Bumble is giving users some new options to get to know each other inside its dating app, announcing today that they are adding voice and video calls to their app.
The feature is double opt-in, meaning you won’t get a video call from some rando the second that you match with them. Instead, users will see an icon inside their chat that they can tap on to enable the features that move beyond text. Once both users get onboard, you can get to chatting without worrying about exchanging your numbers or social media profiles.
You can only get to know someone so well between photos and chat messages though that’s more that enough for some interactions.
The goal of the new features was “giving users a more real life interaction, and saving them time by getting a deeper understanding of who they’ve matched with before they decide to meet in person or share valuable contact information,” MagicLab (the newly-announced parent company of Bumble, Badoo, Chappy and Lumen) CEO Andrey Andreev told TechCrunch in an email.
The ability to have a phone call or video call inside the app without exchanging numbers is a nice way to protect users from harassment. Bumble announced “Private Detector” a couple months ago which analyzes photos sent in chat and lets users know if there’s anything “explicit” in the photo so they know what they’re getting into when they open it. That feature is launching this summer.
MagicLab plans to bring voice and video calls to its other dating apps as well.
