Tinder Just Made It Much Easier To Avoid Awkward Matches

Tinder anticipates a surge in users this summer as many people return to the dating world after a year of lockdowns and social distancing. Just in time for this return to normal is a new feature designed to reduce your odds of an awkward, unwanted match with an old fling. As well, the new feature removes your odds of coming across a coworker, family member, or acquaintances in the app.

According to a survey from Tinder, a significant number of people have come across other users who they'd rather not see in the app: around 40-percent reported seeing an ex, while 24-percent reported coming across coworkers and family members. Likewise, one out of every 10 users also reported coming across one of their professors in the app.

This is an awkward situation, one that may be made worse if you're quickly swiping right on everyone you come across to sort through the matches later on. Most users who took the survey said they didn't want to see these people in their matches and they didn't want those people to be able to see their own Tinder profile. That's where this new feature comes in.

Going forward, Tinder users can now block their contacts in the dating app, meaning they won't see any profiles tied to the phone numbers saved in their phone. This is a simple and rapid way to avoid coming across friends, coworkers, and family members without having to manually block their profiles.

The new feature is found in the user's profile settings where they can enter specific phone numbers for the contacts they don't want to see. As well, this will block those contacts from seeing your own profile, removing the awkward encounters altogether. The feature was first tested in a handful of countries and is now rolling out to everyone.