Hinge just launched a new feature that’s set to rock the boat

Your personal version of The Bachelor

Fed up messages that get no replies and inboxes full of likes that go ignored, Hinge is lighting a flame under all our bums and forcing us into our own romantic realities with the biggest shake up to dating apps since Bumble gave the girlies the power to make the first move. 

Hello my name is Ebony and I currently have, *scrolls down*, 58 inactive chats on Hinge making me the dating app’s target market for its newest update – a first-of-its-kind feature designed to encourage users (ahem, like moi) to focus on quality over quantity. And, for the love of my future grandchildren, give us all the push to actually talk to one another. 

Whether you’re on my side of the fence or the other, Hinge knows that we all hate the fact that, more often than not, conversations go nowhere. To the point where we’re all just following each other on Instagram and watching our prospective partner’s lives unfold online for the rest of time without ever having organised a date. 

According to a recent study, one of the biggest dating challenges for 44 per cent of Hinge users around the world is unanswered messages from matches (sorry not sorry). But the researchers also found that focusing on fewer conversations at a time leads to quicker responses, which increases the likelihood of you both actually making it out of the chat. In fact, research proves we’re 76 per cent more likely to go on a date if we respond to a match’s first message within 24 hours.

Enter, ‘Your Turn Limits’ – a fancy new feature, launching globally today, hoping to prevent dating burnout, f*ck boys and people like me from being too lazy to reply. 

How does it work? 

Hinge, which markets itself as the dating app designed to be deleted, first introduced the ‘You Turn’ feature in 2017 as a way of reminding daters when it’s their turn to respond, and that ignoring fellow singles is poor form. 

‘Your Turn Limits’ essentially does just that. It limits users from chatting to more than eight people at once, because hello quality over quantity. When they’re all maxed out, a pop-up notification will appear letting them know that they’re reached their conversation capacity. 

If users with eight or more ‘Your Turn’ matches would like to keep striking up new connections, then they’ll have to bid farewell to one of their current convos, thus encouraging those with too many unanswered messages to actually respond to potential dates. Or, you know, lose the chance to meet the love of their life. 

It’s giving massive ‘sh*t or get off the pot’ vibes. But when you're trapped in a conversation that is going nowhere, it’s got to be a good thing right? When we’re all time poor, living in perpetual fear of being ghosted, and chasing that happily ever after. Even if that’s just a date for Friday night.  

To chat or to unmatch, that is the question. Image: Hinge

Will it work? 

Apparently yes. A test run of the new feature found it increased responsiveness on Hinge by 20 per cent. While 48 per cent of the dating guinea pigs said the new update helped increase their ability to focus on quality matches, and 45 per cent said it helped them be more thoughtful in who they were matching with. 

“We want every dater on Hinge to feel joyful and hopefully while connecting with others,” the founder and CEO of Hinge, Justin McLeod says. “With ‘Your Turn Limits’, we’re directly addressing the frustration of answered messages. Your next relationship could be just a message away, so we’re helping users gain momentum with going on their next date.”

No more liking without thinking. Image: Getty

Meaningful connections or cutthroat rejection? 

If this new feature isn’t striking the fear of action into singles everywhere, you need to go back and read this story again. Because Hinge is changing the game when it comes to dating online. 

Sure, it’ll up the pressure to perform (prepare to roll out your wittiest remarks, folks) and you could wake up to find yourself mercilessly unmatched. But it means no more firing off likes willy-nilly, and no more giving people the benefit of five to 10 business days to get back to you.  

This brand spanking new element is yelling out, ‘RESPOND OR MOVE ON’, and we’re not being given a choice in the matter. Only time will tell if it’ll be enough to get us chatting and hooked on meaningful conversations, and maybe, just maybe, the start of a relationship.

Originally published as Hinge just launched a new feature that’s set to rock the boat