Tinder

You’re itching to book your next trip, but none of your friends are available and you don’t have a significant other. What’s a solo traveler to do? Apps dedicated to connecting travelers are on the rise. Some are explicitly designed to be digital matchmakers for singles with wanderlust, while others are intended to connect explorers looking for travel buddies or local guides. Here are five to try on your next adventure.

TourBar

TourBar is a mobile-first social network made to help jetsetters find dates or travel companions. Members can register as a solo traveler headed to a destination or as a local guide ready to reveal the best restaurants, beaches, bars and other must-see spots in their city. All users on the site are verified for a safer, less stressful international travel experience. TourBar’s ambitious goal is to become a platform for solo travelers of all kinds, where members can share travel plans and recent experiences with others looking to visit a destination.

Down Detector for Tinder

Tinder users were frustrated earlier this month when they tried to message and browse matches on the app, but instead got recurring error messages. The app was down for several hours starting at around 5:00am PST on Tuesday January 8, according to reports.

Users across Europe, the U.K. and the U.S. experienced problems sending and receiving messages, as well as server connection errors according to news website CNET. Some users also reported that they were unable to login at all.

Tinder and Bumble have spent most of 2018 embroiled in a fierce legal battle over patent infringement, misuse of intellectual property and theft of trade secrets. At the center of the dispute is the swiping mechanism that has become a ubiquitous feature of modern dating. In March, Tinder’s parent company Match Group filed a lawsuit alleging that Bumble “copied Tinder’s world-changing, card-swipe-based, mutual opt-in premise.” Bumble responded with an aggressive countersuit asserting that the swiping interface is not an original notion worthy of patent protection.

After attempts to settle privately failed, the dispute headed to court and the first big ruling has been handed out.

Judge Alan Albright of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas denied Bumble's claim that the Match Group patents in question are ineligible for patenting under Section 101 of the Patent Act.

Tinder has fired a group of employees who brought a lawsuit against parent company Match Group and its controlling shareholder IAC, according to website The Verge who broke the story. Tinder did not reveal how many people were fired, but former communications VP Rosette Pambakian was notably among them.

Tinder employees who brought the lawsuit against Match Group alleged that the company had manipulated financial data in order to lower the company’s valuation, forcing former co-founder and CEO Sean Rad among others to accept less money than they claim their shares were worth.

In addition, the lawsuit includes Pambakian’s allegation that former CEO Greg Blatt also sexually harassed her at a company holiday party.

Image: Tinder

Tinder released a new report this December called “Year in Swipe,” where the popular dating app revealed the best time to log into the app and other insights to help improve your dating game.

Searching through its troves of data to find interesting trends among users, Tinder found that the best day to be on the app is Monday. The best time is also in the evening – 6:00pm for those in California and the West Coast, and 9:00pm for East Coast residents. The study noted that August was the best month of the year for activity, but any Monday night you’re likely to see a spike in users, so it’s good to take advantage and log in.

Tinder examined other high-traffic times on the app, noting specific events over the past year where more people were swiping and logging in. Big surprise - the Superbowl turned out to be the most popular event of the year for Tinder as well as American football fans.

Brian Norgard, who has reigned as Tinder’s chief of product the past two years, announced his resignation.

According to website Tech Crunch, Norgard says he is exiting on a positive note and plans to get back to his entrepreneurial roots. Before he joined Tinder, he founded startup messaging app Tappy, which was acquired in 2014, along with Facebook messaging app Chill, another successful startup with 30 million users. When Norgard first joined Tinder, he was head of revenue and moved on to his chief of product role.

Norgard cites Keith Rabois of PayPal as his inspiration for leaving to pursue something new.

“It’s been a great ride but my strength has always been in the early-stage game,” Norgard told TechCrunch. “What I’m trying to do now is take all the learnings from that wonderful experience and bring them into my investing.”