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.
We’ve reached out to Tinder for comment and will update if we hear back. For now, we don’t have any additional details except that there might be multiple location-tracking features and that they’ll be opt-in.
Spanish-language publication RealDroidES published purported screenshots of the Places test and how it works. 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. You can see screenshots below, which look similar to what Morris tweeted:
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.
Earlier this month, I wrote about 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.
Update 5/11, 5:47 PM ET: Updated to include reporting and images from RealDroidES.