As Bumble prepares to relaunch its app this summer, the women-first dating platform announced a series of product updates on Tuesday, including a new feature that allows women to prepare questions to send to matches, additional Preferences and prompts on dating intentions and more.
Since its launch in 2014, Bumble’s approach has been to empower women to make the first move. A decade later, the company wants to give them even more control thanks to “Opening Move,” a new feature that lets women pre-write an opening line so they can quickly send a message without having to come up with something new for every game. (For non-binary and same-sex pairings, any user can create and respond to an opening move.)
Users can either type a custom message or choose from Bumble’s pre-written questions, such as: B. “What do you like about my profile?” and “What book or movie changed the way you think?” Not only does the new feature alleviate some of that news anxiety, but it could also be a helpful way to answer a dealbreaker question send that filters out unsuitable matches.
“We know that it can sometimes be a hassle to start a chat every time. “So we wanted to listen to our members on that front and help them find more ways to make that first step feel a little easier,” Dara Alsulayman, a senior product manager at Bumble, told TechCrunch.
Alsulayman revealed that Bumble plans to “add support for dynamic opening moves,” meaning users will be able to create multiple different types of opening moves instead of only being able to send one version.
Bumble has been experimenting with the Opening Move feature in various markets, including New Zealand and Australia, new CEO Lidiane Jones previously told Fortune. The company noted in Tuesday’s press release that the feature resulted in higher response rates and longer conversations during testing.
Photo credit: bumblebee
Bumble has also made profile updates, including expanding its “Intents” badges (an advanced filtering option for premium members) to narrow dating searches. For example, the dating app has added more specific intentions beyond looking for a “relationship,” “something casual,” or “marriage.” Starting today, users can choose between “fun, casual dates,” “commitment-free intimacy,” “life partners,” and “ethical non-monogamy.” Additionally, there is now the ability to display dual intents on dating profiles.
Additionally, Bumble introduced a new Interests section to show which three causes and communities a user supports, such as feminism, environmentalism and LGBTQ+ rights.
Bumble continues to help dating partners showcase their personality on their profiles by introducing hundreds of new prompts for users, as well as new categories to make it easier for users to find prompts. For example, there’s now an “About Me” category, which features prompts like “I’m known for,” “I’m a real nerd,” and “My humble brag.” Other categories include prompts for dating and self-care.
As part of the update, Bumble now requires new users to add four images to their profiles, whereas previously they only required two. Alsulayman said that’s because users with more photos are more successful at finding hookups. A common complaint from dissatisfied members is that some users didn’t add enough photos.
As Bumble approaches its 10th anniversary, the company on Tuesday also unveiled a new logo and updated app design that features bold fonts and a more “modern” look and feel, Alsulayman said.
“[The new design] feels much more in line with what our users want,” she added.
Dating app fatigue is becoming increasingly common in our society, especially among Generation Z who are fed up with swiping culture. Bumble’s latest update suggests that the dating app is trying to improve its offerings and appeal to younger users. In the second quarter of 2024, the company plans to relaunch its app and introduce new AI-powered features and other improvements, such as the ability to allow men to send the first message.