Features

The new features of Tinder Gold!

Tinder introduced swiping to the dating app world and online dating has never been the same. Now, the company is striving to evolve beyond its image as a hookup app and deliver more value to its customers through its premium services and new features.

The latest offering is Tinder Gold – a premium service (as is Tinder Plus) that allows members to see who has swiped right on their profiles in advance. This allows users to eliminate the guesswork involved in whether or not their matches already “liked” them before they make a decision to “like” them back.

According to Tinder, it will also speed up the process of finding a match, because you aren’t waiting around to see if someone you’re interested in swipes right on you, which can be a big time suck in online dating.

Dating apps aren’t afraid to embrace trends. Love bacon? Or beards? Or Canadians? There’s an app for that. Dozens of niche services capitalize on the latest news and pop culture obsessions, yet there’s one trend online dating has strangely skipped over: video.

Though Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat put video front-and-center, the majority of big-name dating apps don’t allow users to share or upload videos. Attempts to integrate video, or launch new apps that are video-focused, have largely failed.

Does video dating belong to the ‘80s, when singles would record personal profiles on VHS in hopes of being distributed to a compatible match?

It’s been a whirlwind week in the online dating world.

First, Badoo launched a feature to help singles hook up with their celebrity crushes… well, almost. A new search feature uses facial recognition technology to match users with dates who look like their favourite celebs. Among the most searched-for famous faces so far are Kim Kardashian West, Justin Bieber, and Robert Pattinson.

“People are looking for quick, fast, easy ways to start connections,” said Badoo's Miles Norris to the BBC, “and if the way someone looks is a good onboarding to that, then we want to make it easy for them.”

Dating apps are all about the swipes. In fact, the process can almost feel game-like, with users swiping left and right as quickly as possible, and it seems there’s an endless supply of potential matches.

So what happens when a new dating app forces you to slow down? It seems counter-intuitive in the current online dating market, but one company wants to try and take it slow.

Appetence is a new app that launched in May for iOS, and focuses on the art of conversation before all information about a match can be revealed.

When you download the app, you are asked a series of questions about preferences relating to music, food, TV, books, movies, and even pets. The app then shows you profiles that are compatible – sort of.

How Match Stories Works

One of the oldest players in the online dating industry is betting on the next big thing since swiping. Match plans to launch a new video feature for its dating app this summer.

Match is still a brand name, and it retains a large database of users (though its demographic skews a little older – the company captures a large portion of daters thirty-five and older, many of them divorced and getting back into dating). But Match is looking to broaden its horizons, and the dating game along with it, by focusing on video for product development, according to a report by Mashable.

The video feature, dubbed Match Stories, varies a bit from the old-school video dating services and other video dating apps that haven’t quite taken off. Instead of stilted introductions from users who aren't used to being in front of a camera, Match Stories allows its customers to be a bit more creative. They can incorporate video and images into a 60-second “story,” and use the voiceover tool to explain to potential dates what they are seeing.

Are you a mindful single and looking for someone who’s also interested in meditation, green living, and conscious eating? Then look no further than Denver-based dating app MeetMindful, who recently raised $1.8 million in investment money in the saturated dating app market.

This seed round included funds from top investors in mindfulness, dating, and SaaS technology, including the CEO of Hay House, a popular publishing company among the mindfulness crowd, and Bridge Builders Collaborative.

"We see significant potential in MeetMindful to facilitate authentic relationships for the millions of people pursuing more mindful, healthy lifestyles," said Bridge Builders Collaborative's Operating Partner Charlie Hartwell in a statement.