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Use it or lose it means more than ever.
As of Monday dating app Bumble will require male users to reply to women’s messages within 24 hours, or they lose the match, Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe told Mashable in an exclusive interview.
Among hundreds of dating apps, Bumble, which launched in 2014, is unique. Once a couple matches (through a swipe function similar to Tinder’s), women must message within 24 hours or lose the match. At that point, men are permitted to message back.
Up until now, men had “essentially forever” to do so, says Wolfe.
Now they’re beholden to the same time window as women are. Once a woman messages a guy, his countdown timer initiates. If he doesn’t respond within a day, bye, bye, potential partner.
Bumble wants to make it an “even keel” experience, says Wolfe. “She was held to 24 hours to reach out to you. We feel it’s only fair you’re confined to the same rules.”
The app has been hailed as a feminist answer to online dating, in which women are empowered to make the first move if they choose. It also helps prevent aggressive and demeaning messages that litter the web on accounts like @tindernightmares.
But ironically, Bumble says in allowing men unlimited time to consider messaging, it wasn’t an equal playing field.
“I know the whole idea is that it’s empowering women, but it also just puts the ball in the guy’s court and starts a ‘wait and see’ game,” says New Yorker Lauren Drell, 30. “It means we need to rush but then a guy can take their time in replying back and vetting options.”
Wolfe says by limiting both users to 24 hours, they can’t “rack up” their number of matches anymore, which other platforms allow. “It’s helping objectify women less.”
She also hopes the new tool helps prevent ghosting, when people stop talking to their matches online, either because they forgot or in a passive-aggressive way to break up.
Bumble is confident in its new choice. Besides being the No. 1 most requested feature, says Wolfe, during testing in the UK over one week the male 24-hour timer increased response rate by 20%.
As for LGBTQ couples, either person may still initiate a conversation within 24 hours, but now the second person must still respond within 24 hours as well. They “take turns,” says Wolfe.
Since its launch, women have “made the first move” 50 million times on Bumble. It’s a proud figure for the company, which combats the stereotype of a “desperate” woman as the one who initiates the conversation.
“It shouldn’t be game changing,” says Wolfe. Women should be able to function equally in the dating world.
Until then, everyone has 24 hours to reply.
The app is available for free on iOS and Android.
