Pfizer, which remains in limited supply. But Australia and New Zealand are ahead of the game - many countries are still waiting for any vaccine dosages to become available for their populations.

A new study from Pew found that almost half of dating app users still have concerns about safety and security, even as popular apps are starting to address these concerns with features like background checks.

According to the study, 46 percent of Americans view dating apps to be unsafe, for three main reasons. They are primarily concerned with other app users lying and misrepresenting themselves, as well as with people who set up spam accounts. They are also concerned about receiving unsolicited explicit messages or photos, all pervasive problems.

Apps have begun to address these issues. Tinder launched a background checks feature in recent months so users could check out matches before agreeing to meet. Dating conglomerate The Meet Group debuted face verification badges that are powered by AI technology, so that users could offer verified profiles. Bumble also debuted a new feature that uses AI technology to blur unsolicited photos that contain graphic and lude images, so its members don’t have to see the photos in order to report them.   

SwoonMe is a new dating app that offers users avatars and audio clips in place of real photos and videos to encourage “less superficial” interactions, according to the company.

The app requires users to take a selfie and creates an avatar based on the photo. According to Tech Crunch, the user then records an audio clip for their profile, where they can share what they are looking for in a partner as well as give a brief introduction to who they are. Users can also answer questions, like what kind of relationship they are looking for and what their love language is. SwoonMe’s platform also encourages voice messages and ice breaker games to get to know each other, rather than messaging and photo sharing. 

The more a user communicates with a match, the more the profile photo underneath the avatar is revealed - until you can see the actual person. 

Iranian singles have a new state-approved dating app to help them find spouses, but so far, young people aren’t so excited about using it. The app is called Hamdan, which means “companion” in Persian, and was developed by a team from the Islamic Propaganda Organization.

According to the BBC, people living in Iran use dating apps, but Hamdan is the first app to be legally approved by the government. The app’s technology works like a regular dating app using AI to better understand what users are looking for and to help find matches, but the process goes beyond just matching. The app says it is “only for bachelors seeking permanent marriage,” according to reports.

Users can’t just sign up – they first have to verify their identity and undergo a psychological test before they can use the app. And when a match is found, there is a more circuitous route to actually meeting each other in person. The app introduces families, not just the singles who match, and it also provides a so-called “service consultant” to not only introduce the families, but “accompany” the couple even after they get married, for a period of four years.

Dating app Hinge is doubling down on its “designed to be deleted” tagline to offer a series of new ads featuring users deleting their profiles after finding love.

According to Ad Age, there will be four spots, each featuring a humorous take on a Hinge user trying to “break up” with their old Hinge profiles because they have met someone special and no longer want to date. The global campaign was created with creative agency partner Opinionated.

One ad shows a young man at a restaurant surrounded by his alter ego profile pictures, including one of him with a surfboard, holding a dog, and one where an ex-girlfriend had been marked over with a sharpie. He’s breaking the news to them that despite the fact that they created “the perfect profile” he would have to delete them. The alter egos think he’s joking, asking if he is joining a monastery, but he reveals he met someone special and they have to go – at which point they disappear.

Dating app Thursday has secured $3.5 million in seed money investment after launching in New York and London in May, according to Tech Crunch.

The dating app’s name comes from the fact that it’s only live once a week – on Thursdays, so users of the app will have to be sure to log on then if they don’t want to wait another week to connect with potential matches. Thursday goes live at 1:00am and closes at midnight each week, when all conversations and matches vanish. So, if you really want to continue with a match you made on the app, you have to commit and make plans quickly. 

The idea seems to be taking off, at least for now. A month and a half after its launch, the company said in a statement that it had 52,000 downloads, 110,000 likes were sent, and also reported 7,500 matches in a single day. The company also received more seed money than it had planned to raise.