Tinder will now let you block phone contacts from showing up in your feed
Sifting through the masses on a dating app can be difficult and discouraging enough on its own, but nothing is worse than when you see someone you'd really rather not see while swiping. After years of it being a problem, Tinder's introducing a solution.
After a testing phase in India, Korea, and Japan, Tinder is rolling out the ability to block personal contacts from appearing in the popular dating app's feed of potential partners. Users can dig into the new feature by going to the settings menu and selecting the "Block Contacts" option. From there, they can go through their phone's entire collection of contacts and block anyone they'd like to avoid for any reason.
The benefits here are obvious: It can be emotionally distressing to see an ex on Tinder, even when the relationship ended amicably. Whether it's an ex you've simply moved on from or an abuser, the ability to filter them out of Tinder's algorithm entirely is eminently useful to just about anyone. That said, it's not completely positive, thanks to privacy implications.
AdultFriendFinder — readers’ pick for casual connections
Hinge — popular choice for regular meetups
The new feature asks users to grant Tinder permission to access their contact lists. Some folks will be uncomfortable with that, and for good reason, as giving an app permission to do almost anything is a slippery slope that can end in personal data being tracked for advertising purposes or, in the worst-case scenario, outright stolen.
Mashable heard from a Tinder source that the company intends to only use contacts info to ensure a user won't see someone they've marked to block. But for what it's worth, Tinder has been implicated in personal data overreach stories before. So it wouldn't hurt to at least be careful before using this new feature.
For those who could go the rest of their lives without seeing a particular person in their contact list, though, there's at least a way to ensure they won't show up on Tinder. Better than nothing.
Related Video: How to prevent cyberstalking
Topics Cybersecurity Privacy Tinder
Alex Perry is a tech reporter at Mashable who primarily covers video games and consumer tech. Alex has spent most of the last decade reviewing games, smartphones, headphones, and laptops, and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. He is also a Pisces, a cat lover, and a Kansas City sports fan. Alex can be found on Bluesky at yelix.bsky.social.
