Today, Tinder is rolling out an update to its AI-powered Photo Verification feature, which until now has allowed users on the app to prove to others that they’re neither a bot nor a catfisherman. In the past, users would take a photo of themselves posing as instructed to get approved on the dating app and receive a blue check. Now, Tinder is stepping up this process by requiring video selfies instead of photos. Additionally, it will soon allow users to limit their chats to members who are also photo verified.
The company says the changes are part of Tinder’s work to make the app safer for its members.
However, the feature also comes at a time when it has become much easier to use artificial intelligence tools to create fake photos and personas, which can flood dating apps with fake people who are really just bots ready to spam themselves. the games. Requiring a “viability” check, like a video selfie does, is a much stronger way to verify that people are who they are and weed out spammers.
Tinder said it was working with a third-party partner to manage the video selfie verification process, rather than running it internally, but declined to name the vendor.
However, it explains that the new model will first ask the user to fill in a series of video prompts, which the AI then uses to match whether the person in the video also matches the person in the profile photo the user wants to verify.
After the update rolls out starting Wednesday, users aiming for photo verification or who want to keep their existing verification will have to take a video selfie. The function will completely replace the previous option of uploading photos.
Existing Photo Verified will soon begin receiving in-app messages to upgrade to the latest version of Photo Verification if they want to keep their blue marks on Tinder, the company said. This not only ensures that members are verified through a more robust video selfie feature, but also solves the problem of lapsed Tinder users returning to an app where their verified photos are now years old.
In addition to updating the feature to use videos instead of photos, Tinder will later introduce new features that will allow users to only see Photo Verified members in their suggestions through their Messages settings. And it will allow members to ask their matches to verify with a photo before they are allowed to send a message. (It’s hard to imagine how that would make a good first impression, though!)
Meanwhile, Tinder Gold subscribers will be able to filter their Likes page to Photo Verified members only.
The company claims that Photo Verification is proven to increase matches on the service because users feel more confident that their potential match is a real person, not a bot, and that they look like their photos. Tinder says that among its 18- to 25-year-old users, for example, Photo Verified gives them a 10% better chance of matching.
The photo verification feature will launch today for Tinder users worldwide, while the ability to limit messages to only “Photo Verified Members” will roll out “in the coming months,” Tinder said.