United States

Hailey Welch, the “Hawk Tuah” girl who rose to fame from a viral video moment has now launched a new dating app dubbed Pookie Tools.

Pookie Tools is AI-based and acts like a virtual wingman, offering everything from conversation prompts to outfit recommendations to profile enhancement tips.

The app targets the Gen Z market with some of Welch’s “cheat codes,” as the description in the app store reads. The cheat codes include a “Conversation Assistant” and “Text Responder” that offer personalized prompts to keep conversations going and an “Astrological Insights” feature that helps determine a match’s compatibility based on zodiac signs.

The 2024 election has created rifts among the American population, and it is already shifting dating behavior along political lines.

After Trump’s victory, people are not keen to state who they voted for or what their politics are for fear of turning potential love interests away, but app users are still searching for coded messaging on the platforms. According to USA Today, if someone lists their politics as moderate or apolitical, or go to lengths to avoid stating where they stand on certain issues, potential matches identify them as “lowkey Republican,” or MAGA or Trump supporters.

Daters are also reading into profile pictures, and assuming that blue hair or blue clothing points to more liberal political opinions, and likely that person voted for Harris.

The share price of Match Group Inc. dropped after a disappointing third quarter earnings report, signaling that consumer interest in paying for dating app subscriptions continues to wane.

According to Business Insider, Match Group shares dropped more than 18 percent after the company reported that paying users on its most popular app Tinder fell 4 percent in the third quarter from the same time period last year, to $9.9 million. The revenue decline for Tinder has been continuous the past few quarters, and Match Group says it expects this slowdown to continue in the fourth quarter.

Hinge continues to be the star of Match Group’s offerings, growing 36 percent year-over-year, though its userbase is still a fraction of Tinder’s.

Cheers, a new matchmaking app founded by former Instagram engineer Sahil Ahuja, has launched in New York.

The new app is focused on building connections by offering a similar format to social platforms like Instagram, where users can add unlimited photos and videos to their profile (similar to social media apps), so other users get a feel for who they are. Cheers uses AI in some of its features as do most dating apps now, including for photo selection and to set up user profiles.

According to Tech Crunch, Cheers is differentiating itself from apps like Tinder and Bumble by offering posting features and friend-matchmaking in addition to romantic connections, leaning heavily into the social media model.

Image: Feeld

Feeld, a dating app created for people interested in threesomes, has now launched a lifestyle magazine to enhance the brand for its app.

AFM stands for both A *censored* Magazine and A Feeld Magazine, which will publish an array of stories about peoples’ sexual experiences in order to build community, according to The Atlantic. It features commissioned articles by controversial and notable writers like Daphne Merkin (author of the 1996 New Yorker essay on spanking which went viral), and Tony Tulathimutte (author of this fall’s critically acclaimed incel novel).

“We’ve always been uniquely resonant with creatives in our community,” Feeld CEO and cofounder Ana Kirova said to Elle Magazine. She goes on to explain that she hopes the publication will help get Feeld users creative about “specifying the sex or connection they are seeking.” She also notes that half the magazine’s content was produced by Feeld users.

The Democrats have launched a new series of ads on dating app Grindr to appeal to young LGBTQ+ daters, in hopes of turning out more votes ahead of election day on November 5th.

According to The Advocate, the targeted ads focus on the Republican party’s Project 2025, emphasizing that the document threatens LGBTQ+ rights. These ads urge people to vote against the extremist agenda. One ad says: “Project 2025 Rips Away Our Rights. Stop Republicans. Make a plan to vote at IWillVote.com.”

The Kamala Harris campaign has spent three figures on the ads, indicating the importance of the LGBTQ+ constituency to her success.