Tinder encrypts photos shared on app

Tinder's parent company Match Group has announced it is now encrypting photos sent between Tinder's servers and its main application.

The announcement was made via a letter addressed to Senator Ron Wyden who had written to Tinder back in February requesting the company to encrypt photos, The Verge reported late on Friday.

"I am happy to report that 'swipe data' has been padded such that all actions are now the same size (effective June 19) and the images transmitted between the Tinder app and the servers are now fully encrypted as well (effective February 6; images on the web version of Tinder were already encrypted)," Jared Sane, General Counsel, Match Group, wrote in the letter.

The company, however, claimed that they had already implemented the feature on February 4 but had waited to respond to Wyden until it also adjusted a separate security feature that made all "swipe data" the same size.

The size of the "swipe data" was used by security researchers to differentiate actions from one another.

"As part of our ongoing efforts to improve our defences against malicious hackers and cyber criminals, we employ a 'Bug Bounty Programme' and work with skilled security researchers across the globe to responsibly identify potential issues and quickly resolve them," Sane added.