5 Dating Apps For Your Shiny New Apple Watch

Wearables
  • Thursday, June 11 2015 @ 06:46 am
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You've heard of wearing your heart on your sleeve, but how about wearing your heart on your wrist?

Purchase an Apple Watch and you could do exactly that.

Tim Cook called the gadget Apple's “most personal device yet,” so naturally developers jumped at the chance to make it even more personal. The smartwatch won't only shake up how we keep time, but perhaps also how we find love on-the-go.

Several of the biggest players in the online dating game were quick to introduce apps when the Apple Watch launched back in April. Match.com, OkCupid, and Tinder (coincidentally – or not – owned by the same parent company) all released apps designed for the device. Each one is an easy extension of your regular online or mobile dating activity.

But it's not just the biggies who are getting in on the ground floor. A few lesser-known dating services have also sprung up for the smartwatch.

  1. Watchme88: This watch-first app helps users meet other users nearby in real-time. Set your preferences (gender, location, age) and when a match shows up within the specified radar, both Apple Watches start to glow. If you're shy, you can send your match a message or a wink before approaching in person.
  2. Jack'd: Jack’d claims to be the first Apple Watch app for guys looking to meet guys. Users receive notifications in real-time whenever their profile is viewed by someone nearby. The app also offers key insights on who’s viewed your profile and other revealing stats.
  3. The Inner Circle: Think you have what it takes to be part of the inner circle? If the answer is yes, try out this app, which prescreens members to “maintain the highest quality.” The Inner Circle has been featured in Cosmopolitan, Men's Health, ELLE and more.
  4. PlanetRomeo: PlanetRomeo claims to be one of the world’s largest online dating and social platforms for the gay/bi male and transgender communities. Use your Apple Watch to browse profiles, read messages, and save users to your favorites so you'll be notified when they're online.
  5. Close Encounter by 3nder: Feeling adventurous? Try a “real-time blind dating app for open-minded people.” The app does away with profile photos to focus on personality. Your watch will vibrate when a potential match is nearby, then you can decide whether to reveal your location. Close Encounter doesn't exist quite yet, but you can read more about its proposed features on Medium.

Or maybe you're not into the big names or the underdogs. In that case, you have a solid middle-of-the-road option in Coffee Meets Bagel. The company released an Apple Watch version of its popular app that simplifies the dating process by focusing on only one potential match each day.

Compatible Partners Celebrates Gay Pride Month

Compatible Partners
  • Wednesday, June 10 2015 @ 10:23 am
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In honor of Pride month, Compatible Partners is running a special promotion on memberships. If you enter the following coupon code when you signup for a 6 month subscription:

GAYPRIDE

You will receive 83% off of the standard 6 month subscription price. This works out to $9.95 per month. This offer is valid unit the end of the month, June 30th, 2015.

Please check our Compatible Partners review for more information on this gay dating service.

Is “Hanging Out” the New Dating?

Dating
  • Wednesday, June 10 2015 @ 09:47 am
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There’s something to be said for taking things slowly. In fact, I advocate for this in my book Date Expectations. When you first start going out with someone, even if the chemistry is there – you don’t really know him/her – so it’s best to take things one step at a time, and date other people too. The problem is that people have taken this idea to an extreme, and instead prefer to “hang out,” because dating is such a commitment.

Yes, even meeting someone for a drink can be too much commitment in some daters’ eyes.

A recent article in Mic.com outlines this as the “chill” dating phenomenon. According to the writer Kate Hakala, the current dating currency is "your degree of chill." That is, you are more apt to get dates if you prove yourself to be indifferent to relationships. In other words, she says, become an “emotionless robot” who has no accountability or concern for others’ feelings, and you will find yourself at the top of the dating heap.

This is not good news for many daters, who, despite efforts at passing themselves off as “chill” – never mind all those unanswered texts and strings of messages and dates who disappear - actually care about finding a relationship. Instead, daters are having to accept bad behavior guised in the form of being relaxed about dating. If you have expectations, then you are too high maintenance.

