Dating can be a quagmire at the best of times, so we wouldn't blame you if your hopes of finding love began to dwindle now that we're, you know, in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. But you might be heartened to know that romance is not completely dead, with the highest ever number of swipes on the dating app Tinder being recorded on the night of Sunday, March 29. Now, that may just be a testament to the drastic levels of iso-boredom we're all experiencing – but we'd encourage you to see it as a positive sign. In slightly worse news, the percentage of people mentioning "hand washing" in their Tinder bios has also skyrocketed. Sexy!
Either way, dating site traffic is up, and while this may ostensibly be window-shopping for the time being, Tinder has decided to ease your isolation sorrows by making its global 'passport' feature – usually only available to paid users – free to everyone. This nifty add-on to the dating app's usual functions widens your circle of potential matches by allowing you to search for future flings by city, or drop a pin somewhere in the world so you can start liking, matching and chatting to people in a location of your choosing.
You might not be able to travel anywhere for the time being, but it's not a bad time to line up a Parisian bae or a cutie to visit in Hong Kong, for when the pandemic hiatus is finally over. Or just start chatting and see where the conversation takes you. Love knows no bounds, especially not geographical ones. Get swiping.