Swiping left and right on pictures alone is so 2015. Now that videos have firmly established themselves as the most popular kind of content online, they’re also making their way to dating apps. So get ready, love seekers. You’re going to need to not only find your most flattering photos, but your best moving photos, too. On Tuesday, June 27, Hinge added videos to its members’ profiles, allowing them to share existing videos from Instagram, Facebook, and their camera rolls to “bring their profile to life and show off personality.”
As it stands, the information made available to Hinge romantics is rather limited (as it is with just about any dating app out there). Users have six photos, three questions, and a few key statistics to convince the other fish in the sea that they’re worthy of being caught. And let’s face it, sometimes, you catch a dud.
But with the introduction of videos to Hinge profiles, the hope is that users will be able to share more dynamic representations of themselves. Starting on June 27, members will be able to exchange any of their existing photos with videos to add further “dimension and depth,” according to the dating app. Videos will be set on autoplay and will loop as you scroll through a potential match’s profile. While you can upload videos with sound, the default will be to play this content on mute (because you’ve got to be discreet if you’re swiping at work).
And don’t worry, Hinge assures us — the addition of video into your profile will not make things awkward, as members won’t be asked to upload front-facing testimonial-style videos. Rather, they’ll be sharing content that exists organically (or as organically as it can, given that it was created with the intention of being shared in some capacity).
Ultimately, said Justin McLeod, Hinge’s founder and CEO, “Our generation is already capturing and sharing so many parts of our lives through video because it’s more personal and more authentic. We expect it to lead to better connections and better dates. Two years from now I think we’ll all wonder how we used dating apps without video.”
