Tinder is the fun way to connect with new and interesting people around you. Swipe right to like or left to pass. If someone likes you back, it’s a match! Chat with a match or snap a photo to share a Moment with all of your matches at once. It’s a new way to express yourself and share with friends.
With the understanding that this application is very photo-centric, I wanted to test the experience as a Voiceover user who is blind.
Set-up is simple. The app requires a Facebook account to work, so when you first install Tinder you're requested to give it permission to access your account. Tinder then pulls information from your Facebook -- your bio, friends list, interests and photos, of course -- to create your Tinder profile. The process took about 30 seconds.
The main screen, referred to as the discovery screen, is straightforward once you understand what you're doing. Tinder presents you with someone's profile picture, which takes up the center of the phone's display. There are three unlabeled buttons at the bottom: one with an "X" on the bottom left corner for deny/pass; a button to view the person's complete profile and bio in the middle; and a button with a visual heart for like on the right. While these buttons aren't labeled, they never change.
There are three labeled buttons/tabs at the top of the application, above the person's profile picture: settings, discovery and matches. You can edit your profile and change the age range and distance radius under Settings. You can view a list of people you've matched with and send them a message under matches. All of these sections are clearly labeled. I had no problem editing my profile, changing pictures, adding a bio, viewing a list of matches and messaging others.
Here are two problems that voiceover users will encounter with Tinder:
1. If you swipe left and right through the discovery screen, Voiceover will read names of upcoming people who are not currently in focus on the display. These names are not shown visually on the screen, and this can make some Voiceover users think the application is inaccessible. The trick is to avoid swiping through the screen, which is why orientation to the button locations is important.
After you choose to deny or like someone using the unlabeled buttons at the bottom of the screen, tinder will switch to another person's profile. Sometimes, the name of the person who has focus on the display is not automatically announced by voiceover. If you're not sure who is in focus, double tap the middle bottom button to view their full profile. You can then swipe through their name, age and bio.
2. I haven't found a way to adjust the age range or distance radius with Voiceover under the settings screen. These options rely on a frustratingly inaccessible slider bar.
The bottom line: I'm not sure I'd call tinder accessible, exactly -- there are some unlabeled buttons and you arguably really need vision to truly take advantage of it -- but it's usable. You shouldn't have much trouble if you're goal is to throw away an hour tapping on profiles and reading their often short bios, and minus the photos, that's about the only thing people use tinder for.
Why would a blind person use this app, anyway? The simple answer is that it’s popular. In fact, I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned it here. While Tinder is often called a hookup app, it’s wildly popular with college students and 20 something’s. Chances are that most people around you have used it before.
And while I found myself addicted and speedily flicking through profiles just like everyone else, the app felt disconcertingly unfulfilling to me as a blind person. I felt like someone had given me a set of keys to a car and told me to drive even though I can’t see street signs. Tinder is dominated by pictures, and bios – which are hit-or-miss, sometimes a couple paragraphs but often just a few words – left me feeling shallow and empty.
I haven't deleted it yet, though ...
2 people have recommended this app
Comments
Keyboard in Tinder
Also, if you're lucky enough that someone likes you back and strikes up a conversation, the virtual keyboard is spread out vertically more than the regular iOS keyboard we're used to. I haven't seen this behavior in any other apps so far.
I tried to sign up with this
I tried to sign up with this app, but having an issue where I try to sign in with facebook, I grant permission, but then I go back to tinder and it still gives me the facebook login button, I did try exiting and restarting the app same result. Of course when I go to login with facebook it says I already gave the app permissions, seems to be sending me round in a circle.
Usible app
Hi,
More than a year later, and two iOS builds later, the app is still usible. Everything works as was stated here, but the button to view a full profile was replaced by the super like button, not sure if this was there when you were testing this app.
Getting past message agreement
Anyone having any success getting past the message agreement that shows up the first time you message someone? This isn't a problem on PC, but turning voiceover off and tapping around doesn't seem to do much at all. Sad because so far the app seems very useable with a little patients.
...
not trying to be disrespectful, but i am truely curious. you guys discussed about the accessibility of this app, unlabeled buttons, etc, so i presume you can't really see the pictures, either. so what do you use this app for? the profiles without the pics are just meaningless. the design of this app is intentionally shallow, one doesn't look for soul mate here. One see the picture and decides whether to hook up, or flicks on.
so just as a matter of discussion, what do you really get out of an app like this?
With a grain of salt, or several.
Honestly, that really depends on how much time, effort and resources you're willing to put into it. If you're going in expecting anything then you're already doing it wrong. That also depends on what you want out of it. I've done a little messing round, and honestly the app is really just a tease in terms of accessibility. Things are doable with some workarounds, using a combination of phone/computer. Basically, take it with very light value. If you get what you want out of it, all the more power to you.
use of this app in 2019
Hi. Have you tried the app in 2019? I cannot seem to be able to change pictures. everything else works relatively well though.
The 2019 Tinder story
I am a blind Voiceover user and I find this app pretty useable on the whole. I did get a friend to help me with my photos, just to make sure I was adding the best ones, but I'm pretty impressed with the app, and pleasantly surprised at how many people do fill in their bio. I'm on POF as well which used to be the better one, but these days everyone just seems to write, "message me and ask" or something similar in the bio, so tinder has been my most successful app for making connections since I've been single again. The info about the access and button labelling on the app entry does need to be updated now, the like or pass buttons are accessible and the discovery screen is slightly different to how it's described here. My conclusion is this is great even if you can't see!
Tinder's accessibility started improving...
Hi all. It seems like tinder's app accessibility started improving. I don't know if it is because of the coincidence or whatever, but now a lot of buttons in the app are labeled, you can view through your uploaded media and you can also launch a profile verification process. However, I still get no matches, As far as I understand it's a major problem for us blind people, I usually like people who have written their description normally and it's understandable, but still no matches. I don't know if bumble is accessible now, but are there any ways to use these apps? What's really strange for me, tinder's website is practically completely accessible, at least it was when I last checked it out.
Website instead of app
Can you use the website instead of the app?
Using the website
Well, I could do that before, I haven't checked out if something has changed. But I could insert photos, change age settings, and it was accessible unlike in iOS app. You can go to the dialog of inserting a new photo in the app but you cannot choose a photo. I tried to contact their support team and reported that, I think we all should do that. You can do that at [email protected].