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Hinge wants to make first dates easier, launches ‘Most Compatible’ feature

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Sometimes, swiping left and right a dating app can become mundane — especially if those matches continuously wind up unsuccessful in real life. With Hinge’s new “Most Compatible” feature, the company hopes to change that by providing you with people it thinks you’d be most interested in dating but will also be interested in dating you.

For those unfamiliar with Hinge, the dating app is a bit different than others on the market. Rather than only relying on physical traits through photos, Hinge offers a variety of questions for you to answer in order to inject more personality and fun into your profile. That way, when someone lands on your profile they can “like” one of your answers and even comment on it rather than only swiping right on a photo.

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Users will find the new feature in the discover section of the app. Every 24 hours, Hinge will send you a new recommendation based on new information it learns about its members. It acts like every other potential match on the app, so you can view their profile, “like” a specific part of it, and choose whether you’re interested.

But how does this work? It uses machine learning to identify your tastes based on your behavior within the app. Hinge essentially builds a “taste profile” for you that then allows the algorithm to figure out who you would be most likely interested in all the way down to who you would least likely be interested in. You’re then paired with the person who is also most likely interested in you — also known as your most compatible.

With the new feature, Hinge hopes to solve what it considers a reoccurring issue in online dating — too many options that provide a small number of successful results. By providing users with informative suggestions based on an algorithm that is constantly learning new things about them, Hinge found its users are eight times more likely to go on a date with someone they’re most compatible with.

“People are used to seeing a lot of people when you go on to a swiping app, there’s always an endless number on there for you. And what we’ve found is restricting people’s choice doesn’t really serve them … people will then just go to other services where they find more people,” Hinge CEO Justin McLeod told Digital Trends. “What we’re trying to do is help you focus on the best person that we think would be great for you … so you can cut through the clutter of people that you’re not going to be interested in or people who aren’t going to be interested in you and really focus.”

The Most Compatible feature is currently rolling out on Hinge. The app is available for download on iOS and Android.

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Brenda Stolyar
Brenda Stolyar
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Brenda became obsessed with technology after receiving her first Dell computer from her grandpa in the second grade. While…
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