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Tinder is letting everyone swipe around the world for free to find quarantine buddies

Tinder is letting everyone swipe around the world for free to find quarantine buddies

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Starting next week

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Tinder

Tinder’s team recognizes that daters might want to connect with people abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic, so starting next week, the company is making its Passport feature free for all users through April 30th. Passport allows people to pay to swipe abroad wherever they want. It usually costs money to access through either Tinder Gold or Tinder Plus.

In a note sent to all Match Group employees about the decision, CEO Shar Dubey said the decision will give the Tinder community “the technology to share, learn and listen to those that are experiencing this same situation in different geographies during an unprecedented period of isolation.”

With Passport, users can search by city or drop a pin anywhere on the map to start swiping there. The company says it hopes “you use the Passport feature to virtually transport yourself out of self-quarantine to anywhere in the world.”

Separately, Match is also launching a live-streaming feature called Live on its Plenty of Fish service. The live-streaming feature lets daters stream live, like they would on most other social platforms. People can search for streams nearby and leave comments as they watch, which can eventually be moved to private messages.

Clearly, people around the world are feeling isolated as they practice social distancing and, in some countries, are told to stay in their homes. Daters are persisting, however, and looking for a buddy they can talk to while home and, maybe eventually, see in person when the pandemic eventually ends.