MASHABLE – Dec 3 – Hinge, which at one point called itself "the relationship app," is one of the many apps now owned by the Match Group but still strives to set itself apart. Its founder, Justin McLeod, set out to make an app less shallow than Tinder – but with a younger demographic than eHarmony and Match. Hinge ditched swiping in 2016 and charged seven dollars for the app to weed out non-serious users. By 2017, the mandated membership fee was gone, but they did not go back to the swipe model. After being acquired by Match Group, Hinge went through another rebrand that included a design makeover and a new tag line, "Designed to be deleted." Hinge has been fine-tuning their algorithm and figuring out what leads to better matches. Using data to help users get into relationships is partially the inspiration behind Hinge Lab, the app's new data department. Hinge Lab is like personal trainers at the gym.
