Dating Services

Meta announced it will be shutting down Tuned, its app designed for couples, in mid-September. As of the end of July, it is no longer allowing new users to sign up for the service.

Tuned was launched in April 2020 when Covid lockdowns were taking place around the world. It was positioned as a dating app to help couples better communicate by giving them a platform to exchange notes, photos, voice messages and videos, as well as share music via a Spotify integration. Tuned also let users set their moods and supplied a “check-in” feature with prompts so they could have a starting point to talk about their feelings.

Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to connect with couples. Tech Crunch pointed out that the platform was removed from Facebook Dating and other Meta platforms, which could have impacted its success.

Bumble Gender Options

Image: Bumble

In response to recent criticisms from its non-binary users, Bumble has announced changes to its app to create a better, more inclusive experience.

According to NBC News, Bumble has now updated its gender preference options to include non-binary as its own category for dating profiles. When a user chooses, they are prompted to “add more.” For example, a user identifying as a woman can choose from trans, intersex woman, transfeminine and cis woman, among others. Men can choose from intersex man, trans man, transmasculine, etc. If a user doesn’t identify with any descriptor on the list, they can add their own. Nonbinary users can choose from numerous descriptors, including bigender, genderfluid, gender questioning, and pangender among others.

Prior to this change, Bumble tested a pilot feature where users could choose non-binary as an option for gender preference, but this option was listed under the “male” and female” gender options, one of which had to be selected first.

Executives at Baihe Jiayuan Network Group, an online dating subsidiary of conglomerate Fosun International, a pharmaceutical giant in China, were arrested on charges of embezzlement.

According to the South China Morning Post, the executives were found missing which led to reports of their “disappearance,” sparking rumors across social media platforms. Fosun’s anti-graft department had discovered evidence during routine online checks of the company that the executives had abused their positions to commit the crime. The department alerted Fosun which reported the executives to Chinese authorities.

The report of the missing executives initially surfaced on Weibo, with a post sharing that the company’s top executives, including its CEO, chief operating officer, and chief financial officer, along with a number of vice presidents, had disappeared according to South China Morning Post. Local news picked up the story, so Baihe Jiayuan released a statement saying the executives were in custody and cooperating with authorities.

Google has brought a lawsuit against Match Group, announcing its intention to remove dating apps like Tinder, OkCupid and Hinge from its Play Store.

The move is part of a countersuit, according to Bloomberg. The dating app conglomerate joined other app developers in bringing a lawsuit against Google’s parent company Alphabet, citing unfair practices in Google’s Play Store, specifically the requirement that developers pay commission for every in-app purchase made by its users. Google settled with the developers to pay them $90 million to compensate for lost revenue over the years.

Match Group has filed lawsuits and complaints against Apple for similar reasons.

Match Group has acquired The League, a dating app known for its exclusivity because you have to apply to join.

The news about the members-only dating app was disclosed by a Tinder spokesperson to Tech Crunch. The League has become popular among ambitious, career-focused people looking for a more exclusive dating app experience, and as a result the app grew a long waiting list with people vying for a place. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Match Group’s new CEO Bernard Kim sent an email to employees, sharing the news: “We have just closed our acquisition of The League, a premium, niche dating app with a curated member base focused on matching career-oriented users looking for a serious relationship,” Kim wrote.

Match Group is bringing the free background checks feature on Tinder to two more of its dating apps: Match (its signature app) and Stir, an app geared toward single parents.

The feature allows users two free background checks on matches, and after that there’s a cost. Right now, premium users on Tinder get four free background checks, and the same will apply for users of Stir and Match, according to The Verge.

The background checks feature was implemented in partnership with security service Garbo which actually runs the background checks. According to The Verge, when a user is chatting with someone and suggests meeting, a box pops up to ask if they want to do a background check. If they tap on the link, they see some safety tips before being transferred to the Garbo platform where the report is accessed.