Introduced in 2012, Tinder is a successful dating app with over 430 million downloads and 65 billion matches. Yet, it has only 3.0 stars on Google Play from its users. Even on public forums such as Reddit, you’ll find that people have spoken about the love-hate relationship they have with the app.
Most people uninstall and reinstall the app several times mainly due to a bad meeting with the match or inappropriate or sexually explicit messaging in the chat area. The attitude of a sexual predator runs deep with these dating and meeting apps.
Improving zones
However, Tinder has done some improvements, like their latest addition of the Explore option on the app. This is a space where the users are categorized in various zones. Personally, the ‘Photo Verified’ zone is my favorite feature.
One other zone is the ‘Display sticker on my profile’ feature that’s meant for people to display their COVID-19 vaccine status. This will help you stay in the zone of the vaccinated users. Meanwhile, the ‘Hot Takes’ is a live zone in the Explore region that lets the members chat before the match. This live session area is created to bring the physical social gathering experience onto people’s screens.
Cybersafety and report abuse
In July 2021, Kaspersky held a virtual event where they pointed out that people must opt for dating or meeting apps that allow manual entry of one’s location. Tinder has also incorporated this necessity into its app. As soon as you open the app, you will see the ‘Allow Location’ button. Upon selection, you must choose to allow the app to access your device’s location ‘Only This Time.’ If you choose the ‘While Using The App’ option, the app will have access to your location even when it is running in the background.
Another thing pointed out at the event was to not reveal your personal details and link these apps with your other social media apps. This puts the user at the threat of doxing. Tinder’s Explore option also has a zone for people to connect through music. The ‘Spotify Music Mode’ zone will automatically play the chosen ‘anthems’ of the users to people whose Spotify accounts are linked to their Tinder profiles. The idea seems interesting but has no worth in placing one’s social profiles on display in a sexually aggressive virtual space.
I recently observed an important addition in Tinder’s report abuse option. You don’t just get to report profiles; you also get to pinpoint each and every inappropriate message before blocking them. This is going to help create data around offensive words or sentences that can, in the future, be blocked from being sent to the other party.
Some old promises
Last year in March the parent company of Tinder, Match Group, in partnership with Garbo, said that they will incorporate background check mechanisms in the app to prevent fraud. In August, they added that they will roll out ID verification across the world in the coming quarters.
“ID Verification is complex and nuanced, which is why we are taking a test-and-learn approach to the rollout…And we hope all our members worldwide will see the benefits of interacting with people who have gone through our ID verification process,” said Rory Kozoll, Head of Trust & Safety Product at Tinder. Hopefully with these new additions, dating and meeting people online would be a bit safer.
Photo credits: The images used are owned by Tinder and have been provided for press usage.
