Tinder trials new feature in India to help female users feel safer on the dating app
Tinder is trialling a new feature in India which will enable its female users to decide whether or not they would like to message a potential partner first.
The dating app currently works by allowing both men and women to message once they have matched by ‘liking’ each other with a simple swipe right.
The new feature called ‘My Move’ will now give female users the option to decide whether or not they would rather take control and message first in a bid to make women feel safer when using the app.
The latest update has been tested in India over the past few months and if successful, will eventually be rolled out to millions of Tinder users worldwide.
But it’s not the first time women have been given the power, as fellow dating app Bumble first introduced the feature by default when it was launched by Tinder co-founder Whitney Wolfe back in 2014.
![Tinder is giving its female users the control in a trial run [Photo: Pexels]](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/dfwrxHBKQ1VIKK.VsQB5Fg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU4MA--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/homerun/feed_manager_auto_publish_494/a722e7d4f3c4f20807345999c70ec104)
The dating platform has been widely praised for giving female users the control and was created by Wolfe after she left Tinder and sued the app for sexual harassment.
The timing over India’s latest launch could not be more apt. According to CNN, approximately 100 cases of sexual assault are reported to police every day while data from the National Crime Records Bureau shows that 39,000 rapes were recorded in 2016 alone.
Taru Kapoor, general manager for Match Group (the company that owns Tinder), told Reuters: “We’re a platform based on mutual respect, consent, and choice. We are focused on making the experience of women safer.”
“By giving our female users the ability to exclusively send the first message if and when they want to, ‘My Move’ provides women the autonomy to choose how to engage with their matches and empowers them to control their experiences.”
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