Online Dating

Apple has come to an agreement with Dutch regulators over an ongoing dispute over dating apps being able to use third party payment systems.

After weeks of being fined for non-compliance, the tech giant has finally reached an accord with the Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM). According to Tech Crunch, the details are still vague, but the agreement basically follows the original proposal Apple submitted with a few significant changes, such as not requiring dating apps to create a separate binary app for third party payment systems.

Apple confirmed that they might do one of the following as it pertains to the agreement, which doesn’t make clear what developers can expect going forward. The tech giant said that dating apps might: continue to use Apple’s in-app purchase system; use a third-party payment system in the app that people can choose; include an in-app link directing users to the developer’s website to complete a purchase; or lastly, use a third-party payment system within the app and include a link directing people to the developer’s website to complete a purchase, according to Tech Crunch.

The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) is suing Match Group for hindering its investigation into OkCupid. The dating app, owned by Match, shared a user’s photo with facial recognition company Clarifai.

According to Bloomberg and BiometricUpdate.com, the FTC found that Clarifai was using the image without the user’s consent or knowledge, violating Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act. The government agency also said that it filed the lawsuit because its investigation was being “stonewalled by Match Group.” OkCupid originally shared the image with the AI company back in 2014.

OkCupid user Jordan Stein, whose image was shared without her knowledge or consent, brought a lawsuit against Clarifai as a result, but in March of last year, a judge ruled that Clarifai could not be sued for violating Illinois’ law because it was out of its jurisdiction. 

The Lox Club has turned to TikTok for attracting new users and is seeing record new downloads of its app as a result. 

The dating app launched last year to big fanfare and a profile in The New York Times, but the real test came with keeping users engaged so they didn’t return to Tinder and other popular dating apps. Since launching its new TikTok marketing strategy, the company has seen 13,000 conversions (clicks turned to downloads of the app) in January and February, according to AdWeek. This is also five times the number of conversions in November and December of last year. 

There’s a crop of new dating apps looking for novel ways to attract Gen Z users who want more than a swiping experience, which means thinking outside traditional advertising options, like Facebook ads which don’t necessarily convert browsers to users. Younger daters also gravitate to creative content and TikTok in larger numbers, opting to be entertained, which has driven some engaging new features in the dating app industry. For example, Tinder launched an “Explore” section, which includes Festival Mode to help users meet up with each other at music festivals and an interactive series called “Swipe Night,” among other features.

In time for Pride Month, dating app OkCupid announced it has added compatibility questions for users to find matches who support the LGBTQ+ community.

The new questions focus on a range of topics, including what Pride means to a potential match and whether they advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, and whether it is “OK to silently support the transgender movement.” Other questions include how they would want to have children (via surrogate, adoption, fostering and other options), and whether it’s important that their dates care about LGBTQ+ rights, according to PRWeek. 

In addition to the new questions, OkCupid will also show specific definitions for the 20 sexual orientation options and 22 gender identity options the app offers for users to add to their profiles, so that daters can be clear on exactly how they identify. In addition, users can choose up to five options so they are not boxed into only one. 

A new study found that men who pose shirtless on dating apps give the impression that they engage in risky sexual behavior, and are viewed as less competent by potential dates.

According to the study, shirtless pictures are a turnoff for women, because they assume these men are having more casual sex, which poses increased risk for the women they date. Women also tended to objectify the men in these photos, and viewed them as less competent as a result.

According to PsyPost, researchers surveyed a relatively small sample - 567 undergraduate students in the U.S. between the ages of 18 and 25. Participants were shown one of eight mock Tinder profiles featuring an image of the same man, a white young male from the waist up, and asked their thoughts about attractiveness, social appeal, and competence. The profiles were manipulated to emphasize differences - a muscular body vs non-muscular, shirtless vs wearing a shirt, and the person advertising in his profile that he’s looking for a relationship vs. casual sex.   

Bumble is focusing beyond its popular dating app and adding a new social networking feature to its BFF platform.

Bumble BFF uses the same swipe-based matching found on the dating app, but will expand options for users to include networking groups where they can connect and chat with each other based on topics of interest, according to Tech Crunch. Bumble had hinted that it was testing this new feature and it was “doing well,” according to its first quarter earnings call.

While Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd didn’t offer many details about the new feature on the call, she did describe it was a way to help “people to discover and get to know each other around shared joys and common struggles.” She also noted that over 40 percent of “active BFF users” were checking out the new feature and the various networking groups, sharing that its one-month retention was more than 75 percent, according to Tech Crunch.