Tinder plans to add video chatting to its popular app

Tinder has announced that it will make an update to its very popular dating app to help people connect during the coronavirus pandemic around the world. The update will add a video chat feature that opens the door for video dating. The video chat feature was confirmed by the Match Group, which is the parent company to Tinder.

The company said in its Q1 earnings statement, "As daters demonstrated strong willingness to video-date, our product and engineering teams around the world mobilized quickly to deploy one-to-one video chat capabilities on many of our platforms."

Also noted in the earnings report is that Tinder will launch a one-to-one live video service in late Q2 2020. That's not very far away, so those wanting to do some video chatting on the dating app will be able to very soon. Research the company performed for the earnings report also showed that many people using its dating services plan to continue virtual dating in the future.

Tinder will be getting other updates throughout the year that aren't listed in the earnings release, according to reports. Revenues for the Match Group overall were up 17%, with the company reporting overall revenue of $545 million. With coronavirus forcing most people to stay home, the company also saw a 5% growth in average subscribers within North America and 26% growth internationally.

For forecasting future growth, the company said, "Absent a dramatic change relative to April trends, we expect revenue in Q2 to grow year-over-year, but decline sequentially on a percentage basis by low single digits. We expect adjusted EBITDA to be roughly flat year-over-year after adding back about $7 million of expected separation-related costs in Q2 2020." Tinder was the highest revenue-generating app around in Q3 2019.