MANILA, Philippines – Dating app Tinder is readying a new trick to connect its users: a location-tracking matching feature called "Places."
Currently in private beta with no release date announced, the feature matches people up based on the locations a user has visited. For example, if person A visits a certain cafe, Tinder will find potential matches who have visited the same cafe. Places will show a map of the area with pins on the locations a user has visited. The user can then tap on the location, and swipe on potential matches from that location.
The feature may also use the location data to help find people with possibly similar interestes. For example, if a certain user frequents an oval track for instance, the user may get match suggestions who have listed running as an interest.
The new feature was made public by Tinder's director of product revenue, Jeff Morris Jr., on Twitter, along with other features such as looping videos and women being able to send a message first:
Proud of our roadmap @Tinder :
— Jeff Morris Jr. (@jmj) May 11, 2018
* Feed, Loops, Places, Message First - we're releasing products at an unbelievable pace.
* New revenue feature in development & on track for second half ‘18 launch
* Most fun team effort I've ever had on a product. Can't wait to share more soon. pic.twitter.com/lPGJtD06IP
The new Tinder feature is somewhat similar to a feature in Facebook's own upcoming dating service. The Facebook dating service, as Mark Zuckerberg announced at the recent F8 conference, can match people up based on the events they're interested in or go to. A person can "unlock" an event, and they'll see other people in the dating service who are also interested in or going to that event.
As The Verge first reported, Tinder's location-tracking feature will eliminate non-social spots such as banks, homes, and offices. Tracking isn't real-time, so people will not know where a user is at a given time. The feature is also opt-in only, meaning a user will have to voluntarily sign up for it; it's not automatically turned on. – Rappler.com
