Ghosting on this Gen Z dating app will literally make you invisible

A one-year-old dating app for younger users says it’s found a way to make ghosts disappear. 

Snack, a video-centric service that pitches itself as a kind of TikTok meets Tinder, is launching a few new features on Wednesday—one of which is aimed at discouraging the much-maligned practice of ghosting. 

Users who ghost other users too frequently can be reported for doing so, Snack says, and if the behavior keeps up, the visibility of their profile will be reduced over time. According to Snack, this is a way to “bring some basic manners and decency to the dating app game.” 

The platform is also launching a feature that encourages “less awkward flirting” by prompting users to take part in popular TikTok trends.

Snack launched early last year with $3.5 million in pre-seed investment led by Kindred Ventures and Coelius Capital. The Vancouver-based company was founded by Kimberly Kaplan, a dating-app veteran and former executive at Plenty of Fish, now owned by Match Group. 

“Ghosting” typically refers to when a person ceases communications for no obvious or openly stated reason. It can be just as annoying in business as it is in dating, although there are many instances when ghosting can be deemed acceptable, such as when the person you’re communicating with crosses a boundary or becomes rude or abusive.    

Snack isn’t the only dating app that discourages the practice. Bumble has long encouraged timely responses to communications, and one Halloween, it even unleashed a fleet of pedicabs in New York City with the words “No Ghosting on Bumble” written on the back.