Tinder wants to graduate from its purely physical profiling reputation, and perhaps add a bit more substance to online dating. To that end, the popular online dating app is trialing a new feature called “Tinder Picks,” which is meant to help users find matches who are not only attractive, but also more compatible when it comes to education, job type, hobbies, and other important characteristics.
For the time being, TechCrunch reports, the feature is only available to folks who pay for Tinder (which is to say, Tinder Gold), and will join a number of other members-only features, like Passport (which lets you see folks in other cities), Rewind (which lets you take back your last swipe), Unlimited Likes, and the ability to see who has swiped right on you (which is to say, liked you).
Tinder Gold has apparently been quite a hit for both Tinder and its users. A month after it launched in 2017, subscribers apparently saw an increase of more than 60 percent in their matches. And with the addition of Tinder Picks, the hope is that this proportion will grow even further.
You won’t have to provide any extra information to leverage the latest function. After all, most users already provide their education background, their job type, and their hobbies and interests. Tinder will take this data and place users into certain categories (sounds like the beginnings of love!).
A “foodie” might be so qualified because they are in the service industry, went to a great culinary school, or mentions that they are a foodie in their bio. Of course, I’d like to point out here that those three descriptors don’t necessarily seem like they’d be compatible, but who am I to judge?
Tinder also considers a user’s prior swiping habits in order to figure out who he or she may be most interested in. To see your daily Tinder Picks, you’ll need to tap the diamond found on the top of the Discovery screen. But to actually check them out or swipe on them, you’ll need to upgrade to Tinder Gold. Picks are refreshed every 24 hours, though Gold members can “buy” more at any time (yikes). Otherwise, they’ll be made available in groups of 10, 20, or 30 people. Somehow, it feels like we’re talking about produce instead of people.
Picks is currently live in the U.K., Germany, Brazil, France, Canada, Turkey, Mexico, Sweden, Russia, and the Netherlands. Once the app has a sense of how folks are reacting to the feature, it’ll determine whether or not to introduce it to the rest of the world.
“With Picks, we’re offering users a new way to discover the most interesting people on Tinder,” chief product officer Brian Norgard said in a statement. “Picks delivers a personalized, premium user experience within Tinder Gold that puts a spotlight on unique characteristics that make our users stand out.”
