My Move setting on Tinder

Tinder, the world’s most popular app for meeting new people, launches My Move, a new opt-in setting that allows women the choice to exclusively send the first message to their matches, in India. Female users can access My Move through a toggle within their in-app settings. When it is enabled, women can exclusively message first by initiating these messages on their own time.

The setting can be turned on or off at any point. The setting was first announced earlier this year and has been in testing. India is one of the first markets where it is being rolled out. Tinder India GM, Taru Kapoor says, “At Tinder, we are constantly evolving our platform to help create a low-pressure environment where our users feel in charge of the connections they make.

By giving our female users the ability to exclusively send the first message if and when they want to, My Move provides women the autonomy to choose how to engage with their matches and empowers them to control their experiences. We believe that true choice is letting women be who they are and empowering their choice to shape their own identity and experiences.”

“Conversations about dating are still relatively nascent in India. Our experiences in-market over the last three years has shown us that dating ideals, which were once considered the norm, are fast evolving. Women, in particular, are seeking out ways to take charge of their romantic and social experiences - a phenomenon we see both across India’s cities and towns.”

Clinical psychologist Sonali Gupta adds, “Indian women have a long, complicated history where they have been given few choice options, and this has been culturally normalised. Enabling the choice option comes from a space of changing this narrative, yet trusting women and their instincts about when they wouldn't want to use it. As a therapist, women who prefer not to use this setting are still making a choice. Tinder respects this, and is empowering women to choose whether or not they want to.” My Move is currently rolling out to iOS users in India.