One of the biggest dating apps has released a new safety feature to help people share their dates with family and friends more easily.
Tinder has released the Share My Date feature, which is currently being rolled out across Australia and globally.
The feature allows users to share their date plans directly with friends and loved ones up to 30 days in advance. Data showed that more than half of Tinder users under 30 let their friends know their date plans for safety reasons, and the latest update enables them do so directly from the app.
“At Tinder, we continue to release new features that aim to create a fun, safe, and respectful experience for all,” said Tinder CMO Melissa Hobley.
“Discussing plans with friends and family is a time-honoured dating ritual. Share My Date streamlines this basic info-sharing so singles can jump right to the exciting part, from figuring out what to wear to prepping conversation topics.”
The feature is one of 20 safety adjustments the app has made over the years, with the announcement coming at a time where the Counting Dead Women project has listed 29 women allegedly killed by a male partner in Australia this year alone.
A spokesperson said safety as “at the core” of Tinder with a dedicated team working on features to help cement this.
“We utilise a network of industry-leading automated and manual moderation and review tools, systems and processes – and continuous investments – to prevent, monitor and remove bad actors who have violated our terms,” the spokesperson said.
“These tools include automatic scans of profiles for red-flag language and images, manual reviews of suspicious profiles, activity, and user generated reports, as well as blocking email addresses, phone numbers and other identifiers.
“We’re proud of the work we’ve done in this area; starting with mutual matching, never allowing photos or links to be exchanged in our chat and now with features like Does This Bother You? and Are You Sure? that proactively intervene to prevent harm between members.”
There is also the Warnings feature, which aims to let a user know when they may have been inappropriate and offer the immediate opportunity to change their actions.
“This message will come from Team Tinder with an explanation of what Community Guidelines has been breached, as well as more details around expected behaviour and actions. This will then stay visible to the user and can’t be deleted. Should the user choose to ignore this and continue to repeat the same violation, they will then have their profile removed,” the spokesperson said.
Chanel Contos, Consent Advocate, Author and Founder of Teach Us Consent, has also voiced her support for the new feature.
“Telling someone where and when you’re meeting a new person for a first date is an important step to help with safety for any IRL date. It’s great that there is an in-app feature to facilitate this crucial step in online dating,” she said.