Tinder has taken the world by storm after its introduction in 2012. By 2014, it was registering about one billion “swipes” per day.
Tinder was one of the first apps to use the “swiping motion”. Users could swipe Left or Right on profiles. Left denoting “dislike” which would then present the next profile. Right denoting “like” or a potential match.
When two people swipe Right on each other, they are a match. This allows them to chat with each other.
In October 2015, Tinder made way for a Super Like feature. When you Super Like someone or swipe Up, you show your extra interest in them. The app notifies the user if they are Super Liked with a blue border around the person who Super Likes. The app allows the user to Swipe Left or Right even on these blue border profiles.
Non-Tinder Plus users get one free Super Like per day, whereas Tinder Plus users get five. Tinder says that Super Likes increases the chance of a match by up to 3 times.
In 2019, Tinder took a big step. A new survey from Tinder shows more than half of its LGBTQ+ users sharing an interest in using a dating app that expresses their sexual orientation. The sexual orientation of the person should help in finding matches.
A lot of apps in the dating field have an option to show your interests in binary genders, but none have a sexual orientation feature.
That’s why Tinder took it upon themselves and with the help of GLAAD have brought sexual orientation as a feature. GLAAD or formerly known as Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation is an American NGO by LGBTQ+ people, for LGBTQ+ people.
Users now have the option to add up to 3 options to their sexual orientation. One can choose from 9 pre-fed options: straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, asexual, demisexual, pansexual, queer and questioning. You can further choose if you want the orientation that you choose to show on your profile. This helps people who aren’t ready to come out but want to avail the same privileges in choice surges.
How to do so? It’s very user-friendly, simple select edit-info in your profile setting. Go down to the sexual orientation section and select a max of 3 that you identify with.
“We want all of our users to feel empowered expressing who they are while connecting with new people — and we’re always working to make that easier for our users on Tinder,” Elie Seidman, CEO of Tinder, said in a press release sent to Bustle. “Dating apps are invaluable platforms for connecting the LGBTQ+ community, and we’re beyond proud to continue our efforts, in partnership with GLAAD, to improve the community’s experience on Tinder.”
This isn’t the first time that Tinder has teamed up with GLAAD.
In 2016, they brought an update wherein users could select the gender identity they feel best describes them. It was initially launched only in USA, UK, and Canada. They rolled out 37 gender identity options to include a range of non-binary identities that are usually clubbed under the umbrella of transgender.
In 2018, this was introduced to the Indian market in early 2018.
However, for its India edition, they teamed up with Humsafar Trust, an LGBTQ+ organization, and Parmesh Shahani, a gay rights activist. The team sat and brought down the 37 international categories to 23, adding specific options to fit the Indian society.
Here are the 23 options:
- Gender- nonconforming
- Female to Male
- Male to Female
. The company says that More Genders has resulted in over 80 million new matches.
Also read: India’s Top 5 LGBT Dating Apps