Category: Outlets – Tech Crunch

Tinder Adds More Gesture-Based Navigation

Posted on July 19, 2017

Tinder new july 2017TECH CRUNCH – July 18 – With new tappable gestures, Tinder's photos become more like Stories. In the updated app, photos now take up more screen space. The way users move between photos and profiles has changed too, as they now tap on different parts of the screen to navigate between the photos and the text. Swiping is taking a back seat. Users can now move backward and forward between photos just by tapping instead. For example, to move to the next picture, they would tap on the right side of the screen; and to go back to the last photo, they'd tap on the left. A tap on the bottom of the photo will open up the user's profile.

by Sarah Perez
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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Bumble Launches SuperSwipe And In-app Currency

Posted on July 14, 2017

Bumble superswipeTECH CRUNCH – July 13 – Bumble's new SuperSwipe feature is similar to Tinder's Super Like button, which launched in late 2015. At the time Tinder said that conversations initiated with a Super Like lasted an average of 70% longer than other conversations. To let users pay for this new feature, Bumble is launching Bumble Coins. Priced at $0.99 each with a discount for buying in bulk, these coins will become the official in-app currency to pay for SuperSwipes, as well as additional paid features that the dating app will be launching before the end of the year.

by Fitz Tepper
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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Dating Apps Are Embracing Video

Posted on June 30, 2017

Dating-apps general pic croppedTECH CRUNCH – June 28 – This week, both Hinge and Zoosk's Lively are rolling out support for video, each in their own way. Hinge will now allow users to add videos up to 30 seconds long into their profile by pulling from those that already exist on their phone. However, it's shying away from short-form, disappearing videos like those found in Instagram, Snapchat, or Messenger "Stories." Meanwhile, Zoosk's newer product Lively is hoping to capitalize on video to bring more people to its app. In Lively, users upload photos and videos that are then turned into story collages, which also include transitions and movement. Again, the idea is that using video can show off someone's personality much better than static, photo-only profiles. Now, Zoosk is pushing the bar even further in terms of video with the launch of live video chat. Users will be able to pick a topic and start chatting with others who are also available to chat. But the screen will be blurred so users feel more comfortable. Bumble will roll out its own video support as well. Even Match.com is getting into the video game with its Stories feature.

by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch

See all posts on Hinge    See all posts on Bumble
See all posts on Lively    See all posts on Match.com

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Tinder’s New Subscription, Tinder Gold, Lets Users See Who Already Likes Them

Posted on June 30, 2017

Tinder-gold-screenshots1TECH CRUNCH – June 28 – Tinder will be testing a new service called Tinder Gold in select markets, aimed at increasing the number of paying users. With Tinder Gold, users will see all those who have already swiped right on their profile, through a new feature, "Likes You." The company will initially test the service in Argentina, Australia, Canada, and Mexico. It won't be available in the U.S. at this time. Tinder is also not detailing the pricing for the upgrade. However, for existing Tinder Plus subscribers, it will only be a small additional fee beyond what they're already paying.

by Sarah Perez
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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

WittyThumbs Helps Decipher What Messages Really Mean

Posted on June 7, 2017

Witty thumbs logoTECH CRUNCH – June 6 – WittyThumbs is essentially RapGenius for dating conversations. Users take a screenshot of their text messages, upload it to the site, and other users can annotate and give feedback. There's also a premium option to chat with a dating expert for one on one feedback – this is billed by the minute, and starts at $30 for 30 minutes of advice.

by Fitz Tepper
See full article at Tech Crunch

Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Bumble Is Opening A Physical Space In New York For Dates To Meet Up

Posted on June 2, 2017

Bumble beehiveTECH CRUNCH – June 2 – Bumble is opening a pop-up location in New York City. While the space will be open during the week for couples to meet up (or friends to just stop in and check it out), there will also be a series of events focused on relationships, female entrepreneurship and more. The space will also have a coffee (and real) bar, as well as Bumble merchandise for sale (where all proceeds go to charity). It will be located in Soho at 158 Mercer Street.

by Fitz Tepper
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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Exclusive Dating App The League Is Launching In 10 More Cities This Summer

Posted on May 26, 2017

Theleague invitationTECH CRUNCH – May 24 – Originally launched in early 2015, the app is still only in 7 cities – New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Washington D.C and London. But the startup just announced they are adding 10 cities before the end of August. They are: Philadelphia, Atlanta, Miami, Austin, Houston, Dallas, San Diego, Denver, Seattle and Toronto. The startup will also be hosting a launch party in each city.

by Fitz Tepper
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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Truepic Fights Photo Fraud

Posted on May 14, 2017

Truepic logoTECH CRUNCH – May 12 – Startup Truepic has raised $1.75M seed funding to become the "the world's first digital photo notary". Truepic's patented technology verifies uploaded photos that they were not edited, and watermarks it with a time stamp, geocode, and other metadata. Truepic's SDK can be embedded in other products plus its own consumer app, and can be used on dating sites, Airbnb or eBay. Clients can pay a monthly fee to build Truepic's SDK into their apps so the whole process happens within their product.

by Josh Constine
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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Loveflutter Makes Tweets Part Of Users’ Profiles

Posted on May 9, 2017

Loveflutter with twitter screenshotsTECH CRUNCH – May 9 – U.K.-based online dating startup Loveflutter has rolled out a revamped version of its app that lets users add their Twitter feed to their dating profile, in a similar way Tinder imports Instagram feeds. "Your tweets say a lot about your personality and therefore are good online dating fodder," said Loveflutter co-founder Daigo Smith. Loveflutter has teamed up with Receptiviti to analyse the tweets for personality type.

by Steve O'Hear
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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team

Someone Scraped 40K Tinder Selfies For AI Experiments

Posted on May 1, 2017

55bae6348208d761170bbca8_19740TECH CRUNCH – Apr 29 – A user of Kaggle, a platform for machine learning and data science competitions which was recently acquired by Google, has uploaded a facial data set he says was created by exploiting Tinder's API to scrape 40k profile photos from Tinder's Bay Area users. The data set has been downloaded ~300 times, and there's obviously no way to know what additional uses it might be being put to. A Tinder spokesperson said: "This person has violated our terms of service and we are taking appropriate action and investigating further."

by Natasha Lomas
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Summarized by the Courtland Brooks team