What Are You Paying for With Tinder Plus and the New Tinder Gold?
The dating app Tinder has just launched a new subscription tier called “Tinder Gold” for iOS. But what the hell is that? And how is it different from the already existing Tinder Plus?
Anyone can use Tinder, but their premium plans can be a little confusing. For example, Tinder Plus gives you:
- Rewind : You can undo any swipe you make. Ideally, this feature allows you to re-swipe someone you accidentally deleted permanently so that there are no missed connections. But in reality, you’ll probably use this to go the other way when you ask yourself, “What was I thinking?”
- Passport : You can change your location and scroll through the list of people living in a different area. If you travel a lot, this can be useful for pre-setting dates. It can also help you lie and convince people you live elsewhere if you like the whole “terrible person” scene.
- Unlimited Likes: You can use many Likes (heart symbol). Some would say unlimited.
- Extra Super Likes : Five per day. Super Likes are when you swipe someone up. This lets them know that they “really like you” and desperately need their attention.
The really odd thing about Tinder Plus, though, is its pricing structure. Depending on where you live and how old you are, you pay more or less. If you’re 28 or younger and live in a developing country, Tinder Plus can cost you as little as $ 3 a month. But if you’re older and live in a more developed area, it could cost you $ 20 a month or more.
The above screenshot shows the most popular Tinder purchases in the iOS App Store. As you can see, Tinder Plus has five different price lists, ranging from $ 2.99 to $ 34.99. The most common is the $ 9.99 plan for people 28 and younger in the US, and the second most common is the $ 19.99 plan for people 28 and older.
Sean Red, co-founder of Tinder, explained the controversial pricing plan at TechCrunch Disrupt 2015 :
“Our intent is to provide a discount for our young users … This is not necessarily an optimization for the dollars we have invested. It’s about optimizing for the number of people we can attract. If I live in a developing country or somewhere in a developing economy I cannot afford to pay as much as I live in the US. There are some things we need to consider. “
Okay, so what about the new kid in the neighborhood, Tinder Gold? Basically, it has everything that Tinder Plus has and a lot more, including:
- Monthly Promotion : This allows you to “skip the line” and become one of the most viewed profiles in your area for 30 minutes .
- Additional profile controls : Maybe filter out who sees your card or something? It is not clearly defined.
- Likes : Tinder Gold’s big appeal. This feature allows you to see who swiped you to the right so you can choose from people you like.
You get these new features on top of everything you get with Tinder Plus for a $ 4.99 monthly fee . So yes, Tinder Gold is a cheaper upgrade for anyone who has used Tinder Plus. Tinder hasn’t said if Gold should replace Plus entirely in the long run, but there doesn’t seem to be any more reason to use Tinder Plus, especially with this strange pricing scheme. The Verge says Tinder Gold will be available on Android devices by next month.