Why Dating Apps Should Let Users Select and Copy Text
By
ayoisaiah
Hand-rolled, kettle-boiled, baked to perfection. Worth every minute at the bakery.
Summary
A personal essay reflecting on the loneliness of modern dating apps, specifically Bumble, while living in Armenia. The author describes swiping through profiles of tourists speaking various languages, and the frustration of not being able to interact with text in user interfaces—highlighting how apps like Bumble prevent users from selecting, copying, or translating text in bios and prompts. The piece argues that text is a universal medium that UI designers should not restrict.
Key quotes
· 5 pulledI'm lonely. Like everyone-ish else. Naturally, I'm on Bumble.
So there's this profile of a pretty German girl. With bio and prompts in (an undeniably beautiful) German. And I can't select the text in her bio.
Text is a universal medium. And yet we try to prevent users of our UIs from using it. Let's not.
I can't copy-paste her bio into a translator. I can't highlight it. I can't even long-press to see if there's a translation option.
The text is there. It's just not selectable. Because someone decided that users shouldn't be allowed to interact with text in a text-based medium.
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