Earlier this week, an Instagram account started (helpfully) revealing which Olympians have Tinder accounts. After the world mistakenly thought Zac Efron's profile was a fake, it's clear that no one wants to make the same error again. But Tinder shows you potential matches based on location — so, if you're not in Rio, how can you match with athletes?
Not only have more people been signing onto the app — Tinder told us that its active daily users are up 64% — they've also found a way around the app's GPS obstacle. For $10 per month, you can use Tinder Plus, the dating app's premium option. A subscription to Plus gives you access to Passport, which allows you to switch your location to anywhere in the world and start matching with people.
The idea behind Passport is that if you're going away on vacation, you can start chatting with potential dates before you get there. But anyone who puts Rio as their location right now has a much greater chance of matching with an Olympic athlete, given how many are there and on the app. Around the world, everyone is taking advantage of that fact. According to Tinder, Passports into Rio de Janeiro were up 211% as of last Sunday. Swipes were up 69% and Super Likes, which lead to higher chances of matching with someone and longer conversations, are up 73%.
"Rio has also become the most popular place in the world to swipe using Tinder's Passport feature," said Rosette Pambakian, VP of Communications and Branding for Tinder.
With over a week of the Olympics left, it's safe to assume that those numbers will keep going up. If you want to brush up on your Ryan Lochte knowledge before matching with him, just re-watch episodes of this gem.
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