by Savannah Dowling
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Category: Outlets – Tech Crunch
Rela, a Chinese Lesbian Dating App, Exposed 5M User Profiles
TECH CRUNCH – Rela, a popular dating app for gay and queer women, has exposed millions of user profiles and private data because a server wasn't protected with a password. Rela disappeared from app stores in May 2017 after it was reportedly shut down by Chinese regulators, though the government never confirmed it took action. But the app returned a year later, according to its app store listing, on a different cloud provider. Victor Gevers, a security researcher at the GDI Foundation, found the exposed database this week, containing ~5.3M app users. It's believed the database had been exposed since June 2018, a month after the app returned, Gevers said. Each record included their nicknames, dates of birth, height and weight, ethnicity and sexual preferences and interests. A company spokesperson confirmed the database had been secured.
Serena Williams Joins Bumble’s Investment Fund as an Investor
TECH CRUNCH – Mar 21 – Launched in 2018, the Bumble Fund backs early-stage businesses founded and led by women. The fund's commitments range between $5K and $250K with an average check size of $25K. Williams has been investing in women and minority-owned businesses through Serena Ventures since 2014. She also serves on the boards of the tech companies Poshmark and SurveyMonkey. She began her relationship with Bumble in January, culminating with a starring role in the company's most recent Super Bowl commercial earlier this year and will be leading the Bumble Fund pitch competition next month, along with Bumble founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd. Through Serena Ventures, Williams already has invested in over thirty companies while the Bumble Fund has made nine investments to date.
Tinder Launches a Spring Break Mode
by Sarah Perez
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iOS Developers Will Soon Be Able to Offer Discounts to Their Subscribers
by Sarah Perez
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Bumble Launches Spotlight, Its Own Version of Tinder’s Boost
TECH CRUNCH – Feb 11 – Bumble is launching its own version of Tinder's "Boost" feature – "Spotlight". It allows users to pay to bump their profile up to the front of the queue, in order to be seen by more people than they would otherwise. To use Spotlight, Bumble users must pay 2 Coins (bought through a separate in-app purchase). 1 coin is $0.99 in the U.S., or £1.99 in the U.K. Spotlight will then show their profile to more users for the next 30 minutes.
by Sarah Perez
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Users Complain of Account Hacks, but OkCupid Denies a Data Breach
TECH CRUNCH – Feb 11 – A reader contacted TechCrunch after his account was hacked. He said the hacker broke in and changed his password, locking him out of his account. They changed his email address on file, preventing him from resetting his password. There were several cases of people saying their OkCupid account had been hacked. "There has been no security breach at OkCupid," said Natalie Sawyer, a spokesperson for OkCupid. "All websites constantly experience account takeover attempts. There has been no increase in account takeovers on OkCupid." "If you use the same password on several different sites or services, then your accounts on all of them have the potential to be taken over if one site has a security breach," says OKCupid support page. That's called credential stuffing, a technique of running a vast lists of usernames and passwords against a website to see if a combination lets the hacker in. The easiest, most effective way against credential stuffing is for the user to use a unique password on each site. For companies like OkCupid, the other effective blocker is by allowing users to switch on two-factor authentication. OkCupid is just one of many major dating sites that doesn't use two-factor authentication at all.
by Zack Whittaker
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Match Group Fully Acquires Hinge
TECH CRUNCH – Feb 7 – Last year, Match Group acquired a 51% stake in Hinge. The company has now confirmed that it fully bought out Hinge in the past quarter, and today owns 100%. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Match believes Hinge can offer an alternative to those who aren't interested in using casual apps, like Tinder. As Match explained in November, it plans to double-down on marketing that focuses on Tinder's more casual nature and use by young singles, while positioning Hinge as the alternative for those looking for serious relationships. The company said it would also increase its investment in Hinge going forward, in order to grow its user base. "Hinge downloads are now 2.5 times more than the next largest app, and 40% of Bumble downloads," said Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg.
by Sarah Perez
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Apple’s New Developer Guidelines – Scammy Subscription Apps’ Time Is Up
TECH CRUNCH – Jan 30 – Apple is sending out a message to app developers: stop tricking users into subscriptions. A number of scammers had begun to take advantage of the subscription model in order to trick consumers into recurring payments, in addition to constantly pestering their free users to upgrade.
- The monthly subscription price has to be clearly displayed, while information about how much people can save if they opt for longer periods of time, like a year, has to be less prominent.
- Messages about free trials have to say how long trials last and what will be charged when the trial ends.
Users Will Soon Be Able to Gift In-app Purchases
TECH CRUNCH – Dec 20 – Apple will allow iOS users to gift in-app purchases, not just paid apps. This means developers may soon have the tools to allow users to purchase virtual goods or even subscriptions through their app, which can then be gifted to others. It's unclear at this time how the change will be implemented, from the developer's side. It's likely Apple will soon share more information with its developer community to inform them of how to get started.