Bumble introduces three new filters to help India date amid pandemic

Bumble has also found out that dating habits have changed during the lockdown and there has been a shift towards ‘slow dating’.

The dating platform also cited a recent study wherein it found out that 78% of its community would be perfectly happy to meet up in person. (Bumble)

Bumble on Tuesday introduced three new filters on its platform to help people communicate better and date people across the country amid the pandemic.

The three badges that the platform has introduced on its platform include virtual, socially-distanced and socially-distanced with masks. The company says that the new badges will give the Bumble community the opportunity to skip the potentially awkward conversation about how they are comfortable dating post lockdown, and what kind of dates they would like to go on.

The dating platform also cited a recent study wherein it found out that 78% of its community would be perfectly happy to meet up in person although 69% are concerned about COVID 19, which is due to the lack of understanding in what is acceptable and safe in the new world of dating.

The company also noted new trends wherein single people in India are learning to navigate this new world of dating. Bumble has also found out that dating habits have changed during the lockdown and there has been a shift towards ‘slow dating'. People are taking a longer time to get to know others on a deeper, more personal level, having better quality chats, and using Bumble's Voice Calls and Video chat features in the app.

“In fact, people are spending roughly 20 mins on average on a video chat or voice call on Bumble in India,” the company noted.

The company in its study also determined that 78% of the Bumble community are open to, or have tried, video dating, which further highlighted that virtual dating is here to stay.

To opt-in to adding this dating badge to their Bumble profile follow this thread: go to ‘Edit profile' on the bottom left corner of the app> click on ‘Tap to edit profile' under your photograph> select the batch of your choice. Once this badge is added, you can then filter potential matches who have selected the same dating preferences whether it's virtual-only or IRL.

“Millions of people have virtually connected on Bumble across the world during the lockdown. These new badges will help our community navigate the new rules of dating and we hope they will also encourage conversations about the ways that people feel comfortable dating in this time,” Priti Joshi, VP, Strategy, Bumble said on the occasion.