Apps

3 reasons why Tinder is the best travel app

Tips on how to make the most out of your travels!

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There are plenty of travel apps nowadays to help you make the most out of your travels, but nothing comes close to the splendid experience I had using Tinder. Yes, you read that right. I used Tinder — a dating app — as a travel app.

There’s always a stigma surrounding Tinder. Whenever I mention I’m using the app, people frown. Tinder, to these people, is an app for hooking up or for those desperate to find love. Pity them for they don’t know that an app like this has a lot of uses, particularly during your travels.

Here are the reasons why it’s the best travel app, ever.

You can get the best recommendations from a local

No one knows a place better than a local. Want to know the coolest yet un-crowded cafe in the neighborhood? How about some speakeasy bar that only a few can go into? These locals know the spots where you can best enjoy the city so it’s best to ask them.

A while back, I was in Taipei for a business trip. Seeing how I have a spare day to go around, I asked a few matches in the area on where to go and what to do. A local suggested visiting chic cafes, art galleries, and other hiking destinations aside from the popular Elephant Mountain. A bar owner — whom I matched with — suggested visiting his bar in New Taipei City. However, it was too far and it would have taken so much time so I decided to pass.

These suggestions helped me plan my itinerary which would later allow me to take Instagrammable photos around the city, buy local beef jerky as a souvenir to my now ex-crush, and see more of what Taipei has to offer.

You can have a date, tour guide, and photographer in one

Some matches are eager to meet you in person. If you decide to meet these Tinderfellas and Tinderellas, they can easily become your tour guide and your photographer on your date.

A year ago, my flight was delayed for seven hours. Stuck at Mactan-Cebu International Airport, I decided to open Tinder and asked my matches the best places to visit around the area. I was keen on exploring nearby destinations since Cebu is known for its horrible traffic jams, and I didn’t want to miss my flight.

A match gave me tourist spots in Lapu-Lapu city (where the airport was located) and I explored for an hour. A few moments later, he asked if I wanted to meet up and I immediately said yes. I took a motorcycle ride to the capital and met him at SM Seaside City Cebu, the third-largest shopping mall in the Philippines.

Seeing how I had limited time to explore, my match took me to the best spots where we could eat and take lots of amazing photos, particularly at the mall’s rooftop where we both watched the sunset together.

You can make connections that last a lifetime

It’s marvelous to find people whom you can connect with on a different level, and it’s even more interesting if they came from different cultural backgrounds. These people are full of ideas and opinions that it’s hard not to be drawn and share your own thoughts. The conversation we have with these people can lead to a different kind of connection, something that we yearn in most of our relationships with other people.

However, not everything is about romance. Some connections are bound to stay as friendships. I have a lot of friends and acquaintances now that I initially met on Tinder, and I was able to forge harmonious (and professional) relationships with all of them. To date, I still grab meals with them and keep up with everything that’s happening in each other’s lives, especially when I’m around town.

Yes, Susan. You can build a wholesome and professional relationship with your Tinder matches. It’s not just for hook-ups, but if that’s your jam, then…

Bonus: Get free accommodations for a night!

If you’re down for a sexy time, Tinder can get you free accommodations, too! You can ask your date and stay at his/her place and voila, life hacked. Just be careful about who you sleep with, screen them properly, inform at least one of your friends, and don’t forget to use protection!


What’s your Tinder story? Connect with us on social media and share your stories!

Apps

Honor, Xiaomi are working on their own Privacy Displays

Samsung’s Privacy Display is apparently very popular.

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Normally, a smartphone brand’s blatant copying of another brand’s feature is not a good practice. Today, however, there is a new feature that we wish other brands would copy: Samsung’s Privacy Display. Thankfully, some brands, like Honor, have finally gotten the message and are working on version of the feature.

As reported by Digital Chat Station on Weibo, Honor is reportedly working on a privacy screen for its smartphones. Likewise, Xiaomi is working on the same thing, potentially launching the feature for the Xiaomi 18 Pro.

For the uninitiated, the Samsung Privacy Display is a built-in feature that blocks visibility of the screen at certain angles. If you’re not looking at the screen from the front, all you’ll see is a black void. It’s a built-in version of those protective screens that you can buy separately. Besides adding a nice layer of protection against scratches, it’s also meant to prevent snooping from your shoulder.

Samsung’s take was widely acclaimed for being insanely useful. When it arrives, this feature will be a godsend to more brands. Even better, users will no longer need to rely on third-party screen just to enjoy the privacy.

That said, there’s still no indication as to when these features will arrive on either Honor or Xiaomi.

SEE ALSO: LE SSERAFIM Chaewon flexes Galaxy S26 Ultra Privacy Display

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Meta is reportedly experimenting on a gambling app

Users can spend virtual points on Arena.

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Meta does not have the most stellar of reputations. Despite offering the world’s most popular social media platforms, the company, through its various experiments throughout the years, continuously proves that it has other priorities than just providing the best for its users. Today, another reported experiment wants to take Meta to a new market that its users might fall into: the prediction market.

If you haven’t heard of the prediction market, consider yourself lucky. These apps, such as Kalshi, are basically just gambling platforms without the glitz of playing cards or the rigor of the stock market. Users gamble on mundane circumstances like the weather and more serious ones like war.

Today, as reported by The New York Times, Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly asking Meta to develop a prediction app of its own. Interestingly, the experimental app, supposedly called Arena, will use virtual points, rather than real money. However, Meta has not ruled out real money — and hence, real gambling — in the future.

Meta is entering the industry at an extremely volatile time. The world is starting to crack down on prediction markets. Some users, for example, have been accused of using insider information to get easy wins on these platforms. Some markets have also accused these platforms of subverting anti-gambling laws.

SEE ALSO: Meta adds subscriptions for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp

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foodpanda relaunches cult-favorite roast chicken brand after 8 years of persistent search queries

Heritage chain Andok’s returns to the platform, driven entirely by long-term user analytics.

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In the world of e-commerce and food delivery, platform algorithms usually dictate what consumers see. But occasionally, consumer behavior is so relentless that it shapes the platform’s strategy.

In a move driven entirely by long-term user analytics, foodpanda has officially relaunched Andok’s, one of the Philippines’ most iconic heritage rotisserie chains, back onto its platform after an eight-year absence.

The search bar as a digital wishlist

The decision to ink the partnership wasn’t just a marketing play. It was a response to an ongoing data anomaly. Despite being offline from the foodpanda platform for eight years, Andok’s consistently ranked as one of the most-searched merchants on the app.

Year after year, users treated the empty search results page as an unofficial wishlist. This persistent search intent gave foodpanda a clear, data-backed signal of pent-up demand.

Prior to the official digital rollout, teaser campaigns on social media validated this demand, generating thousands of organic interactions from users anticipating the return.

Bridging heritage flavor with digital infrastructure

For foodpanda, onboarding a merchant with this level of built-in demand fits its broader strategy of marketplace optimization and hyper-local network expansion, turning a heritage brand into another data point for how legacy retail plugs into delivery infrastructure.

For Andok’s, the integration works as a fast track to digital scale. A legacy quick-service chain skips years of independent app development and reaches customers already using foodpanda’s existing logistics network, on a platform they already check daily.

Andok’s built its following on charcoal spit-roasted chicken, a slow-cooked technique that’s stayed largely unchanged since the brand’s early days, alongside seasoned grilled pork belly.

More recently, the Dokito line extended that following into crispy fried chicken and chicken burgers, broadening the brand’s appeal beyond its original rotisserie format and giving foodpanda a menu with both heritage pull and everyday fast-food convenience.

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