TECH CRUNCH – Festival Mode is designed to help users connect ahead of their plans to attend concerts or larger music festivals. The feature was designed in partnership with live entertainment company Live Nation as well as event producers AEG Presents and Superstruct Entertainment, whose upcoming events will now be included in the new Festival Mode feature found within Tinder Explore.
Category: Reporters – Sarah Perez
Russia’s App Store Lost 7K Apps Since Its Invasion of Ukraine
TECH CRUNCH – The Russian App Store has lost 6,982 mobile apps since the start of the Ukraine invasion, as numerous companies have now pulled their apps and games from Apple's iPhone and iPad App Stores in the country. Amid the widespread exits, several Big Tech companies' apps continue to rank highly on the Russian App Store. Russia is not the only country being impacted in this way. Many publishers also removed their apps and games from the App Store in Belarus. That country has now seen a loss of 5,900 apps since the invasion's start. Bumble and Badoo are gone, too.
Tinder Introduces a Way for Members to Go on Virtual ‘Blind Dates’
Bumble Acquires French Gen Z Dating App, Fruitz
TECH CRUNCH – Bumble is adding the fast-growing French dating app Fruitz to its family of apps. Deal terms were not being disclosed. The quirky app Fruitz assigns a fruit to each particular kind of relationship type, ranging from those who want long-term commitments to those in search of one-night action. This allows users to filter out those who aren't on the same page as them. It also prompts users to answer questions that serve ice breakers before messaging their match. Fruitz was co-founded by Julian Kabab (CEO), Fabrice Bascoulergue (CTO), and Arnaud Ruols (CFO) and initially launched in France in Feb, 2017. To date, Fruitz has been downloaded 5.6M times globally across the App Store and Google Play, according to Sensor Tower. As of Feb. 3, 2022, the app was ranked No. 4 on the iPhone's top free charts in the "Lifestyle" category in its home market of France.
by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.com
Tinder Updates Its Approach to Handling Reports of Abuse and Harassment
TECH CRUNCH – As a result of its ongoing partnership with nonprofit and anti-sexual assault organization RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), Tinder announced a handful of product improvements as well as training for internal teams to better support survivors of abuse and harassment. Soon, Tinder members will have access to background checks on their matches through Garbo, a non profit Match Group invested in last spring.
Match Group Details Plans for a Dating Metaverse
Tinder’s ‘Swipe Night’ Returns November 7
TECH CRUNCH – Tinder is bringing back "Swipe Night," its interactive in-app event that allows its users another way to break the ice. After the first season's "choose your own adventure" apocalyptic storyline brought in ~20M users. "Swipe Night: Killer Weekend," will kick off on November 7th at 6 PM.
Apps to Reach Record Highs in Q3
TECH CRUNCH – A new forecast on the state of the app economy indicates the Q3 will see record-breaking revenues spent on apps and games. According to App Annie, consumers worldwide will spend $34B on apps and games in Q3, a 20% YOY increase on spending. Downloads in Q3 will reach a record high of 36B, up 10% YOY, driven by Google Play and particularly downloads in emerging markets like India and Brazil.
Apple Prohibited From Blocking Outside Payment in Epic Ruling
TECH CRUNCH – A judge this morning issued a ruling in California's Epic Games v. Apple case, siding with the Fortnite maker on the topic of third-party payments. Effectively, Apple cannot prohibit developers from adding links for alternative payments beyond Apple's App Store-based monetization. The ruling notes:
- Apple… are permanently restrained…from prohibiting developers from…including…external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to purchasing mechanisms, in addition to In-App Purchasing….
- Also, in S.Korea, a new law forced Apple & Google to allow developers to use their own third-party payment systems.
- Apple will have to adjust its rules. It could choose to require apps to include Apple's own in-app payments option as an option, for example.
by Brian Heater & Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch
Mark Brooks: This is huge news for dating and social apps of course. Apple will surely appeal, but hopefully this judgement will stand and consumers will be able to enjoy more payment options, albeit at the cost of some inconvenience. Hopefully Apple and Google will be compelled to become more competitve in this new reality. What do you think? Please comment below.
Match Beta Test Targets Dating App Complaints
TECH CRUNCH – Aug 10 – Today Match introduces features addressing user complaints like how much time it takes to find a relevant match and ghosting. An anti-ghosting feature will push users to either continue a conversation or unmatch the recipient instead of leaving them hanging.
"Matched by Us," is a new recommendation system that presents one, free match a week. Users see each other and don't wait for a "like" back to engage in a conversation. Match has been internally testing adding human curation to suggestions, an actual match-making service. "Right now, human curation is one area that we're really excited about and want to crack," CPO Dushyant Saraph said. The new features are rolling out to Match's U.S. userbase in beta, as the company kicks off a new brand campaign targeting adult daters.
Match Group have 15m paying customers across its brands, up from 13m YOY. Quarterly revenue was $708m, with net income of $141m. Match Group plans to add audio and video chat, including live video, to its dating brand portfolio. Match's dating app is among those that will benefit from Hyperconnect integrations as Match explores "building out live experiences."
by Sarah Perez
See full article at Tech Crunch
Mark Brooks: Putting the people back into personals. The future of dating apps is 'live'. Match experimented with matchmakers under CEO Jim Safka, bought a 20% stake in Chinese hybrid matchmaking service Zhenai in 2011, and flirted with Three Day Rule in 2014. eHarmony also experimented with a brand extension into live high-end matchmaking in 2013.
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