Dating app Hinge launched a new update that aims to change the dating app industry. It brings a whole new perspective to the traditional love industry: it wants people to find real relationships, not just sex.
“Swiping left” is now gone of Hinge. The popular app previously matched its users in via left or right twirls of the fingers, but now they revamped the program in hopes of becoming “the new standard” for dating apps.
With the new system, users will have to build a profile, add a personal “storyline,” and, instead of swiping, users will scroll down in a news feed and write messages to other users to try and connect.
The overhaul aims to turn Hinge into “The Relationship App” the company promised it would be. People may have to be willing and open to talk to others to land a date and, more so, will have to spend a little more time to know a person.
The new service launched on October 13 on iOS in the US, UK, Canada Australia, and India. It now costs $7 a month.
The apocalypse of dating since swiping hit the scene
The company OkCupi has been pushing a new look for the past nine months. Following user surveys, they started to note a swiping fatigue because the system fails to foster meaningful connections and forces users to take looks like the most valuable trait.
Vanity Fair criticized the company in 2015 with a harsh article that came down hard on dating apps. It argued the swiping culture destroyed romance, dating, and relationships.
“When I started Hinge as the first social-media-integrated dating service in 2011, this was certainly not the world I imagined,” said Hinge CEO, Justin McLeod, in response to Vanity Fair’s article.
Do Millenials want meaningful relationships?
HingeLabs, the company’s research department, believes the way society typically thinks of millennials is misplaced. Millenials are the primary demographic target of these kinds of apps, and the company reports most of the Generation Y wants serious connections.
The site conducted a survey in March and found 59%of men and 49% of women believe in love at first sight. Moreover, 53% of never-married adults say they would like to marry someday, while 32% are unsure, according to a 2014 survey by the Pew Research Group.
Hinge vice president of marketing Karen Fein says the app is looking to become more than “a swiping game.” In doing so, the company follows the footsteps of other dating sites like eHarmony which now boasts more than two million marriages.
Source: Hinge
