Female-Friendly Dating App

Company Embraces The Realities of Modern Online Dating and Encourages Women To Take a Stand Against Slut-Shaming

HUD, the casual dating and hook up app that believes women should be empowered to take control of their love lives, today announced the release of new, female-friendly features to help women avoid unwanted or inappropriate interactions. These updates, including photo protection blur, profile-blocking and chat requests for females are part of HUD’s latest initiative to make the dating app more appealing to women and welcome casual dating into the mix, not just hooking up. For the first time, the company also announced a web version of HUD at www.hudapp.com and unlimited free chat.

HUD Online (PRNewsfoto/HUD)

The changes were in part inspired by a recent company survey of 1,000 HUD community members that showed both men and women often have sex on the first date. And while both women (75 percent) and men (83 percent) are largely supportive of women that have sex on the first date, women still felt a disproportionate stigma around casual sex, with 76 percent associating it with negative perceptions compared to just half of men.

“At HUD, we acknowledge the realities of online dating. Not everyone who uses dating apps is ready for a long-term commitment and sometimes, women just want to enjoy a casual date or the occasional hook up just like men do,” said Katie Wilson, lead online community manager at HUD. “Younger generations have been leading the sexual revolution, already enjoying a casual dating and hook up scene; whereas older generations grew up with a set of double-standards when it comes to sex. It’s time to stop the slut-shaming and let all women date and have sex free of stigma.”

“As a dating app that empowers women to embrace their sexuality, we also have a responsibility to help women avoid unwanted or inappropriate interactions. That is why we’ve implemented a variety of features that ensure an open, honest, and consensual conversation,” said Edward Chen, chief executive officer at HUD.

New features:

• Chat request for females: HUD is not a match-based app, so females can decide if they want to interact with someone before they receive a message from that user. Located at the top of the inbox, users will see picture bubbles that represent chat requests and additional details about the user; female users will be able to deny unwanted users directly from their chat requests screen. Once denied, these users will not be able to contact the female again;
• Profile-blocking: Both male and female users will be able to block and report users from the profile screen, and blocked users will never be able to contact again;
• Profile rewind: A premium option that allows users to revisit a person previously denied and accept their request instead;
• Photo protection blur: All pictures sent for the first time in a message will be blurred to protect users against unwanted advances. You can tap to reveal a picture, or leave it blurred;
• Real-time chat: All chats are now instantaneous;
• Unlimited free chat: All communication in the app is now free.

Updated branding:

• HUD Online: All of the functionality and features available in the app will now be available on desktop and mobile-responsive website;
• New logo and URL (www.hudapp.com): Also today HUD is releasing a new logo and domain name. The two represent the company’s move to include casual dating while continuing to empower women.

Pricing and Availability
HUD is available as a free download in the App Store at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hook-up-dating-hud/id1042814349?ls=1&mt=8 and the Google Play Store at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hookupdating or online at www.hudapp.com.

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand, HUD provides over three million users a casual dating and hook up app. HUD offers a way for people to foster relationships that feel natural and honest by removing the emphasis on “finding the one.” The company facilitates open, honest, and consensual interactions between two individuals on iOS, Android and the web. To learn more and start meeting people today, visit hudapp.com.