Features

Dating app Tinder announced the rollout of a new feature called Tinder Loops, which allows users to create looping GIFs for their profiles.

Tinder users can upload short videos (two seconds in length) to their profiles so they can “show more personality” than with photos alone, according to Tinder. When the company tested the feature earlier this year in Japan, Tech Crunch noted that people who added the Loops feature to their profiles were 10% more likely to receive a right swipe.

The feature also seems to increase the likelihood that people will communicate over the app. Tech Crunch also reported that users testing the feature saw their average conversation length increase by 20%.

Happn - the dating app that matches you with people who have crossed your path IRL - has always raised eyebrows. Despite assurances to the contrary from Didier Rappaport, the app’s co-founder and CEO, concerned singles continue to fear its location-tracking functionality could be misused by suitors with creepy, or possibly dangerous, intentions.

Happn remains undeterred from its mission, and starting next month, will offer users yet another way to identify their missed connections.

The new interactive map allows users to discover people they’ve crossed paths with over the past week. Tap locations you visited over the last seven days to reveal the profiles of others who hit the same spots. This is different from Happn’s standard functionality in that it allows users to travel back in time by retracing other users' steps, rather than being limited solely to current data.

Match Group, the parent company of popular dating app Tinder, has launched a new app called Crown which offers a game-like format for online dating.

It works like this: every day at noon, users are presented with sixteen total profiles, shown two at a time, and must choose only one “winner” from each group of two. Users go through a process of elimination, until you end up with the final four matches, at which point you choose one final winner to be “crowned.” That winner is then alerted he/she has won, but that doesn’t mean you start chatting right away - it’s up to the winner to choose whether or not he/she wants to message you.

The game element is an interesting choice by Match Group. By turning it into a process where there is a possibility to “win,” the idea is that more users would feel invested in the process, and therefore be more likely to reach out. On the other hand, some argue, users might feel more acute rejection if their “winners” choose not to interact.

MillionaireMatch.com has been online for almost 20 years. Over that time the service has added a lot of features which has shaped their dating niche and help make them the standout dating service for singles interested in experiencing a wealthy lifestyle.

MillionaireMatch recent statistics show that over 60 percent of people in the United States that are between the ages of 18 and 29 have used online dating. The transfer of members from using dating websites to mobile dating apps has increased as well. Currently over 60 percent of MillionaireMatch members access the service via their mobile phones.

Forbes recently talked with MillionaireMatch's Technical Manager Carl Feng about a new feature which is available now called "Recall".

This week, Match Group announced it has acquired dating app Hinge. According to the press release, the deal gives Match Group a 51 percent stake in the company. Match first started buying shares in Sept of 2017 and has the option to buy remaining shares of Hinge within the next year.

Hinge has spent the last few years revamping its image and features, creating an app that countered Tinder’s hook-up reputation, and aimed to create a space for more serious daters. This included dumping its initial Tinder-like swiping feature and allowing clients to build profiles more like traditional online dating sites. Interestingly, Match Group (which owns Tinder) initially invested in Hinge in the fall of 2017, soon after it debuted its new design.

Hinge is most popular among “urban, educated millennial women looking for relationships,” according to Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg. It has also grown its user base to “five times what it was a year ago,” according to an article in The Wall Street Journal, making it an attractive purchase for Match Group.

Dating app Badoo, which boasts a record 388 million users, has announced that it will be dropping the swiping feature from its dating app. The company plans to replace swiping with a new feature called Badoo Live which features live video.

According to TechCrunch, Badoo received feedback from users that they were getting tired of swiping, and were looking for a “more authentic” way to online date. The company wanted users to be able to get a better glimpse of potential matches before making decisions to meet, and thought the best way to do this would be through video.

Badoo Live will be similar to Facebook Live, in that users will be able to message their matches while recording their own live video, offering instant interaction to build connection. People can also watch video in playback mode, also similar to Facebook Live. Badoo will also offer a “Badoo Live” tab that users can click on to see any live videos happening that moment.