Perhaps it has to do with the way we communicate now – making plans via text, wehre it is easy to cancel last minute without having to make excuses face-to-face. The rise of dating apps like Tinder, where new singles are always accessible, 24/7 hasn’t helped much either. It has turned dating into a commodity – where we all believe peoples’ feelings don’t matter so much because in the grand scheme of things, we can find someone else.

I tend to take a more cautious and critical approach to chill dating. I don’t think it is helping people with their relationship skills. In fact, I think it’s creating a culture of anxiety-ridden daters, who have no idea what to make of their dates and feel really uncomfortable having any kind of conversation to define their relationship.

I don't think it’s a bad thing to talk about your feelings. In fact, it’s incredibly freeing. If you aren’t feeling it with someone after several dates, don’t just disappear. Break up with your date. Allow for some closure. There’s nothing chill about playing around with other peoples’ feelings. Just because you don’t take the relationship seriously doesn’t mean you should assume your date is on the exact same page as you. Chances are, she’s not.

Being chill isn't doing you any favors - maybe it's time to take some chances with someone you're attracted to instead and see what happens.

Do You Know How to Delete Your Profile from a Dating App?

Profiles
  • Tuesday, June 09 2015 @ 06:38 am
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  • Views: 29,154
Delete your Dating Service Account

A study was recently released about users of dating app Tinder, which found that over 40% of the Tinder population is either already married or in a relationship.

While dating apps do attract users with less virtuous intentions, and some people feel compelled to meet for random hook-ups through a dating app even while they are in a committed relationship, there is an interesting question: what if some of these non-single users don't even know they have an online dating profile?

Turns out, there are many people who think deleting a dating app from your phone is the same as deleting your profile - but it isn't.

Dating apps and online dating sites make it kind of tricky to get rid of you altogether – after all, they attract people (and investors) based on user numbers, so they are not motivated to make it obvious how to delete your account. Many Tinder and dating app users delete the app from their phones, mistaking this from deleting their profile altogether.

So perhaps we shouldn’t be so cynical when it comes to daters’ intentions. Maybe instead, it’s good to take you through the steps of how to delete a profile for the most popular apps:

Tinder

Many people make the mistake of deleting the app from their phones and thinking their profiles will be deleted, too – but this isn’t the case. To delete your account, go to “Settings” in the app, select “App Settings” then scroll down to “Delete Account.” You’ll get a message that says it was deleted, so you know for sure. (Keep in mind – this deletes all your messages and profile information, so you can't get it back.) If you paid for the Tinder Plus service, Tinder makes it one step harder to cancel: you have to cancel your subscription via email. Bear in mind, if you log in to Tinder again after deleting your account, it creates a whole new account for you.

OkCupid

OkCupid, unlike Tinder, gives you the option of letting your profile be disabled, which means that if you decide to use the service in the future, you’ll still have access to those old photos, profile, and messages. If you prefer to delete it altogether, you can go to “Settings” in either the app or desktop version and select “delete account.”

eHarmony

eHarmony is tricky to delete, because it takes two steps. First, go to “Settings,” then “Account Settings,” then “Billing” then “Close Account.” Then according to some to make sure it’s completely deleted, you have to send an email to deletemyinfo@eharmony.com with the subject line “Delete my Account Information.”

Hinge

Hinge doesn’t allow you to delete your account from your phone, but only from a computer. Go to the Hinge website for a link to your Facebook App settings, and then delete Hinge from there. Once you have done this, then you can delete the app from your phone.

AdultFriendFinder's Database Hacked, Data On Sale For $17K

Adult FriendFinder
  • Monday, June 08 2015 @ 06:45 am
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Looking for a morally suspect way to blow $17,000? Here's an idea: purchase the private info stolen from an adult dating website.

