Tinder’s big innovation was the double opt in for messaging. Both parties have to “like” the other profile before they can exchange messages. This helps a lot with the problem of women getting overwhelmed with low quality messages.
I was surprised to learn that Tinder has patented this technique. No other dating app can use it, unless that app is owned by Tinder’s parent company, the Match Group.
I think not having access to this technique will make it very hard for new apps to compete with Tinder and friends.
I question the enforceability of such a patent - it seems like a mere technicality of phrasing. For example, on Facebook you send someone a friend request which has to be agreed to by them before additional functionality is unlocked. I don't see how applying such a standard interaction mechanism to a dating app in particular is in any way innovative; it seems analogous to the online shopping cart patent that Newegg invalidated back in 2013.
More likely, Tinder intends to use the mere threat of court proceedings to stifle any potential competition.
Edit: Another comment linked to the patent (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22408610), and it's... really verbose and complicated (as usual). It seems to revolve around having the aforementioned request-response procedure, while simultaneously using the requests and responses to determine other likely matches to present to the participants. I would summarize it as "Netflix ranking applied to dating app user requests", and remain highly skeptical of any supposed innovation. One thing is for certain though: paying a law firm to dissect this thing and argue it in court would cost you a small fortune.
Prior art (ie publicly published examples) invalidates patents, at least in the western world. To that end, if you invent something that you don't intend to patent you should publicly write about it if possible.
They (Bumble, but all same company) threatened to ban me because I called them dirty thieves, after I pointed out some dark patterns that they introduced as new features, and they told me they had no plans to revert them. It sucks when there's no stiff competition.
So far, The Beehive (Bumble's company) has managed to avoid being swallowed into the black hole that is Match Group (Match.com, Tinder, OK Cupid, PoF, more...). Though yes, the point stands that competition is rare and thus far every competitor eventually gets swallowed into the black hole. (The assumption for Bumble is not if but when.)
What are some of these dark patterns? I have a subscription to them but am thinking about canceling. They often tell me somebody's matched with me, but when I go to open the app, there are no matches in my queue. I always wonder if it's just a bug or a dark pattern to get you to open the app.
They used to show me how many coins I had purchased at all times, and they used to have a round yellow button on my profile that I'd press to buy more coins when my balance was low. First, they removed the coin balance, and I can only see how many coins I have left for a split second when I spend a coin. Then, They replaced the button to buy coins with a button that looks almost the same (exactly the same at a glance) with the Spotlight button, which costs 2 coins. So, when I noticed that I was running low on coins (on one of the rare times I could actually catch the flash balance), I pressed the button to buy more, and had 2 coins deducted form my account instantly. Of course, considering muscle memory, that happened a couple of times. So, after a few messages explaining the situation and not getting any recourse whatsoever, I called them out and they didn't like it.
Pretty sure this is just crappy microservice engineering where the microservices disagree with each other. I always see the match counter being wrong, matches I declined linger anywhere between an hour and a day...
Hinge doesn't follow the double-opt-in pattern. When you "like" someone, you can immediately send them a message, even if they haven't yet liked you back. I guess that's a big enough differentiator to not violate Tinder's patent.
I think Bumble might be differentiated in that once the double-opt-in has occurred, only one party (the women) can send a message.
No, you definitely can't. You can attach a comment to your "like" but then it disappears into the ether, and only reappears in your messages section if they "like" you back.
That's not true, we can the comment people leave when they like before we like/match them back. The thing is that they can only leave a singular comment/message.
What’s more unbelievable, is the fact that the US Patent Office actually granted them such a patent.
This is a good example of a bad patent.
Now, this will actually encourage shell companies to file all kinds of fake patents, as defensive patents, and thus block anyone from using them.
So for example, the next time another medium, like VR or AR, comes around, then someone enterprising enough will try to think through all the scenarios, and file all kinds of fake patents.
Like for some random example, someone files a patent to recognize your eye blinking, to trigger, a control reaction like clicking a box. Or maybe if you roll your eyes, this will signify that you declined something.
Perhaps someone should create these types of patents just to troll the Patent Office. That way, maybe someone in a position of power, can actually enact change to end this patent nonsense.
I was surprised to learn that Tinder has patented this technique. No other dating app can use it, unless that app is owned by Tinder’s parent company, the Match Group.
I think not having access to this technique will make it very hard for new apps to compete with Tinder and friends.