Key Takeaways
- Double Date is a new Tinder feature that allows users to create safe, authentic, and low-stakes connections with their trusted friend by their side.
- By promoting Double Dates, Tinder is entering a new era of online dating, one far from the hookup roots of its past.
- Tinder has seen a marked spike in engagement and matches — and has even experienced redownloads — thanks to the public’s enthusiasm for Double Date.
Tinder recently launched its new Double Date feature, which responds to Gen Z’s need for safety, authenticity, and control during the online dating process.
“Tinder is proud to keep evolving how people connect by creating authentic, light-hearted ways to meet new people,” according to the app’s press release about the product launch. “With Double Date, the post-date recap doesn’t have to wait — it starts as soon as the date ends.”
With Double Date, two friends can swipe on another pair of friends, open a four-way chat, and ultimately enjoy real-life double dates together.
Double Date lets users make platonic and romantic connections at once, an innovation that undoubtedly appeals to the modern dater who seeks authentic connections from both friends and lovers.
Double Date Shows An All New Side of Tinder
Ask Gen Z: Tinder’s reputation as a hookup app just doesn’t resonate with today’s generation of daters.
In fact, the app discovered that 90% of the people who created Double Date profiles while the feature was being tested were under 29 years old, suggesting that younger daters are drawn to the low-stakes nature of double dating.
“This isn’t surprising, given that Gen Z makes up over half of Tinder’s global user base, and often approaches dating as a team sport,” Tinder noted.
By making it easier for users to organize double dates, Tinder is taking a pointed step away from hookups and toward the authentic relationships Gen Z craves.
Newsweek reported that 65% of dating apps are deleted within a month of being downloaded, giving apps more motivation than ever to provide diverse offerings to ever-fickle users. Tinder’s Double Date feature, which encourages safety and authentic connections, is as far from hookups as it gets.
Julie Griggs, co-founder of double dating app Fourplay Social, told DatingNews that Tinder isn’t spearheading app-based double dating, but jumping on a bandwagon that’s already in motion.
“It’s validating to see the industry recognize what we’ve known to be true, both through our lived experience and the research: dating is better when it’s social, safe, and fun,” she said.
And while Tinder’s swiping interface may be a modern classic, it also wears on users who feel like they’re swiping themselves into oblivion.
As Tinder itself stated, the Double Date feature gives users (and their thumbs) a much-needed swiping break: “Double Date transforms the swipe experience into a shared, lighthearted adventure you can enjoy alongside a friend.”
Safety among Gen Z is key. By giving users the opportunity to date with a trusted friend by their side, apps are promoting safety and eliminating some of the risks that inevitably arise while online dating.
Engagement Has Spiked on Tinder Thanks to Double Date
The feature has already seen some success, according to Tinder. The app discovered that women are three times more likely to “like” a pair for a Double Date than someone’s individual profile, suggesting that some women prefer the more relaxed setting of a Double Date than a regular date.
Double Date also sparks more conversation in the app. Where one-on-one chats can be awkward and one-sided, the four-way chats set up by Double Date seems to help break the ice. The proof is in the numbers: People sent approximately 35% more messages in Double Date than in one-on-one convos.
You’d think that adding three people to the mix would make it more difficult to find matches, but the opposite may be true, Tinder said in its press release: “Match rates have been significantly higher for those using the feature.”
Clearly, Tinder’s Double Date offers a low-stakes alternative to traditional online dating that resonates with today’s daters, who often prefer low-key connections over intense hookups. Tinder’s newfound dedication to serious relationships may even attract daters who long ago wrote the app off.
Griggs confirmed this, saying, “We’re seeing surging demand for the authentic, in-person connections we’re facilitating, which confirms that we’re meeting a real need among singles.”
“Nearly 15% of those who accepted a Double Date invite were either new to Tinder or recently reactivated,” according to the app, suggesting that young daters are open to unconventional ways of making romantic connections.
