Features

Image: Facebook

Got a secret crush on someone in your friend circle? Facebook now has a feature for that. At its annual F8 developer conference, the social networking company unveiled the newest addition to its dating product: Secret Crush.

Secret Crush allows users to select up to nine Facebook friends they want to stealthily express interest in. Each user who is selected will receive a notification saying “A friend added you as a secret crush.” The sender’s name will not be revealed unless the recipient also puts the sender on their Secret Crush list. If a mutual crush occurs, Facebook will make the match and reveal the names. If their feelings are not reciprocated, the secret admirer’s identity will remain a secret.

Hinge has taken a bold new step in differentiating itself in a crowded dating app market. Its new branding campaign was just unveiled with the slogan “designed to be deleted,” assuring users of its intention: to help them find serious relationships and get off the app for good.

According to The Verge, Hinge has also debuted a new redesign to put this message front and center for users. The new profile creation process utilizes animation and prompts for users to add information about themselves, adding the tag at the end of each suggestion: “so you can delete us.”

Image: Snapchat

Snapchat announced that third party developers will soon be able to integrate its Stories feature into third party apps. Most notably, dating app Tinder will be among the first apps to debut the feature.

According to The Verge, Tinder plans its Stories rollout this summer.

Snapchat Stories is the defining feature of the Snapchat app, where users could post videos and photos that would automatically disappear in 24 hours. The service became incredibly popular after it launched, especially among young people who preferred its platform to Facebook, which at the time didn’t have its own stories feature.

Every April Fools’ Day, brands vie to nab headlines by pulling off outrageous public pranks. This year’s notable gags include Google claiming to have invented a plant language translator, Spotify giving listeners disco-infused Discover Weekly playlists, and McDonald teasing eaters with milkshake-flavored dipping sauces. But the award for 2019’s most memorable prank goes to Tinder, which shook up the online dating world and inspired heated debate with a faux feature announcement.

A March 29 blog post introduced the world to the Height Verification Badge, a tool purportedly designed to stop “height fishing” and enforce honesty on the dating app. “Height-lying ends here,” proclaims the post. “To require everyone under 6’ to own up to their real height, we’re bringing truthfulness back into the world of online dating.” The post’s guide to using the feature directs users to input their real height and submit a screenshot of themselves standing next to a commercial building for comparison. Fake screenshots show an error message instructing a dissembling user named Tyler to enter his correct height.

Facebook Dating has just expanded its service to include two more countries: Mexico and Argentina.

The social media giant’s new dating platform launched in 2018, and was first introduced to Facebook users in Colombia, and then later in Canada and Thailand. Mexico and Argentina are the latest countries to join the rollout.

According to CNET, Facebook also revealed some new features it will be adding to its dating service soon. “Auto Profile Create” does just what it implies – it can automatically generate a profile for you by gathering photos and information from your existing Facebook account, making it easier to get started. Users have the ability to edit or remove information in the auto-generated profile, or they can opt to build one from scratch.

The Unicode Consortium, otherwise known as the gatekeeper of emojis, has introduced interracial couple emojis to their growing lexicon of inclusive choices. The new emojis will debut later in 2019, in large part thanks to dating app Tinder.

According to Mashable, when the new emojis debut, you can choose from a mix of different skin color and gender combinations, including interracial same-sex couples, depending on your preference. The combinations provide a total of 71 new couple variations. Until now, the only couple or group emojis available has been the default yellow emojis.

Tinder advocated for interracial couple emojis back in early 2018 with its #representlove campaign. The company had already made efforts to be more inclusive by offering a range of gender and sexuality preferences people could include in their dating profiles, so the emoji campaign was another way to advocate for and appeal to its userbase. Tinder introduced a petition to Unicode after gathering 50,000 signatures, making a case to add the new emojis.