Dating applications had drastically altered the landscape of relationship trends long before the pandemic began. Many who’d resisted the initial popularity wave of these smartphone applications did (or will) ultimately have a change of heart.
However, it’s important to be smart about your privacy and safety in online interactions. Especially for your security and peace of mind, here are some things to consider when approaching the wide world of dating apps.
1. Built-in Protections
There are a number of reasons why a good portion of adults are still discovering the ins and outs of the various romantic connection platforms. They might be brought on by the complex and extreme cultural and social circumstances in the wake of a historic massive global crisis and its imposed isolation. They might also be inspired by improvements in dating apps’ procedures for digital security or prompted by another reason altogether.
Whatever the reason, the main intention of dating apps is to meet and get to know others, to hopefully enjoy time together. This is a worthy goal, provided the users’ personal data is well protected. Privacy concerns surrounding dating applications are valid, so the industry has taken notice, wisely making strides to promote trust.
Faced with backlash and legal pressure in recent years, research-based improvements can be seen in most popular dating platforms. Leading companies now utilize encrypted messaging, effective container and kubernetes security, runtime protection, and other proven programming tactics that keep their users’ personal information protected.
Identifying and addressing vulnerabilities via these improved technologies makes it easier to keep data and, ultimately, users safer.
2. Smart User Strategies
There are several ways you can actively practice safer hands-on tactics to keep your information secure when browsing application-based romantic networking platforms.
Although some applications shamelessly encourage users to overshare, remember to remain conscious of what’s being put out there. Some popular strategies are:
- Unlinked personal accounts
- Photos distinct from other profiles
- Incognito photos that conceal identity and location
- Omission of a complete name
One common oversight is the failure to change the account’s initial password, which may have been emailed from the company in plain text. This puts the dating app account at risk if the user’s email account is ever hacked.
Thankfully, this issue has an easy fix with a strong new password upon setup. Do this right away, as it can be easy to get used to leaving an app logged in and forgetting about the password.
3. Risk Factors To Consider
With mindful practices, users can keep their private information relatively secure. However, there are still some things to consider.
Geolocation permission tends to be mandatory for leading dating apps, with some of the paid versions offering options to modify the coordinates. Approximate locations can be useful, but revealing precise locations with to-the-meter accuracy – which can easily be triangulated with other programs – puts users at risk.
While apps’ security weaknesses are patched by sweeping technical updates, users still place great trust in companies to safeguard rather than sell their data, so it’s best to keep the most important things offline.
There’s certainly still room for added security measures and built-in vulnerabilities like this to consider. The outlook for dating app users concerned about protecting their personal information has drastically improved but remains imperfect.
Conclusion
Dating apps are increasingly popular and don’t seem to be going anywhere soon. It’s reassuring to see improved internal practices and more effective security measures to boost trust in the applications’ systems, but continued improvements are necessary.
Dating app users should be vigilant and take care of their personal information and sharing practices. Ultimately, all risks have yet to be eliminated, so always swipe with caution.
