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Dating app Bumble just launched Night In, a new game feature that matches can play on a virtual date. In addition, the female-friendly dating app has revamped Boost, its mid-range paid service that now allows users unlimited swipes, “backtracking” and match extensions. 

Night In is an in-app game that’s meant to operate as an ice breaker. The feature provides a series of trivia questions that you and your Bumble date can answer together on a virtual date, according to The Verge. Bumble users can access Night In using the new icon in a chat message, where they can schedule the date ahead of time (as long as it’s between 6pm and midnight). Both participants will receive notification reminders ahead of the date.

Tinder and Everywell are giving away Covid Tests

To prepare for a surge of daters looking to meet in person, Tinder is giving away free at-home Covid test kits. The kits will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, and will be offered on March 20th at 7pm EST – the first day of spring.

In partnership with Everlywell, the maker of federally approved Covid-19 test kits, Tinder will give 1,000 kits to people (500 couples) who have made plans to meet up, according to CNN. The kits come with a nose swab, which you use and return back to the lab to wait for results to post online, usually 1-2 days later. 

The popular dating app company said that 40 percent of its customers under age 30 haven’t met in person because of fear of the coronavirus, so it’s hoping this will help ease some anxiety.

Garbo is a non-profit provider of Background Checks

Tinder announced that it will offer background checks on potential dates, a new measure that parent company Match Group has taken to improve safety for users of the app. Currently no dating app conducts criminal background checks on users, so this is a huge step forward for safety advocates.

Match Group has partnered with Garbo, a non-profit that provides background checks, and plans to debut an in-app background check feature on Tinder later this year according to The Washington Post. There are no details yet on the cost of the service.

Tracey Breeden, Match’s new head of safety and social advocacy, said in an interview: “This gives [Tinder users] an opportunity and that comfort level. Maybe they want more information before they have a video chat, maybe they want more information before they meet in person.”

India has seen a surge of new online daters thanks to Chinese dating app Lamour, but many are not so happy with the service.

L’amour was the most downloaded dating app in India in 2019 according to Sensor Tower analytics firm, gathering 14 million users in the first six months. (By comparison, Tinder got 6.6 million downloads during this same time period.) Since the lockdowns, the app has been gaining steam.

India is still a growing market with huge potential when it comes to the dating app industry, and Match Group and Bumble have focused resources on expanding their user bases in the region the past few years. However, it’s been dating app L’amour that is garnering attention according to Quartz News, with ads that say “find a girlfriend in a week” to lure new (male) users. When they click on the ad and download the app, they are presented with photos of attractive potential matches and messages directed to them, asking “are you the one I’m looking for?” 

If you’ve been vaccinated, you might want to include it in your online profile. Several online dating apps have now reported seeing increased interest around the topic of vaccines.

According to a report from Vice in early March, a Tinder spokesperson told Motherboard that they’d seen a 238 percent increase in vaccine mentions in user bios in January, and noticed the interest surrounding the subject as early as November. Bumble also reported an increase in the number of people using the words “vaccine” or “vaccinated” in their profiles dating back to December. In the same time period, the number of profiles on Scruff with the word “vaccinated” added has doubled.

Dating app OkCupid has predicted that August 1st will be the most popular day to schedule a date in 2021, thanks to the rollout of the vaccines for COVID-19 in the U.K.

According to Mashable, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged that all adults will be vaccinated by July 31st, and in response, OkCupid projected that there will be a huge spike in people getting together the next day. Singles have felt especially isolated this past year, with virtual dating becoming the preferred option over meeting someone in person. But the rollout of the vaccine seems to be changing attitudes and comfort levels among the dating app’s users.

This projection is assuming that the vaccine rollout goes smoothly and there will be enough doses in the country, which might not be the case, Mashable warned. To date, almost 18 million people had received their first dose of vaccine and about 620,000 had received their second. These numbers met the government’s target for mid-February, with 15 million people now vaccinated in the U.K.