Dating app Bumble will no longer require women to make the first move

Ten years after creating a new model for dating apps with its “women make the first move” feature, Bumble is opening the door to men starting conversations on the app.

Ten years after creating a new model for dating apps with its “women make the first move” feature, Bumble is opening the door to men starting conversations on its platform. Bumble is rolling out a new feature called “opening moves” that will let female users set a prompt to which male suitors can respond to initiate a conversation. The feature reverses a longstanding requirement by the app that women send the first message to their matches, which Bumble said gave women more power over their dating lives. The new feature is part of a larger relaunch of the app announced Tuesday by new CEO Lidiane Jones, who took over the top job from founder Whitney Wolfe Herd earlier this year. The move comes as dating apps broadly are working to maintain their relevance as some singles have become burnt out on online dating and are seeking more in-person connections. Jones sees the Bumble redesign as a way to help the platform meet that moment. “We’re seeing a greater need for authentic human connections,” Jones told CNN in an interview ahead of the launch. “I don’t anticipate that the number of people using online dating is going to go down, quite the opposite, but there is a higher bar … So we’re taking it as a great call to action to center ourselves on our mission.” The new “opening moves” feature is one way Jones says Bumble is evolving while staying true to its original mission of empowering women. Now, women users will have the option to continue initiating conversations with matches or to set an opening move — for example, a question about a potential match’s dream dinner guest — that would indicate they want their match to reach out first. (For non-binary users or those seeking same-gender matches, either person can set and respond to an opening move.)