Dating amidst the coronavirus crisis has become an arduous task, with meeting your date in person currently being off the table. Dating apps recognize the difficulties that users are facing, and have been taking steps to keep users in touch. Tinder made its Passport feature free till April 30. Now, Bumble is rolling out new changes, including giving people the ability to match with anyone in their country; moreover, a new badge will inform potential matches that you"re open to date. The changes are listed below:
- Add a Virtual Date Badge to your profile so your potential matches know you’re down to Video Chat.
- Send an Audio Note to your match.
- Reply to specific messages.
- Expand your Distance Filter to match with people across the country.
Until now, users could only connect with potential matches within a 50-mile radius. Starting now, you can set the distance filter to the "whole country," so you can potentially have a lot more matches. You can now also reply to specific messages. To do it, hold down the specific message that you want to respond to and tap reply. The reply options include "plain text, a GIF, an Audio Note, or a Voice Note."
Bumble is also giving users the option to send audio notes through the app, and add a "virtual dating" badge to their profiles to inform matches that they"re up for video chatting. The dating app states that $1 will be donated to WHO COVID-19 Solidarity Fund every time a user adds the badge to their profiles, up to $100,000.