Tinder working on giving extra controls for women

The Indian edition of dating app Tinder is trialling a new feature which gives women an additional level of scrutiny before they allow men to start messaging conversations, with a view to rolling the function out globally.

The “My Move” feature allows women to choose in their settings that only they can start a conversation with a male match after both have approved each other with Tinder’s swiping function. Normally, the app gives both parties a successful match — where both have swiped yes on the other’s photograph — the right to text each other immediately.

Tinder has been testing the function for several months and plans to spread it worldwide if the Indian rollout proves successful. Rival dating- app Bumble already only allows the female party to a heterosexual match to start conversations.

Taru Kapoor, general manager for Tinder owner Match Group in India, told Reuters the function had been pioneered in India because of Tinder’s need to attract more women to the app by making them feel more comfortable and secure. Yet an emerging class of young, well- to- do Indians in cosmopolitan cities like Bengaluru and Mumbai have made the country Tinder’s largest market in Asia. The company also says India is its “chattiest” market globally, with users using the in- app messaging feature more than any other country.

Tinder has generally had few ad campaigns and its few glossy productions in India have tended to focus on the female experience on the app — a reflection of the predominance of men on the Indian version.

The app, which has an average 3.8 million users globally, had the highest number of mon- thly active users on Android phones in India last month in the Lifestyle category, according to market data and analytics firm, App Annie.

The app is also the third highest earner by revenue across all categories when Google Play and iOS revenues are combined. — Reuters