Hinge Launches Match Note to Support the Unique Needs of Underrepresented Daters

Wednesday, February 26, 2025 – Today, Hinge released Match Note, an industry-first feature for daters to privately share key details about themselves with matches before starting a conversation. Match Note helps daters better understand their compatibility upfront, leading to higher-quality matches that are more likely to result in meaningful connections and in-person dates.

Daters from underrepresented groups face unique challenges in online spaces, and Match Note was designed with their feedback in mind — especially from LGBTQIA+ and neurodivergent users. In conversations with TransTech Social Enterprises and Disability:IN, Hinge learned that daters want a way to share important personal topics without including them on their profile or repeating them in every chat. Match Note provides a dedicated space for this context, shared directly between matches.

“Hinge aims to empower all daters to express themselves authentically, so creating an inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and identities is incredibly important to us. We look to our users and community experts to understand how Hinge can better support their unique needs,” said Jackie Jantos, Chief Marketing Officer at Hinge. “Match Note serves an important role for people from underrepresented groups while giving all daters on Hinge a new way to connect more intentionally with each other.”

During Match Note’s testing phase, Hinge saw daters highlight key aspects of their identity, lifestyle, and relationship preferences — openly and authentically sharing who they are and what they’re looking for. 68% of daters with a Match Note feel the feature helps them determine better compatibility with matches.

• LGBTQIA+ Experience: Trans, nonbinary, and queer+ folks shared more about their gender identity upon matching, and other members of the community expressed their preferences for compatibility (e.g. top/bottom) or boundaries with physical intimacy, such as being asexual.
• Neurodiversity + Disabilities: Daters who identify as neurodivergent were upfront about their communication style to minimize misunderstandings with matches, while users with other chronic health conditions shared their accessibility needs, like asking that their partner is open to learning American Sign Language.
• Family Plans: People described how family fits into their lives to help others determine if their goals for the future are compatible, such as responsibilities as a single parent or what starting a family looks like for them.
• Sober Dating: Daters mentioned their sobriety and highlighted whether they’re looking for a partner who shares their lifestyle — with many people proactively offering first-date ideas that don’t involve drinking.
• Relationship Preferences: In their own words, daters shared the type of relationship they’re looking for, the traits they value in a partner, and their perspective around monogamy or polyamory in the short and long term.

How To Add a Match Note: Users now have the option to add a Match Note (max: 255 characters) when updating their settings. When a Match Note is marked as visible, it will automatically be shown to all matches before they can start a conversation.

How Match Note Works: Match Note appears after both people have “liked” each other. If a user has a Match Note, the other person must view the note in order to complete the match. The recipient has two options: acknowledge the note to start the conversation or unmatch before the conversation begins based on how this information impacts their compatibility.

Features that Empower Daters and Foster Meaningful Connection

Hinge continuously introduces research-backed features to give its community greater agency and control over their dating journey.

In conversations with bisexual+ users, many daters shared they were looking for more control over their recommendations. Inspired by this feedback, Hinge launched Gender Toggle, a filter that allows bi+ daters to visibly control the gender(s) that show up in their recommendations at a specific time. The feature builds on Gender-Specific Preferences filter, which allows users to customize their preferences (e.g. age and height) across each gender they’re looking to date.

Additionally, Hinge identifies solutions to help daters feel more confident by encouraging respectful conversations. Hinge launched Hidden Words to give each user proactive control over the incoming content of inbound Likes with Comments by creating a list of words, phrases or emojis they don't want to see. Are You Sure? guides daters to reflect and reconsider sending a message that could be perceived as offensive. Communication styles are unique to every person, so it’s important that users can choose the interactions they see based on their lived experiences.