Tinder has announced a new safety feature called “Share My Date” which allows for one-click sharing of date plans with friends and family.
The new feature, which will be rolling out across the UK and other countries in the coming months, streamlines a process that Tinder data has found that 51% of its users do manually – sharing screenshots of dating profiles and date information.
Tinder’s chief marketing officer Melissa Hobley said: “At Tinder, we continue to release new features that aim to create a fun, safe, and respectful experience for all. Discussing plans with friends and family is a time-honored dating ritual. Share My Date streamlines this basic info-sharing so singles can jump right to the exciting part.”
Users will be able to send a link to anyone they choose to share dating info with. Alongside date information such as time and place, anyone with a Tinder account will be able to see the match’s profile but not interact with it in any way. People without accounts will be shown a limited, condensed version of the profile.
As well as satisfying users’ needs for safety and gossip, this feature has the bonus for Tinder of driving traffic. Showing limited profiles to people without accounts will work to increase new signups to the service for those curious enough.
Your match will not know that you’ve shared the link if you choose to do so. According to a statement from Tinder, “This feature is designed to simply share your date plans directly from the app” and streamline the process of taking screenshots of profiles.
Users can share a date plan with as many people as they like and can edit details such as time and location on their app. People with the link will then see the updated information. Links can be shared up to 30 days in advance and will expire after some has elapsed.
This move comes as part of an ongoing safety push by Tinder after they announced identity verification will be coming to some regions this year.
Andrea Simon, Director of the UK-based group End Violence Against Women Coalition welcomed the move:
“It’s essential dating apps such as Tinder take proactive action to address potential abuse. Dating apps are a really popular way for people to meet each other, but there is also a really worrying side to the way perpetrators are exploiting this to meet potential victims.
“Making it easier for users to share information about who they’re meeting is a welcome and overdue step in the right direction from an app that has for too long failed to build women’s safety considerations into the design of the services it profits richly from.”
Featured image credit: Tinder