Tinder was founded in 2012 by Sean Rad in coordination with Dinesh Moorjani. Though Rad has since departed from the company due to a legal battle with IAC, Tinder continues to operate as a mega-popular dating app with new updates continually on the way.

Now one of the largest dating platforms in the world, Tinder has turned into one of the most common ways to meet a potential partner. The app is looking to bring in as many potential users as possible, not just digitally minded individuals, often by incorporating fascinating events like the celebrated Swipe Night event.

Apocalyptic Dating Fantasy

With the COVID-19 pandemic still very much a problem, playing an apocalyptic dating game might seem less-than-ideal. Still, millennial daters and Gen Z users alike get to enjoy a brand new apocalyptic experience from the Tinder team as they are guided through the Swipe Night event.

Swipe Night is essentially an episodic choose your own adventure game featuring protagonists that must make their way through a “dangerous” web of complex choices. This experience-based application event seeks to connect users by how interested they are in one another’s profile and their shared interests. This is a theme that Tinder has continually followed, incorporating special events during Spring Break Mode to keep the party going in Cancun.

While the pandemic has made it hard for larger in-person events, the apocalyptic storyline focuses on games within the app itself. Users were able to swipe through episode after episode, speaking with matches and sharing their stories. Similar to a movie night, users were pushed to embrace the story and to share their thoughts after. Ravi Mehta of Tinder says that the app asks people, “Ultimately, who would you want to be with during those last three hours on the planet?”

A Change to the Dating World

Tinder’s introduction fundamentally changed the world of online dating just over a decade ago. The disruptive dating application has changed what once seemed impossible, “meeting people,” into an event that happens within the palm of your hand.

Swipe Night is just one extension of Tinder’s decision to distance itself from a purely physically-focused dating app. Trying to shed its skin as a “hook-up app,” Tinder has been making increasingly focused moves to differentiate what they do from what people think they do. In line with Ravi Mehta’s question posed prior, these Tinder updates seek to connect users at a level deeper than a simple profile picture and witty biography.