Tinder now lets you check if your match has a criminal record

Tinder users can now do background checks on their partners in the app to check for violent or harmful behavior before moving forward in a relationship.

Starting this week, Tinder users will have access to a background check tool built into the popular dating app’s Safety Center. This new option is part of from a partnership between Match Group, the parent company of Tinder, and Garbo, a non-profit background check provider focused on raising awareness and preventing gender-based violence.

Tinder announced the partnership in March of last year, but ultimately took nearly a year to roll out the feature to its users. This new feature fits in a series of measures to make the platform more secure. For example, Tinder will soon also allow its users to verify their profile using an identity card.

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How does the background check on Tinder work?

In fgeneral, Garbo only needs a person’s first name and phone number to get information about them. However, it may sometimes ask for other details, such as the age of the person, if it cannot find anything about them with the previous information. Garbo will then provide information on any arrests and convictions for certain violent crimes as well as the status of the sex offender registry.

The criminal record of your match would not be accessible in its entirety. Indeed, Tinder’s results would exclude arrests and convictions for financial crimes dating back more than seven years. In addition, homicides or robberies committed more than 14 years ago as well as arrests and convictions for possession of marijuana, vandalism and vagrancy are also excluded.

Tinder is offering two free background checks for every user for launchand up to 500,000 free searches in total. Each search via Garbo will then cost $2.50 (which does not include a small processing fee), and all funds will be used to support Garbo operations and background research costs. For now, the feature is only available in the United States, and Tinder hasn’t said whether or not it will be available in other countries in the future.