Tinder is launching new safety features today, including a photo verification system that’ll place a blue check mark on daters’ profiles, a partnership with the safety app Noonlight to give daters an easy way to call emergency services, and a feature that flags potentially offensive messages.
The photo verification system requires daters to take a selfie in real time that matches a pose shown by a model in a sample image. Those photos are then sent to Tinder’s community team, which verifies that each user matches both the given pose and their chosen profile photos. If everything lines up, they’ll receive a blue check mark, which is meant to give their potential matches peace of mind that they won’t be catfished.
For now, humans will be checking the photos and verifying that people are who they say they are, but the goal is to eventually offload that task to software. It’s unclear when that’ll happen, if ever. Tinder has millions of users around the world, so it’s rolling this feature out slowly for now and in smaller areas, like Taiwan and Ireland. Bumble introduced a similar system for its users in 2016.
That icon should indicate that the person you’re talking to looks at least vaguely like their profile photos. While Tinder has verified profiles in the past, unless you were a major celebrity or well-known brand, getting the seal of approval required emailing [email protected] and making a case for your authenticity, like perhaps you felt that you were somebody online. The new system will make it easier for the average person to become verified and hopefully prevent more users from being duped.
Tinder is testing the feature in select markets and will make it more widely available throughout 2020. There are still a few questions, like how often users will have to renew the verification and if the system can keep up with haircuts, weight changes and aging. For now, humans will review the verifications, but Tinder’s goal is to fully offload the task to AI.
The feature is one of a few recent changes Tinder made to improve safety on the app. It’s also integrating with Noonlight, which will allow users to enter info about when and where they’re meeting someone and will easily connect them with local emergency services if they need help. Tinder is also working on a Safety Center, which will include advice on topics like how to stay safe and handle harassment, and in select markets, when Tinder suspects an offensive message has been sent, it will ask the user “Does This Bother You?” If the user says it does, they’ll be able to report the sender.
