Dating app, Tinder is releasing an AI-powered update to its Photo Verification function on Tuesday, which has previously allowed app users to verify to others that they are not a bot or a catfish account.
Previously, users would snap photos of themselves posing as directed in order to be confirmed on the dating app and obtain a blue tick.
Tinder is now enhancing this procedure by requesting video selfies rather than photographs.
Furthermore, users will soon be able to limit their chats to only those people who are also Photo Verified.
According to the firm, the modifications are part of Tinder’s efforts to make the service safer for its users.
Tinder claims it’s working with a third-party partner to oversee the video selfie verification process rather than conducting it in-house, but it hasn’t revealed who that partner is.
It does, however, clarify that the new model will need the user to first complete a series of video questions, which the AI will then use to match that the person in the video also matches the person in the profile photo the user wishes to verify.
Starting on Wednesday, customers who wish to be Photo Verified or who want to keep their current verification will have to take a video selfie. The feature will completely replace the previous method for uploading photos.
Existing Photo Verified users will soon be prompted in the app to upgrade to the latest version of Photo Verification if they want to preserve their blue checkmarks on Tinder, according to the business.
Tinder will eventually provide new features that will allow users to only view other Photo Verified members in their recommendations via their Message Settings, in addition to changing the feature to use videos instead of photographs. It will also allow users to request that their Matches Photo Verify before they can send a message.
Meanwhile, Tinder Gold subscribers will be able to limit their “Likes” page to Photo Verified members alone.
Photo Verification, according to the firm, has been shown to improve matches on the site because users feel more secure that their possible match is a real person, not a bot — and that they look like their photos.
Tinder claims that among its 18 to 25-year-old users, having Photo Verified provides them a 10% better probability of matching.
The Photo Verification function will be available to all Tinder users worldwide today, while the ability to limit communications to “Photo Verified Members” alone will be available in the “coming months,” according to Tinder.