Tinder Gold: App now lets anyone pay to see who is swiping them, potentially destroying itself

There's now no need to speculatively swipe – so long as you're willing to pay

Andrew Griffin
Wednesday 30 August 2017 17:31 BST
Comments
TV personality Daniel Lue attends the Tinder Plus Launch Party
TV personality Daniel Lue attends the Tinder Plus Launch Party

Tinder might have killed the speculative swipe.

The company has introduced "Tinder Gold" across the world – allowing people to see everyone who has swiped right on them, as well as a range of other features.

The members-only subscription also includes unlimited likes, the passport feature so that you can like people anywhere, the ability to undo swipes, and an extra number of Super Likes and Boosts.

But by far the most dramatic change is what Tinder refers to as the Likes You feature, which lets you see everyone who has already liked you without you having to bother swiping on them to find out.

"Think of it as your personal Swipe Right concierge—available 24/7—bringing all of your pending matches to you," Tinder wrote in its announcement. "Now you can sit back, enjoy a fine cocktail, and browse through profiles at your leisure."

But the feature could kill off the entire point of the app. If everyone paid the $5 for the feature, nobody would ever speculatively swipe – and that speculative swiping is precisely the activity that allows Tinder to work.

Until now, the drudgery of swiping through potential matches was lightened by the possibility that one of those people might already have swiped right on you, which means that it is worth swiping through people if only to find out if any of them had liked you. But allowing people to pay to entirely avoid those speculative swipes, they could presumably leave everyone just waiting for someone else to swipe them.

The feature began testing in Argentina, Australia, Canada and Mexico. But it has now rolled out across the world.

Tinder said during testing that those who paid for Tinder Gold had 60 per cent more matches.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in