Hinge Adds a Feature That Makes It Easier to Ask Someone on a Date

With its new Friend’s Take feature, Hinge is incorporating a practice that professional matchmakers and dating coaches have long understood: other people tend to describe us better than we describe ourselves. 

We already go to our friends first when we hit a romantic wall. This is something dating professionals already knew — and that Hinge and other dating apps are finally taking advantage of. Hinge’s new feature, Friend’s Take, allows people to submit a text, photo, voice note, or video response of a Hinge prompt to their friend’s Hinge profile. 

A recent Hinge survey found that a whopping 79% of daters ask their friends and family for dating advice. 

“Friend's Take makes room for those who are always alongside you as you date and gives potential matches a richer, more authentic sense of who someone is before they meet,” said Ben Celebicic, Hinge’s Chief Product and Technology Officer.

But like I said, people have always turned to their loved ones for help dating — just ask dating professionals. Friend-based testimonials like those given via Friend’s Take are part of a larger industry trend, where dating app users ask friends and even dating coaches and matchmakers to help them craft their profile. 

How Matchmakers Build a More Complete Picture of Their Clients

Alone, we can only be so self-aware. The people who know us best can offer a more balanced — and still supportive — perspective, a strategy some matchmakers have relied on for years. 

Matchmaking and dating coaching have historically been word-of-mouth businesses, and they occasionally rely on outside perspectives when growing their networks. This is especially true when they’re seeking a match for their client, or deciding whether to take a client on at all.

We’ve seen a rise of professionals who include dating app profile creation as part of their entire matchmaking or coaching package.

They might ask themselves, “Who is this person? Are they ready to work with a matchmaker or coach? Will they be a good fit for me, or will our personalities clash?” And when trying to find a match for their client: “What don’t I already know about my client that could help me find them a more accurate match?” 

These outside perspectives usually come in the form of referrals, testimonials, or references. Not every matchmaker or coach digs so deep, but those that do can begin the matchmaking process with a more well-rounded idea of who their client is.

We’ve also seen a rise of professionals who include dating app profile creation as part of their entire matchmaking or coaching package. Matchmaker Jessica Fass from Fass Pass to Love, for example, offers an “online dating takeover” to “ensure the best, most authentic version of yourself is shared with the world.” 

Profile creation aside, enlisting the help of friends, family, and other outside perspectives (with your client’s permission, of course) can be a relatively low-lift way for a dating professional to  improve their client’s experience. 

Why Friends Make Better Dating Profile Editors

When creating a dating profile, nothing makes you question your own self-understanding quite like a prompt that asks, “Who are you?” My group chats are littered with screenshots of empty Hinge prompts. “Does anyone know what my favorite color is?” one friend asks. 

Hinge found that 71% of surveyed users want help crafting their profiles, but only 46% of users actually seek out help. These 25 points are not just a gap, but a dark chasm, where poorly-constructed profiles and lonely singles dwell. 

The solution to this — to fill the chasm — is like everything else in life: When you ask for help from loved ones, things tend to get better. As I said earlier, our friends really can shed light on our good sides in a way we didn’t know was possible. 

Think of it this way: When creating a dating profile, my friend will downplay her passion for crocheting out of fear of seeming boring. But if I got the chance to speak on her behalf, I would mention how her self-deprecating nature hides a passionate, creative person who will one day fill a lucky man’s kitchen with vibrantly-colored potholders. 

She’s a catch, and she doesn’t even know it! “[Friends] know the qualities you'd never think to mention like, 'She's the sweetest dog mom.' or 'He’d never admit this, but he's the person everyone calls in a crisis,’” said Logan Ury, Lead Relationship Scientist at Hinge.

“Friend's Take finally gives your community a place to share these special details about you,” Ury added. 

By taking a page out of dating professionals’ books, Hinge is acknowledging the value of friend-based testimonials. And in doing so, the app is setting a new standard: Human touches on dating apps are not a want, but a need. 

We Need Human Solutions — Not Just High-Tech Ones

As Gen Z daters continue to crave IRL connections, they’re looking for human alternatives to tech innovation. In this case, Friend’s Take is Hinge’s way of giving users an opportunity to use humans, and not just tech, to shape their profiles. 

Of course, Hinge isn’t the only app to realize how powerful real, authentic people are to dating apps. 

“Friend's Take makes room for those who are always alongside you as you date and gives potential matches a richer, more authentic sense of who someone is before they meet.” -Ben Celebicic, Hinge’s Chief Product and Technology Officer

I recently wrote about Coffee Meets Bagel’s redesign, which re-centered the dating app process around humans while still providing AI tools. “This redesign marks an exciting new chapter for us: one that puts control back in the hands of daters,” said Shn Juay, CEO of Coffee Meets Bagel Worldwide. 

Allowing users to post videos, audio, or written support from their friends is one way Hinge is re-centering the dating app process around humans. The message is clear: Humanity has never been more powerful than it is now, during the AI age. 

A healthy respect for humanity has always been the backbone of matchmaking and coaching businesses. Now, even industry giants like Hinge are acknowledging, through Friend’s Take, how something as seemingly small as a message of support from a friend can be the difference between a strong match and a weak one.