According to multiple reports, a massive database of user data was swiped from casual hookup site AdultFriendFinder. It's now going for 70 bitcoins — the equivalent of nearly $17,000 — on the Dark Web.

Adult FriendFinder boasts 63 million users worldwide, billing itself as a "thriving sex community.” Up to 4 million members who shared sensitive sexual information with the site have been affected by the hack.

Allegedly the unredacted data for sale includes personal details like names, email addresses, and postal codes, as well as information about sexual habits and orientation. In addition to your garden variety identity fraud and spam, a breach of this nature could put users at risk of extortion and blackmail.

Interest in the poached info appears to be high. ROR[RG], the moniker used by the hacker who claims to have breached the site, wrote "I have had so many people ask me to buy the db today" in an underground forum on Saturday. ROR[RG] is also offering to break into any company or website for 750 bitcoins (about $170,000).

Within hours of the data being leaked, hackers on the forum declared their intentions to hit victims with spam emails. After sending out virused emails, they can trawl through the data for potential blackmail targets. So far there have been confirmed reports of users receiving spam with malware or trojans.

FriendFinder Networks, the Silicon Valley company that operates the service, says “there is no evidence that any financial information or passwords were compromised.” The company has hired the Mandiant response division of cyber-security company FireEye, which has previously investigated a number of high-profile breaches, to investigate.

In the meantime members are urged to update their user names and passwords. AdultFriendFinder is also temporarily blocking attempts to search for user profiles by any users who are suspected of being affected by the security issue.

"As is common with similar cyber attack events, until the investigation is completed, it will be difficult to confirm the full scope of the incident, but we will continue to work vigilantly to address this potential issue and will provide updates on this site as we learn more from our investigation," said Adult FriendFinder in a statement. "Protecting our members' information is our top priority and we will continue to take the appropriate steps needed to protect our members and their information."

Are Your Dating Photos “Too Hot?”

Photos
  • Sunday, June 07 2015 @ 11:09 am
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Before you start looking for the perfect lighting situation for your online dating photo shoot, or try a lot of make-up before you snap the picture, you might want to reconsider. A new study found that while your photo may appear more attractive when it’s “enhanced,” if you’re a woman, you likely won’t be trusted.

Researchers at the University of Connecticut conducted an experiment to determine how people judged each other based on their online dating profile photos. They asked 153 straight men and 152 straight women, ages 17 to 36, to look at one of four pictures – each looked at both enhanced and unenhanced pictures of the same person.

Both men and women thought the enhanced photos made the dater considerably more attractive. But men tended to assume that the enhanced female photos were hiding something, and that they couldn’t be trusted. The women on the other hand felt the guys who were enhanced were more likeable and trustworthy – creating a “halo effect” if you will.

While the new study looked at online dating specifically, it seems to corroborate what happens in the real world when people are checking each other out in person.

According to Today.com, the new research provides more evidence of how makeup can change people's perceptions of a woman's character. Alex Jones, a postdoctoral research associate at Gettysburg College who was not involved in the study, told the morning show website: "Attractive people are not always seen in a positive light. Attractive women seem particularly vulnerable to these judgments and cosmetics use is one area where harsher judgments are given to women."

Interestingly, the study also pointed to a lack of concern among men: “males found the beautified profile as more attractive and had a higher desire to date the person in the picture despite the lower degree of trustworthiness they reported," the authors noted. So even though the men didn’t trust the women who enhanced their photos, they did have a desire to date them anyway.

On the flip side, women seemed to trust men more when they had enhanced their photos, assuming that personality traits would match their looks.

Why did women find the guys with beautiful photos more appealing and trustworthy? It seems that this mirrors real life – women tend to fantasize about what they desire, assuming that a man who presents well is also going to be great boyfriend material. Unfortunately, in real life, you can’t know if someone is trustworthy until you get to know them – therefore, it’s fantasy to assume someone might be great based on an enhanced photo.

The researchers will present their findings at the conference of the International Communication Association in San Juan, Puerto Rico from May 21-25.

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