Tinder now lets you upload photos directly, instead of importing from Facebook
The Tinder app now lets you upload photos directly from your camera roll, instead of having to import them from your Facebook profile. These changes are first rolling out to the iOS app, but will be coming to the Android version soon.
Since its inception, Tinder only allowed its users to upload a photo if it was from their Facebook-connected account. It was the app’s attempt at establishing authenticity among users and preventing fake profiles of sexy nonexistent people from surfacing.
If your preferred method of online flirting is via GIFs, then Tinder’s made some changes to help you with that, too. The mobile dating app also upgraded its messaging feature to allow users to search and send GIFs, while making the emojis bigger, and adding a “like” functionality to individual messages. Tinder’s GIF search function is powered by Giphy, a popular service for GIF tools and integrations.
Why this matters: After relying on Facebook’s social graph to establish would-be-love connections among users, Tinder is slowly divorcing itself from Mark Zuckerberg and company.
One of the most requested new Tinder features was the ability to upload photos directly from one’s camera roll instead of having to go through Facebook. Tinder users even went insofar as to uploading photos to Facebook but setting their privacy level to “Only Me” so that they could use those photos on Tinder.
Tinder’s subtle separation from Facebook could mean that the dating app wants to lure in a younger user base that prefers Snapchat and Instagram over stuffy old Facebook.