Apps

Date at home: Tinder, Bumble push for online dating with new features

Dating apps encourage you to stay at home

Published

March 25, 2020

MJ Jucutan

In times of social distancing, finding someone to keep you company is hella difficult.

Popular dating apps Tinder and Bumble are taking part in the fight against coronavirus. Adhering to the World Health Organization’s guidelines, these dating apps encourage people to stay at home for the meantime, and date virtually.

Thankfully, it’s easier now to find someone to date even when at home. Here’s what these two dating apps are doing and how you can leverage these features to find love even if there’s a pandemic.

Tinder

Tinder acknowledges the importance of connecting with someone, especially in these trying times. To help people connect from across the globe, Tinder is making the Passport feature available for free to all members until April 30th.

Passport is a paid feature available to Tinder Plus & Gold subscribers. It allows you to change your location to a destination of your choice. You can search by typing a city you’d like to visit or by dropping a pin on the map. Tinder will then change your location — say New York City — and show you profiles from your preferred destination. You can now begin swiping and finding a match.

As of writing, Tinder’s Passport feature isn’t available yet. Tinder anticipates the feature will be free for everyone around March 26th, on the next iOS and Android updates. Make sure to update your Tinder app!

Bumble

Text messages are becoming a thing of the past. Introduced late last year, Bumble offers in-app calls and video chats.

Amid the coronavirus crisis, Bumble released a statement, encouraging its users to take all their dates virtually. Bumble strongly urged its users to use the video chat and voice call features within the Bumble app to get to know new people — whether on Date, BFF, or Bizz — at the comforts of your home.

As general rules, the CDC or The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention listed these to help with preventing the spread of COVID-19:

Stay home when sick
Cover coughs and sneezes
Frequently wash hands with soap and water
Clean frequently touched surfaces

Apps

Netflix suddenly resurrects 30-day free trials

It’s available only in some countries.

Published

July 13, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

Over the weekend, a report emerged about Disney+ allegedly considering a new tier offered to users for absolutely free. Apparently, Disney isn’t the only one. Netflix is now resurrecting its free trial program in select countries.

Back in the day, it was easy to get into Netflix. With a 30-day free trial, you can watch the shows you’ve always wanted to catch. If you liked what you saw, you can pay the monthly fee to access the entire library without constraints. Eventually, the platform got rid of this system to favor a cheaper ad-supported tier.

Perhaps not seeing the benefits of ad-supported tiers, Netflix has suddenly resurrected its free trial program. Spotted online (via Android Authority), some countries, including Brazil and India, are experimenting with the program again. New users can get 30 days of free Netflix access.

Because only regular users are spotting this (rather than an official announcement), we don’t have a list of where the free trials are available.

Still, it’s an interesting move. Cable isn’t a thing anymore so “cutting the cable” isn’t a popular phrase anymore, but people are definitely cancelling subscriptions over rising prices. Some even rely on short clips from YouTube to catch up with their shows. Having a free trial opens up more possibilities for users, but it remains to be seen whether it’s enough for users to return to Netflix.

Apps

Disney+ might get a free tier

What would you like to see in a free Disney+ tier?

Published

July 13, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

In a world disappointingly obsessed with increasing prices beyond our means, Disney+ has miraculously remembered the phrase, “free sample.” According to a report, the streaming platform is considering making a free subscription tier.

As of late, it’s been difficult to maintain a healthy collection of streaming services. When you have to pay the equivalent of a full-course meal every month for just a single platform, you start to evaluate which ones really matter.

Perhaps feeling the sting of users leaving the platform over pricing, Disney+ is reportedly experimenting with a tier that comes at no cost to users (via Business Insider). According to two sources, adding such a tier might help the platform reach customers more.

Now, it’s still a mystery how this tier might work. Disney+ already offers an ad-supported tier, so it’s unlikely to be another one like that.

One possibility is a heavily curated feed of content either designed specifically for free users or limited exactly to give users a free sample. For the latter, think of the limited content you get on a plane. Sure, you might get the first three episodes of The Mandalorian, but you’ll have to fork over cash if you want to see the rest of the story.

And for the former, you can imagine short-form content available for free. Going back to Star Wars, you might see a short anthology series like Star Wars: Visions.

Either way, it’s an interesting concept. If the tier does offer full content, it’s a great way to get into franchises you were thinking of trying without the need to spend for a taste.

Apps

WhatsApp will introduce usernames to hide your phone number

Hide your number from others.

Published

June 30, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

WhatsApp is about to get an extra later of protection. After thriving on number-based chatting, the platform will soon add usernames, eliminating the need to share your number with strangers.

Usernames are the standard way of maintaining your anonymity online. Though most platforms today require users to log their email addresses or phone numbers, establishing a username can prevent other users from seeing this information way too easily.

Today, Meta has started rolling out reservations for WhatsApp usernames. The feature itself isn’t available yet, but early adopters can grab theirs as soon as the setting becomes available on their app.

To access the reservation, users can go to Settings > Account > Username. Of note, this isn’t available for everyone yet. But if you want to take dibs on a specific name, be on the lookout for the setting.

As for the username itself, users can reserve anything as long as it’s unique. Business owners and creators can also use their Facebook or Instagram handles as their WhatsApp usernames.

The feature, once it launches, will stop users from accessing your phone number when messaging. Similarly, other users will now need your exact username to start a conversation. Users can also set a separate code to protect conversations further.