Bumble divides users by ditching its signature'women-first' chat rule Dating app Bumble has divided its users by dropping its signature rule which allowed only women to send the first message to a match. When the app launched 2014, founder and boss Whitney Wolfe Herd said it distinguished itself from rivals like Tinder by allowing women to make the first move. But the thing that made Bumble famous will now be ditched following a trial which showed more engagement - and a survey among users which found 66% of women prefer men to send the first message. Reaction across online forums has highlighted a divide among users about whether the update will get more people using Bumble - or if it makes it just like any other dating app. Previously, only same-sex relationships did not have to follow the strict women-first rule.

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Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Look Up Say More Creator Hub Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Mashable Selects Versus Switch Off Trending Now Safety Net In My Bag VidCon with Mashable All Series A massive update comes to Bumble today. Anna Iovine is the associate editor of features at Mashable. Previously, as the sex and relationships reporter, she covered topics ranging from dating apps to pelvic pain. Before Mashable, Anna was a social editor at VICE and freelanced for publications such as Slate and the Columbia Journalism Review. Follow her on Bluesky .

Bumble is making a big change to how messaging between matches works in its dating app. Rather than requiring a match of a specific gender to message first -- Bumble launched with a "women message first" setup -- now any person of any gender can send the first message, but the conversation doesn't open until the other person chooses to reply. Whitney Wolfe Herd, Bumble's founder and current CEO, teased that the company was doing away with strict gendered rules around messaging in May, but the actual implementation goes a bit further. To encourage users to avoid lazy one-word openers, Bumble will now detect when users are trying to send a one-word message and nudge them with an onscreen prompt to write a more intentional first message. The research the company shared alongside its announcement is specifically focused on male and female users, but it does sound like the rule change should create better outcomes overall.

Look Up Say More Versus Creator Hub Switch Off Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Trending Now Safety Net In My Bag VidCon with Mashable Back to School Furtastic All Series It's a marked shift from the app where women make the first move. Anna Iovine is the associate editor of features at Mashable. Previously, as the sex and relationships reporter, she covered topics ranging from dating apps to pelvic pain. Before Mashable, Anna was a social editor at VICE and freelanced for publications such as Slate and the Columbia Journalism Review. Follow her on Bluesky .

Bumble, the company that distinguished itself from apps like Tinder by creating a "feminist dating app," hasn't done too many favors for that brand recently. Yes, there was the ad campaign that appeared to shame women who choose celibacy--which the company wisely retracted this week. There was also the tentative announcement that Bumble may roll back its defining "women make the first move" ethos. Then there were the strange remarks last week from Bumble founder and #girlboss icon Whitney Wolfe Herd, who informed the audience at Bloomberg's Tech Summit of "a world where your dating concierge could go and date for you with another dating concierge." Naturally, these "concierges" would make use of artificial intelligence software, which users could train by "shar[ing] your insecurities" and thus help to "train yourself into a better way of thinking about yourself," Wolfe Herd claimed.

Dating app Badoo has launched a'Rude Message Detector' that will automatically flag any insulting, discriminatory or overly sexual messages. The tool uses machine learning, a form of artificial intelligence (AI), to distinguish between'banter' and actual verbal abuse, such as'identity hate' towards transgender people. It's able to identify abusive or hurtful messages sent between chat partners in real time, and then gives users the option to immediately block and report them. Badoo, which has been described as'like Facebook but for sex', says the tool is one of the latest steps in its'wider commitment to safety'. It's been rolled out for all Badoo users worldwide, whether or not they're chatting to a man or a woman.

Artificial intelligence will soon weed out any NSFW photos a match sends to you on Bumble. The dating app that requires women to make the first contact said it is launching a "private detector" to warn users about lewd images. Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd and Andrey Andreev, CEO of the dating app parent company that includes Bumble, Badoo, Chappy and Lumen, made the announcement Wednesday in a press release. Beginning in June, all images sent on Bumble and the other apps will be screened by the AI-assisted "private detector." If a photo is suspected to be lewd or inappropriate, users will have the option to view, block or report the image to moderators before they open it.

Wolfe Herd's app has expanded beyond dating, with features promoting female friendship and career networking.Jamel Toppin/Forbes Some users of Bumble, Whitney Wolfe Herd's dating app, are lucky enough to swipe right and find love, a new friend or a job opportunity. Wolfe Herd, though, may be the luckiest of all: The app, which Forbes values at $1 billion, has brought its 29-year-old founder a $230 million fortune. While Wolfe Herd missed the cut for this year's Forbes list of America's Richest Self-Made Women, Forbes predicts it won't be too long before she joins the ranks, assuming Bumble keeps growing at the rate it has. Bumble's biggest competitor is Tinder, founded in 2012 as one of the first "swiping" dating apps,using a customer's location to find matches. Wolfe Herd actually helped build what is now her adversary.