Tinder has a similar, paid feature called Passport that lets people connect with users in other locations. Last month, Tinder made Passport free to all users, but that offer expired on April 30th.

While Global Mode will do away with geographic boundaries, it sounds like it won’t allow users to decide which cities they pop up in. That could be one way for Tinder to distinguish between Global Mode and Passport, so that it can still keep Passport as a paid feature. 

Tinder isn’t the first to loosen dating boundaries in response to the pandemic. In April, Bumble made it possible for users to match with anyone in the US with a “whole country” filter. It added a Virtual Date badge for users willing to date via video chat, and it has teamed up with Airbnb to encourage creative online dating. Tinder is also preparing for virtual dates with plans to launch one-on-one video chats this summer. 

It’s clear that, like everything else, dating has been impacted by COVID-19. While app users probably shouldn’t meet in person, swiping is up. Tinder said it saw more swipes (over three billion) on March 29th than on any single day in its history. Letting users match around the world, might give the app even more of a boost.