Online dating giant Match Group has debuted a new gay dating app, Archer.
Archer will not be on the App Store just yet. It rolls out in New York in June. Archer will be launched in Los Angeles and and Washington DC in the next few months.
Archer is a gay specific app in Match Group’s portfolio. Match Group, which owns the lion’s share of the global dating market, owns everything from OkCupid and Tinder to BLK and Plenty of Fish.
Unlike gay hookup apps like Grindr and Scruff, Archer aims to combine dating app necessities (messaging, the grid, etc.) with traditional social media features.
At launch, that includes interest tags, but Archer has near-term plans to add a Stories feature and the ability to follow other users.
— all things you’d expect in something like Instagram, but not necessarily in a dating app.
Archer uses selfie verification at signup and every user’s profile picture, face included, will be verified, presumably through the same system that Match Group apps like Tinder use.
Archer will also employ AI in its chat feature to auto-blur potential nudity, masking unsolicited dick pics for users who might not be collecting them at the moment.
