With the country going under lockdown, many businesses have suffered great losses. The impact is felt not just in the offline space, but online as well. One such impacted business model is online dating, in particular, location-based online dating. Since people are not going out anymore, Tinder feels isn’t a good enough reason for them to get off the dating game. So, the company is making its Passport feature free for everyone till April 30.
Tinder said that the Passport feature will become free for everyone starting next week and remain that way till April 30th. The reason behind the move, according to Match Group CEO Shar Dubey is it will give the Tinder community access to “the technology to share, learn and listen to those that are experiencing this same situation in different geographies during an unprecedented period of isolation.”
By using Passport, Tinder users can change their current location to anywhere in the world, opening up the potential for matches across the globe. With many countries enforcing curfews and lockdowns, Passport could be a great way for users to connect with others around the world to share what’s happening in their respective areas.
The rampant spread of Coronavirus worldwide has caused major disruptions across so many facets of daily life. With everyone stuck indoors, people are streaming more, causing severe bandwidth issues in parts of the world. Europe had already requested streaming services to lower the quality to SD so that the infrastructure could handle the excess load. With Tinder offering Passport for free, it is yet another thing for people to distract themselves with. Do note that the feature isn’t free yet, and will be so starting next week, and will remain free till April 30th.