Tinder

Tinder is on a roll. After announcing a partnership with Spotify and introducing the ‘Boost’ feature to promote profiles, the dating app is launching yet another update. The newest feature is called Smart Photos, and it hopes to help users put their best face (literally) forward.

The Smart Photos algorithm automatically determines which pictures are a user’s best. It works by cycling the photos on your profile so different ones appear as your primary image. As it does so, it logs the response to each image and calculates which scores you the most likes or right swipes.

Once the algorithm has fully assessed your photo selection, it determines which image is the strongest to lead with and automatically reorders your pictures to show the best ones first. In testing, users saw up to a 12% increase in matches.

Even the rich and famous have a hard time meeting new people to date. According to Teen Vogue, model and reality TV star Kendall Jenner has a profile up on popular female-centric dating app Bumble.

This isn’t the first time a celebrity has put up a public profile on a dating app. Hillary Duff had a profile on Tinder and was filmed dating a few guys she met on the app for her reality TV show. Lily Allen and Lindsay Lohan have been public about their profiles and experiences using Tinder, too. And Kendall’s older sister Kourtney put a profile on Bumble, and was encouraged by sister Kylie to start looking for dates via the app.

Everyone loves to skip the line. There’s a special satisfaction that comes from strolling past the unfortunates stuck in the queue, throwing a confident nod to the bouncer, and sashaying through the door without even flashing an ID.

Whether or not you have that kind of clout at clubs, you now have it online. Tinder is rolling out a new feature called ‘Boost’ that lets users skip the digital line for a fee.

“You’ve got people to meet and places to be. In fact, Tinder was designed with this in mind, providing you a simple, fun introduction to new people nearby so you can get out and meet them in the real world,” reads the official blog announcement. “Still, sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day and what you need is a boost in the right direction.”

Dating app giant Tinder is trying to expand its influence beyond the dating scene. While the dating market has essentially built the app’s user base, Tinder execs feel that moving outside of this niche to include a larger portion of the population will reap some obvious benefits.

Fear not daters, you can still swipe left and right to date people with the original Tinder app. The new app is a totally separate experience, called Tinder Stacks, and it’s basically a social media voting tool. It’s all about group decision-making.

According to an article in The Verge, Tinder works through your iMessage app to allow you to contact multiple friends and choose a bunch of pictures from your phone to send to them. Message recipients will then be able to go through your “stack” of photos and swipe left and right, depending on whether or not they approve of or like each one. (You can also add a question to the stack, such as “which dress makes me look the most sexy?”) As the voting takes place, the sender will be able to see how many likes and skips each image receives.

Tinder & Spotify Partner

Tinder has swiped right on a relationship with Spotify. The online dating app and music streaming service are partnering to launch a handful of new features for musically-inclined singles.

“Tinder already suggests matches based on your swiping preferences, mutual friends and common interests, but we know we can always add more to the equation,” says Tinder’s company blog. “That’s why we’ve matched with Spotify to integrate music into the swiping experience.”

Two big changes are on their way for Tinder users. First, users who connect their Spotify accounts to Tinder are now able to display their top songs on their profiles. All Tinder users can play previews of other people’s top songs via Spotify, without leaving their Tinder profiles. If you have your Spotify account connected, you’ll also be able to see which artists you have in common with potential dates.

Animated GIFs may help with Online Dating

The internet has fully embraced the GIF - a form of visual communication so ubiquitous it’s second only to the omnipresent emoji.

And why wouldn’t they be? It’s hard to carry on a conversation between screens, to read emotion in text, to interpret the difference between “K” and “K.” and “K!” An image, moving or not, goes a long way to making your message clear.

And then there’s online dating. Dating apps and websites come with their own special challenges. Users are not only faced with the worries of regular online communication, but also the fears and anxieties of dating. How do you find the delicate balance between flirty forwardness and respectful tact when you’re talking to a total stranger you can’t even see?