Tinder appears to be testing a location-tracking feature that’ll presumably help users meet up in person. The company’s director of product revenue, Jeff Morris Jr, tweeted some of the features Tinder is working on this year, including looping videos, women being able to message first, and location tracking.
The new feature seems to function similarly to the dating app Happn in that users can view places they’ve visited and then see other people who have been there. (Again, this is all opt-in.) The company appears to have partnered with Mapbox for the map and Foursquare to populate it with places. Users can apparently also identify places they like for potential matches to view and bond over.
Tinder already uses location to match people within a certain mile radius, but going off that small screenshot in Morris’ tweet, this location-tracking feature could be more precise. I’m guessing it would have to do with tracking people down to the bar or restaurant they’re at and letting people meet up even closer to where they are at the moment.
Now, this becomes interesting to know how Facebook’s forthcoming dating app could have a leg up on Tinder solely because of its event feature. The app will encourage users to meet up in person at events they’ve RSVP’d to on Facebook. Getting people to take their relationships off-platform is a major hurdle for dating apps and is crucial to building successful relationships — an essential metric for any app. If Tinder can also match people who happen to be in the same place at the same time, that could drastically change how people date virtually and IRL.
