Tinder Online Gets the Dating App Onto Computers

Tinder is growing out of its mobile app days. On Tuesday, the company announced a Web version of its dating platform called Tinder Online, which has been built to cater to users in emerging markets with restricted storage on their phones, or low data caps that can’t take the load of Tinder’s image-heavy design.

It’s also meant for people stuck in class or work, according to the company, although the ethics of that, or how that may be perceived at your workplace are ultimately left up to you.

With the move to desktop, Tinder’s cultural attachment to the “swipe left” or “swipe right” phrases won’t work literally, since that isn’t natively possible on computers. Instead, you’ll need to drag a prospective match’s card with your mouse, either to the left or right.

“Our DNA is mobile so there was a learning curve involved in building something for a bigger screen,” Tinder’s product head, Brian Norgard, told TechCrunch. “It was a challenge because when you start your birth as a mobile company, building for the Web feels like you’re going backwards.”

Norgard noted that Tinder users may not maintain the same behaviour patterns on their computers, as they do on their phones, and added: “What makes Tinder great on your phone might not make it great on the desktop, and vice versa.” For one, thanks to more screen space, you can chat with a match while viewing their profiles on the Web.

In the beginning, Tinder Online won’t have any of the power-user features that make money for the company, like Tinder Boost or Super Like.

To access the new website version, fire up tinder.com. It’s being currently tested in just a handful of countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, the Philippines, Italy, and Sweden.