What happens when “a dating app for the curious” – an app that welcomes users interested in polyamory, non-monogamy, voyeurism, and all kinds of perversion – becomes virtually unavailable for an entire weekend? What will happen? In other words, what will happen to the postponed threesome?
After months of build-up, dating app Feld debuted a flashy new look Friday. “Everything is new from the back end to the front end, with a completely new look and feel,” the company said in a statement announcing the redesigned platform. “Re-enter a new field.”
But what awaited users (many of them paid members) was a technical problem that prevented many users from logging in, viewing likes, and reading and replying to messages. It was a storm. Some users have described more serious issues, such as having their private profiles made public whether they like it or not. Nearly a week after the difficult rollout, the company said Field is still struggling with these technical issues and that many of the “initial issues” have been fixed.
“Our entire team is working around the clock to quickly resolve the situation,” Field CEO Ana Kirova said in a statement to The New York Times on Tuesday. “And while we cannot share a final timeline at this time, this is our only priority at this time in order to meet the needs of our community.”
According to many testimonies Post Social media, the app was functionally useless for most of the weekend and into the following week. So what kind of romantic connections disappeared during those dark hours when Felt was out to pasture?
“I messaged someone right before the update and I was like, ‘Hmm, bad timing,'” Frank Rodriguez, a Philadelphia resident, said in a phone interview. After the update, he was able to see his Direct His messages, but given the widespread issue, he wasn’t sure what to make of the unreplyed messages. Is it a technical issue or a lack of interest?
Rodriguez, 33, described the woman he was texting with before the app was updated as a “cute girl.”
“She just looked cool,” he said.
Like many others, Rodriguez took to social media to air his frustrations about the changes and bugs. Some people asked for compensation or prorated refunds for the number of days the app was affected. Others lamented losing contact or ruining their date plans, with one user harshly complaining that Field had “ruined” a threesome they were preparing.
“I’m still waiting for her to log back in and find the app working again,” the person posted to X, punctuating the message with a side-eye emoji.
As the new week began, users still had issues using the app. “Since the update I can’t do anything in the app,” one user wrote on Reddit. “You can’t like or hate anyone, and you can’t even log out.”
“Apps are basically just taking up space on your home screen for now,” he added.
Fortunately, James Heck, a dentist in Asheville, North Carolina, had already exchanged contact information with the two people he was messaging on the app before things got worse.
“I have their private phone number, so it won’t affect connectivity, but it would certainly be frustrating if it did,” said the 44-year-old, who pays for Field’s premium tier. Mr. Heck said. In a telephone interview. He, like many others, said he has lost access to premium features since the update.
Last Thursday, the day before the platform’s re-release, Field reported that the app would be taken offline for an update. The overhaul was supposed to take just a few hours, but the app left him completely unavailable for more than a day.
When it came back online Friday night, the company said its restructured app now features “unrestricted” changes regarding gender identification, the ability to send video messages, the use of cities to indicate location rather than distance, and “more announced that it will feature changes in place. App navigation.
“Now I don’t know how far away someone is, I don’t know who likes me, and I don’t get a ping,” Nicholas Smith, 31, of Denver, said in an email. I wrote it by email. “Google Store still says he has a subscription until mid-January. Google Store does not offer refunds.”
The company acknowledged on Sunday that it was experiencing several issues, including difficulty accessing accounts and not being able to view connections, messages or reports of deleted accounts. Fields also changed the location feature after many complaints that the user’s location was too specific, for example, showing the user’s current city instead of how far away they were. I reviewed the update.
“We listened to your feedback and updated this feature as a short-term solution while we continue to refine the best long-term fixes,” the company said in a statement.
Emma, 36, from the UK, describes herself as a “pervert” and joined Field in 2021, but left shortly after having a relationship with someone she met on an app. She said she had her good experience with this app. Because, she said, “the app has always felt very safe for people who are willing to embrace things that are ‘non-normative.'” She broke up with her girlfriend a few weeks ago.
“This is the only app that lets people suggest their own zodiac sign,” she said, adding that even if the issue was resolved, she wasn’t sure she would pay for the app again.
“Again, there are very few other options in terms of apps that have a decent user base and offer this type of environment,” she said of the tough situation for non-traditional daters. “I think a lot of people are feeling really sad and hopeless.”
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