United States

A dating app with a hook-up reputation is getting it on IRL, too. In July, the popular dating app hired event organizers to throw parties for its most exclusive members in a rented house in the Hamptons. Unfortunately, partygoers (and Tinder) were soon booted out.

According to an article in Gizmodo, the company threw “a series of parties at telecom mogul Michael Hirtenstein’s oceanfront home...Over the weekends of July 14th and July 21th, cops reportedly visited the property multiple times due to noise complaints from neighbors.”

According to Page Six, attendees were also cited for carrying open containers and illegally parking.

In the wake of the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia last weekend, two dating app companies have stepped forward to ban white supremacists from their platforms and offer donations to organizations that fight against hate groups.

OkCupid has offered a donation to a Charlottesville victim relief group, which is helping support victims of the attacks that shook the community in early August. Bumble has also stepped forward, announcing its partnership with the Anti-Defamation League, pledging a “zero tolerance policy against misogynist, abusive, and inappropriate behaviour.”

Bumble stated it will use the ADL’s “research and terminology” to identify and categorize hate symbols, and prevent people who use hate speech and symbols from using the dating platform.

Singles in New York have a new way to date, network, recharge, and bee social in the big city. Bumble, the popular female-focused dating app, has opened its first physical location in Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood. The pop-up installation has been dubbed ‘The Hive’ and is set to remain open for the month of June.

The space is decked out from head-to-toe in Bumble’s branding, featuring yellow walls, honeycomb shapes, and plenty of bee-related puns. The Hive is open to anyone who wants to stop by - users and non-users alike - whether they’re looking for a date spot, a place to hang with friends, a co-working space, or just a respite from the constant buzz of city life.

“It will follow the format of Bumble and offer something for everyone,” Whitney Wolfe, founder and chief executive officer of Bumble, told Mashable. “A place for dates to meet, friends to do activities together, and co-working for our bizz users. Bumble has allowed you to build your hive digitally, and now we’re giving you an extension of that physically.”

Do you have what it takes to join The Inner Circle? The super-selective, Amsterdam-based dating platform has officially entered the US market with a launch in New York City.

The Inner Circle’s premise is not unlike The League, another elite dating service that vets potential members before allowing them to join. Both apps aim to create exclusive communities of “high-quality” users - singles who are smart, attractive, ambitious, and career-focused. To do so, new users must apply to join and all applicants are carefully screened before being granted access.

Let’s face it, the U.S. election was a polarizing event, and now that it’s over, people in both camps are weary of those in the other. This can make two strangers who meet via a dating app hesitant about each other. Should they talk politics or not? Will political party allegiance be a factor in whether or not the relationship moves forward?

More and more daters are wondering where their dates stand politically than ever before. For many, it’s not about playing politics, but about connecting over shared values. Conservatives and Democrats are very divided in what’s most important on a more personal level, so much so that it can affect romantic relationships.

Though the US Presidential Election is over, the nation remains deeply divided along party lines. Many Americans have made jokes about moving to Canada in the past, but this week, the Canadian immigration website’s server broke down because of all the traffic from unhappy American voters.

Enter Maple Match, a dating app which matches Americans and Canadians for potential romance. The company took an opportunity to make lemonade out of political lemons.

Maple Match was beta testing its service earlier this year, and this month seized the opportunity to launch its new app to help Americans feeling less than happy with their country’s choices. The app's tagline is “make dating great again,” similar to the slogan for President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign.

Maple Match’s technology is straightforward. It offers the same photo-based profile that Tinder does, but there is no swiping. You indicate your citizenship and your desired citizenship, and then you can look through potential matches and start messaging whomever you like.