Bumble Okcupid
Uses GPS to meet people. You can see who is near to your location, making it easier to meet up. Has a behavioral matchmaking feature. Behavioral matchmaking engines monitor the behaviour of thousands of users in order to spot common patterns. Bumble, OkCupid, Cisco Teams suffering from major security flaw on Android: Check Point Google Play Store’s library is still suffering from a major security flaw, which is still plaguing many.
Love in times of coronavirus has become twice as hard to find. Lockdown restrictions have brought people’s social life to a standstill, what with restaurants, cinema halls, shopping centres and other public places shuttered, thwarting the possibility of meeting someone new and getting to know them through experiences.
In addition to that, being at home 24/7 has escalated isolation and loneliness, making people’s craving for human connections even stronger than ever before.
This is mirrored by the surge in subscriptions to online dating apps. The CEOs of the most popular ones the likes of Tinder, Bumble and OKCupid have attested to this news. Their user base has grown exponentially since the inception of the nation-wide lockdown in March and has clocked in more opening lines, longer chat threads and prolonged activity.
Making the most of this opportunity, dating apps in India are responding to their users’ needs by introducing new features to facilitate finding a companion during these lonesome times.
Here are three dating apps in India that tweaked their features to be COVID-friendly:
Tinder
On March 26, Tinder introduced the passport feature, allowing Tinder Plus and Gold subscribers to connect with people anywhere in the world for free. Previously, the app only showed you matches within a radius of 100 miles from your location. In this novel feature, paid users of the app can now search by city or pincode and find their quarantine-date in an Italian man or a French woman.
Within three days of its launch, Tinder recorded 3 billion swipes in a day, a record-breaking figure in its history. What’s more, the app also makes recommendations to help users break the ice with a stranger. Tinder has made it possible for its users to meet new people across the globe from the comfort of their homes!
Bumble Okcupid App
Bumble
With the offline dating world collapsing, Bumble found an innovative marketing strategy to stay relevant. The dating app has collaborated with digital platforms like Circuit Comedy Festival and Dice that are working hand-in-hand to help users of the app form meaningful connections by way of enjoying shared digital experiences like movie screenings, musical nights and online apps.
They have also partnered with content creators and influencers to keep their users engaged and entertained under lockdown, which is in line with their current philosophy ‘Stay home and get close’. Additionally, Bumble too has extended their distance filters to be nation-wide, allowing users to interact with people from different geographies, through voice calls and video chats, without having to disclose their contact information.
Bumble has also tied up with American company Airbnb that is giving couples a virtual experience of attending poetry slams, fortune reading and rock concerts in various parts of the world.
OkCupid
What makes OKCupid the perfect ice-breaking app is its catalogue of over thousand in-app questions about everything from whether you’re a cat or dog person and your all-time favourite SRK movie to the qualities you look for in a partner and your thoughts on infidelity.
Tinder Okcupid Plenty Of Fish
While under lockdown, this helps users form a meaningful bond with strangers and is a wonderful way to cope with loneliness. Moreover, the app is also giving recommendations of virtual date ideas, like building a playlist, watching a movie, dressing up and having meals together.
Check out these dating apps and their new features if you’re looking for a partner under lockdown. Why let the pandemic come in the way of dating?
Cover artwork by Dhaval Punatar/AskMen India