Bumble vs. Tinder: How One Former Tinder Exec. Gives Women All the Dating Power
Valentine's Day is the perfect occasion to get romantic with the one you love, or, for single people, to get romantic with someone you just met.
The long list of dating apps for smartphones keeps growing, but the game might have changed with Bumble, an app designed with women in mind. Could Bumble -- created by one of the founders of Tinder -- give the quintessential hookup app a run for its money?
Bumble: The Tinder for Women
Spoiler alert! If you have used Tinder to form a romantic connection, you already know how to use Bumble.
The apps are almost identical in their layout, user interaction, and even in their settings. Using the same left-swipe for no and right-swipe for yes technique, the app is easy to use for those new to the dating app scene and familiar to those of us who are experienced with Tinder.
But, there's an important difference. After a match has been made, only the female user has the power to start a conversation (within 24 hours).
If she doesn't, the match disappears -- forever.
(Photo : iTunes Store: Bumble)
That said, don't worry guys! Bumble gives men a daily allowance to contact one match, so there's still an option to reach out if they think it's worth it, but then again, women won't receive a ton of unwanted messages from guys copy-pasting their best pickup line.
As far as same-sex couples goes, the messaging rules don't apply and the matches are both free to contact each other and try those pickup lines they've been working on as many times as they want.
A Power Play (That Empowers Women)
The focus on giving women all the power should come as no surprise to those familiar with the co-founder of Bumble, Whitney Wolfe, who was also a co-founder of Tinder.
Wolfe famously left Tinder and sued the company for sexual harassment, claiming she was harassed by unwanted text messages and was stripped of her co-founder title in an unfair way.
Although the case was settled out of court, for a reported $1 million, neither side admitted any wrongdoing. Teaming up with two early Tinder employees was the next step for her, before setting out to create an app that puts the control over dating back into the hands of women.
Bumble's Facebook page claims, "...it's everything you've always wanted from a social discovery app with none of the things you don't."
Giving women the power to contact the matches they want without being bombarded with sleazy or unwanted messages before they are ready to make contact definitely gives this app an appeal for women that Tinder does not have.
Tap That App
Ladies, if you are already using Tinder, the switch won't be anything major as far as the technical stuff goes.
But that "Tinder-ing while bored" game that users play to pass the time -- a feature of Tinder that has become almost as ubiquitous as its match-making -- is a thing of the past with Bumble.
That's a good thing for many users though. It makes Bumble a more serious platform where users, specifically women, can be more selective; they are the ones to take the lead in their romantic lives.
If that idea sounds refreshing, ladies and/or gentlemen, definitely check out Bumble to see if it's the app you've been missing to spark your romantic life -- or at least as a way to avoid spending Valentine's Day watching Netflix in your PJs.
Bumble is available for the iPhone here.
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