The topic Hinge officially launches a badge that signals good dating behavior is drawing steady attention: readers, analysts, and industry watchers are all tracking how the story may unfold in the days ahead.
This is taking place in a fast-moving context — product cycles, platform shifts, and competitive moves can reshape the outlook quickly, so the details below are worth a careful read.
What follows is a clear walkthrough of the main facts and angles you need to make sense of the news.
Weeks after dating app users began spotting a new heartbeat feature on Hinge, the app is officially launching the feature: Signals.
Signals is a purple heart that appears on some users’ profiles, showcasing that they’re actively engaging with potential dates on the app. As Mashable reported in May, in order for a Signals badge (the heart) to appear, a user needs to satisfy both baseline requirements and three of five behaviors that signify “Thoughtful Participation.”
AdultFriendFinder
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readers’ pick for casual connections
Tinder
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top pick for finding hookups
Hinge
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popular choice for regular meetups
Having an account in good standing, meaning you follow Hinge’s Community Guidelines
Looking through someone’s profile before Liking (not just Liking the first photo)
Reviewing one’s Likes and either matching or skipping (not leaving others in limbo)
Hinge uses technologies to help identify and surface these patterns, the app told Mashable. The app can detect your moves, but that’s not exactly novel. Hinge has long had pop-ups like “We Met,” which appears day after exchanging numbers to ask if you met IRL.
Users can’t buy a Signals badge. Instead, it reflects a user’s activity over the past 30 days and refreshes daily based on recent activity.
In the nearly 15 years since the launch of Tinder and the modern dating app landscape, singles have been loud about their frustrations using them, including bad behaviors like ghosting and pen palling (aka, messaging but never meeting up). And while dating app love stories aren’t necessarily uncommon, it’s likely that those who have found someone special have also liked someone who wasted their time. Ergo, Hinge is trying to signal — literally — who may want to prove the app’s “designed to be deleted” tagline.
“People are tired of games,” Hinge’s lead relationship scientist, Logan Ury, said in a press release shared with Mashable. “Tired of waiting six hours to text back, decoding mixed signals, and pretending not to care. Our research shows daters are ready for something more honest, where effort is celebrated. Signals makes that thoughtfulness visible — so it’s easier to find the people who are already showing up that way on Hinge.”
Recent feature additions on Hinge have also encouraged better behavior, like Date Ideas, which helps you plan a date so you’re not stuck messaging endlessly.
During a test of Signals, Hinge saw an increase in selfie verifications, the number of daters sending likes with comments, and conversations that started after matching, the app shared with Mashable. So, at least for now, it seems like Signals makes users act on their best behavior.
Hinge is introducing Signals through a phased rollout as it gathers feedback and learns how daters use it. The feature is now available globally, except for the UK and EU.
Anna Iovine is the associate editor of features at Mashable. Previously, as the sex and relationships reporter, she covered topics ranging from dating apps to pelvic pain. Before Mashable, Anna was a social editor at VICE and freelanced for publications such as Slate and the Columbia Journalism Review. Follow her on Bluesky.