Group chats have come to Tinder

Tinder, the popular dating app, has introduced a new feature called Group Hangouts, allowing three or more people to connect through shared interests and activities. This feature builds upon the existing Double Date Mode to help singles meet friends and form connections. Mark Kantor, Tinder's chief product officer, revealed that the company suspected that young singles want their friends involved when meeting new people. Group Hangouts takes this concept further, making it a fun and engaging experience on the app.

To use Group Hangouts, one person creates a group, selects an activity, and invites at least two friends. Once a group has three members, it appears in other users' main Tinder stack, where they can discover other groups and match if the interest is mutual. After matching with another group, users can chat together and plan real-life meetups. In early tests, 40% of Group Hangouts invitations were accepted, and women were 2.2 times more likely to Like a group profile than a traditional one.

This new feature aligns with a growing trend in dating apps, where friends are being integrated into the matchmaking process. Hinge recently launched Friend's Take, allowing users to get a vouch from their loved ones, and Eventbrite reported a surge in "meet cute" events, where hobby-based outings double as socializing opportunities.

Tinder itself expanded its Events feature to several major cities, and Taru Kapoor, a former Tinder executive, launched Rivet, a social matching app. Group Hangouts is currently available in the U.S. and select markets, with plans to roll out to more areas soon.