Category: Reporters – Sarah Perez

Tinder In India Launches ‘My Move’, A Bumble-like Feature Where Women Chat First

Posted on September 26, 2018

Tinder mymoveTECH CRUNCH – Sep 25 – "My Move," is similar to the core feature in rival dating app Bumble, which is currently enmeshed in multiple lawsuits with Tinder parent Match Group. Tinder has been quietly testing "My Move" in India for several months, and intends to roll out it out worldwide if all goes well. To use the feature, women go into the app's settings to enable it with a toggle switch. Once turned on, only they can start a conversation with their matches. Previously, anyone could start the chat after a match.

by Sarah Perez
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Summarized by the IDEA team

Bumble Serves Countersuit To Match Group, Says It’s Pursuing An IPO

Posted on September 24, 2018

Bumble app iconTECH CRUNCH – Sep 24 – Bumble is officially serving the papers in the suit against Match Group. Bumble had said in March it was filing a suit of $400M against Match Group for fraudulently obtaining trade secrets, following Match’s suit filed only weeks before, which had claimed patent infringement and misuse of intellectual property. Bumble and Match Group had tried to come to some sort of settlement over the months since the lawsuits were filed. But with court papers now being served, it appears that’s not going to be the case. In terms of how this suit will impact Bumble, Wolfe said, “we’re focused on our growth. We’re focused on ending misogyny, and we’re actively pursuing an IPO.”

by Sarah Perez
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Summarized by the IDEA team

Tinder Launches Its Curated ‘Top Picks’ Feature Worldwide

Posted on September 13, 2018

Tinder top picksTECH CRUNCH – Sep 11 – Earlier this summer, Tinder began testing a new feature that surfaces a curated list of users’ best potential matches, called “Top Picks.” The feature, which is only available to paying subscribers on Tinder Gold, is now available worldwide. The idea behind Top Picks seems a bit inspired by the dating app Coffee Meets Bagel. While Top Picks will refresh daily, users can opt to buy more Top Picks in packs of 10, 20 or 30 a la carte.

by Sarah Perez
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Summarized by the IDEA team

Google To Clean Up Its Play Store

Posted on August 2, 2018

Google play logo 2018TECH CRUNCH – July 31 – Google is cracking down on the apps published to the Play Store. An updated version of the company's Developer Policy, released this week, indicates the company will now ban a wider variety of apps including cryptocurrency miners, those selling firearms and accessories, those that aim to trick children into downloading adult-themed apps, and apps built using automated tools or wizard services, or based on templates (only apps that are created by an automated tool and submitted to Google Play by the operator of that service on behalf of other persons are not allowed).

by Sarah Perez
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Summarized by the IDEA team

Tinder Takes On Coffee Meets Bagel With Test Of Tinder Picks

Posted on June 26, 2018

Tinder picksTECH CRUNCH – June 22 – Tinder will begin testing a new feature aimed at helping people find more matches who fit their particular interests across areas like education, job type, hobbies and other details. "Tinder Picks," as the new feature is being called, will be available only to Tinder Gold users. Tinder uses will organize users into groupings. For example, a "foodie" might earn that tag because they work in a restaurant, went to a top culinary school, or mentions food in their bio. Users will see their daily Picks by tapping the diamond on the top of the Discovery screen. Tinder Picks refresh every 24 hours, but Tinder Gold users can opt to buy more at any time, the company says. Tinder says Picks is live now in the U.K., Germany, Brazil, France, Canada, Turkey, Mexico, Sweden, Russia and the Netherlands. It will see how users respond over the next few days, then evaluate whether to roll out the feature more broadly.

by Sarah Perez
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Crown, A New App From Match Group, Turns Dating Into A Game

