Swipe-based dating is hard work. With hundreds of potential suitors to swipe through, most of us just take a few seconds to glance at a picture and bio before we decide if we’re going to swipe left or right.
So, to help users quickly make an informed decision about which way to swipe, Bumble is taking a page from Snapchat’s book and launching filters for users’ profile pictures.
But instead of providing entertainment, these filters are meant to help a Bumble user convey a little extra information about themselves to other users who may only spend a few seconds before making a decision to swipe left or right.
Launching this week, the first filter pack will be 2016 election themed. Users can choose overlays from all the major candidates and political parties, as well as a few funny ones like Underwood 2016 and Yeezy 2020.
Since the filters are totally optional, it will be interesting to see how many users choose to align themselves with a political party or candidate, especially since politics is typically a no-go for any type of first date.
With the 2016 primary cycle being particularly partisan, the new feature is bound to lead to a lot of users basing their yes or no swipes on whatever filter their match has chosen to display.
Bumble also plans to use the filters to release data on which political candidates are trending with the app’s single men and women.
Election filters will launch this week, and the startup has said it will launch future filters based on “furthering expression of the user and timely events”.

