Finally, Some Good Dating-App News
Confession: Out of all the dating apps, Bumble is the one I’ve never touched. Having to message first with every match always sounded more stressful than empowering to me; I didn’t want to have to girlboss my dating life. But now, after ten years, the app is finally taking the pressure off women to break the ice.
As part of a larger relaunch, CNN reports that Bumble is rolling out a feature called “opening moves.” Female users will have the choice to either stick with the previous women-message-first policy or add a prompt to their profile that male users can directly respond to. Giving women a choice — now that’s feminism.
The relaunch is the company’s first major move since CEO Lidiane Jones took over in January. Discussing the declining popularity of dating apps overall — ultimately, we all just want that grocery-store meet-cute — Jones told CNN, “We’re seeing a greater need for authentic human connections. I don’t anticipate that the number of people using online dating is going to go down, quite the opposite, but there is a higher bar … So we’re taking it as a great call to action to center ourselves on our mission.”
The update also includes more photo requirements, a “dating intentions” badge, and a higher prioritization of common interests on profile layouts. Nonbinary users and those seeking matches of the same gender will also be able to use and respond to Opening Moves. According to TechCrunch, the prompt can either be a custom message or a pre-set one provided by Bumble, with options including, “What do you like about my profile?” and, “What book or film changed the way you think?”
“We recognize that it can sometimes be burdensome to start a chat every single time, so we wanted to listen to our members in that respect, help them find more ways to make that first move feel a little easier,” senior product manager Dara Alsulayman told TechCrunch. Maybe now, in the absence of a hot stranger reaching for the same piece of produce as me, I’ll finally give Bumble a chance.