Tinder Launches A Blind Date Feature Just in Time For Valentine’s Day
Do you believe that love is blind? If so, Tinder’s new blind dating feature might be for you – and it has launched just in time for Valentine’s Day, where members are paired up without being able to view each other’s profile.
Per The Independent, the global feature, called “Fast Chat: Blind Date” launches today (February 10), after 41 percent of Gen Z said they would go on a blind date but they weren’t sure how to set it up. The feature will be available in the Explore section on Tinder and looks to focus on conversation.
The way Fast Chat: Blind Date will work is Tinder will match you with someone based on your preferences, and if you both decide to match after chatting for a while, only then will your full profiles be revealed. Members will answer a series of short icebreaker questions and will be paired with one another based on commonalities.
“They’ll then enter a timed chat, not knowing any details about the person on the other side of the screen aside from their answers to multiple-choice prompts like, ‘It’s OK to wear a shirt ____ times without washing it” and “I put ketchup on____,’” a statement from Tinder explains. “When the timer runs out, they can Like the other’s profile, which will be revealed if there is a match, or they can choose to get paired with someone new.”
The feature comes as Tinder says Gen Z (people born from the mid-to-late ’90s to the early 2010s) are calling for “nostalgia” and “authentic connections.” In early testing of the feature, Tinder found that members who used Blind Date made 40 percent more matches than those using other Fast Chat features with visible profiles.
Kyle Miller, VP of Product Innovation at Tinder said, “There’s something really special about letting conversation introduce someone’s personality, without the preconceptions that can be made from photos. The new Blind Date experience brings a surprisingly fun, banter-based way to interact and create connections.”
The launch of the feature comes the day before popular Netflix dating show, Love is Blind, is set to return for season two. If you’ve never heard of it before, participants spend time in “pods” forming connections with other people without ever seeing their face and proposes to them at the end of the experience. Several of the couples from season one are still together two years now, so perhaps blind dating could be the key to finding a long-term partner.
