Tinder is an online dating and geosocial networking application launched in On Tinder, users " swipe right" to like or "swipe left" to dislike other users' profiles, which include their photos, a short bio, and some of their interests. Tinder uses a "double opt-in" system, also called "matching", where two users must like each other before they can exchange messages. In , Tinder had Realizing the name MatchBox was too similar to Match.
The company's flame-themed logo remained consistent throughout the rebranding. In January , Rad was hired as general manager of Cardify, a credit card loyalty app launched by Hatch Labs. During a hackathon in his first month, he presented the idea for a dating app called Matchbox. Rad and Munoz built the prototype for MatchBox and presented the app on February 16, In September , Tinder was soft-launched in the App Store. It was then launched at several college campuses and started to expand quickly.
Tinder's selection function, which was initially click-based, evolved into the company's swipe feature. The feature was established when Rad and Badeen, interested in gamification, modeled the feature on a deck of cards. Badeen then streamlined the action after a trial on a bathroom mirror.
By October , Tinder users completed over one billion swipes per day, producing about 12 million matches per day. By then, Tinder's average user generally spent about 90 minutes a day on the app. Rad returned as CEO in August In , Tinder was the most popular dating app in the United States, holding a In September , the company also initiated testing of its "Boost" functionality in Australia.
In October , Tinder announced the opening of its first office in Silicon Valley in the hope of more effectively recruiting technical employees. In November , Tinder introduced more options for gender selection. In March , Tinder launched Tinder Online, a web-optimized version of the app. In August , Tinder launched an additional subscription service, Tinder Gold, that allows subscribers to see which users "swiped back" without alerting those users.