Posted on June 17, 2018

Crown logo screenshotTECH CRUNCH – June 16 – Crown is the latest dating app from Match Group, thought up by Match Product Manager Patricia Parker, who met her husband online. Crown won Match Group's internal "ideathon," and was then developed in-house by a team of millennial women, with a goal of serving women's needs in particular. Every day at noon, users are presented with 16 curated matches, picked by some mysterious algorithm. They move through the matches by choosing who they like more between two people at a time. The screen displays two photos instead of one, and users "crown" their winner. This process then repeats with two people shown at a time, until they reach their "Final Four." Those winners are then given the opportunity to chat, or they can choose to pass. Crown has been live in a limited beta for a few months, but is now officially launched in L.A. with more cities to come. The app is a free download on iOS only for now. An Android version is coming, the website says.

by Sarah Perez
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Hinge Is Ditching The Facebook Login

Posted on June 4, 2018

Hinge without fb screenshotsTECH CRUNCH – June 2 – The change will go into effect today (June 5th) Monday on Android, followed by a June 12th release on iOS. While the option to use Facebook won't be fully removed, users will instead be able to choose to authenticate using their phone number. Hinge isn't the first dating app to go this route. Bumble also recently said it was removing the Facebook requirement, in response to user feedback. Hinge doesn't believe the move away from Facebook will have an ill effect.

by Sarah Perez
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Tinder Places Tracks Users’ Location To Help Them Find Matches

Posted on May 25, 2018

Tinder places screenshot1TECH CRUNCH – May 24 – Tinder will now help users find matches with those people they may cross paths with in their day-to-day life. Starting today, Tinder Places is formally being announced as a public beta test that's underway in three cities: Sydney and Brisbane, Australia and Santiago, Chile. (It was being tested privately in these markets prior to now.) The plan is to collect user feedback from the public trials, and tweak the product before it launches to all users worldwide, the company says. Places has a number of safeguards built-in to make users feel more comfortable, and to limit the feature's ability to be used for stalking. It leverages Mapbox and Foursquare's Pilgrim SDK to identify and categorize places users go, and it only shares those places Foursquare deems "social." Tinder has no plans to delete its own records of users' jaunts around town. They can't push a button to clear their data, for instance. If they want it gone, they'll need to delete their account entirely. The company says users haven't asked for this sort of functionality during tests. Rather, they've opted in to the feature in full force, with very few qualms about their personal data or its usage, it seems. That seems to contradict the shift in user sentiment around personal data collection in the wake of the Facebook Cambridge Analytica scandal. Tinder doesn't believe there's much for users to be concerned about, though. That's because Tinder's main business isn't ads – it's subscriptions to its premium service.

by Sarah Perez
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Tinder’s Upcoming Location-based Feature Seems A Bit Creepy

Posted on May 15, 2018

Tinder places screenshotTECH CRUNCH – May 15 – Tinder is developing a feature that tracks users location via its app, then shows potential matches where they've been. The idea is to allow people to come across their real-life missed connections, similar to how the dating app Happn works today. This feature will be opt-in. The way Tinder has implemented the location feature is concerning. Instead of allowing users to explicitly "check in" to a given place – like their favorite coffee shop or a cool restaurant or bar – Tinder continuously tracks users' location with its app, then makes a determination about which of their "places" it will show to potential matches. The company, at least, thought to remove things like doctors, dentists, banks, and the place where people live or work from this automated location-sharing option. It also won't add a place to the list until after they've left – though it doesn't say how long it waits to do so.

by Sarah Perez
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Summarized by the IDEA team

Tinder Begins Testing Its First Video Feature, Tinder Loops

Posted on April 4, 2018

Tinder loopsTECH CRUNCH – Apr 3 – Tinder will test Tinder Loops in Canada and Sweden to evaluate how users respond to Loops before making a decision to roll it out to other markets. Loops are shorter, almost GIF-like looping video format that will be two seconds long, and can be added to users' profiles alongside their photos. Tinder decided to test videos because it believes videos can show more of users' personalities.

by Sarah Perez
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Summarized by the IDEA team