Facebook Launches New App for Couples

Tinder as displayed on a smartphone. Photo: Thomas
Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images
Tinder as displayed on a smartphone. Photo: Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images
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Facebook Launches New App for Couples

Tinder as displayed on a smartphone. Photo: Thomas
Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images
Tinder as displayed on a smartphone. Photo: Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images

Facebook launched a new social app for couples called "Tuned" that allows partners to chat, share photos, music and have a timeline of shared memories between them.

The app is currently available only on Apple's App Store in the United States and Canada, according to data from industry site Sensor Tower.

According to Reuters, a small team, known as Facebook's New Product Experimentation (NPE) team responsible for developing new interfaces, created Tuned.

NPE describes the app as "a private space where you and your significant other can just be yourselves."

Tuned is currently ranked No. 872 in the United States and No. 550 in Canada in the social networking category, Sensor Tower said.

In February, Facebook promised to launch a new website called "Facebook Dating" in Europe to attract young web lovers and compete other dating apps such as "Tinder".

Julien Pillot, a researcher and lecturer at leading French business school Inseec, said: "From social networks to dating sites is just a step which does not require enormous technological investment."

Pillot said: "Facebook has copied everything which worked well on other applications and added two or three functionalities. What interests them is getting users to link in the sharing of private content."

Until now, all the players in this market are too busy catching up with Match Group, the internet giant that dominates the field.

Match Group Head Amanda W. Ginsberg said her firm "will not underestimate" Facebook's potential to corner the market.

Given the numbers already on Facebook's platform and ease of access, she asked: "Why don't people try it?"

But for now we don't see any consequence for any of our brands," Ginsberg said noting that the use of several apps at the same time is growing.

For her part, Clementine Lalande, co-founder of French dating app Once seeking to attract French users with a remarkable selectivity, said "Facebook Dating's primary results are not impressive."



Hundreds Evacuated as Greece Wildfire Rages on Crete

Firefighters stand next to rising flames as a wildfire burns near Ierapetra, on the island of Crete, Greece, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Stefanos Rapanis
Firefighters stand next to rising flames as a wildfire burns near Ierapetra, on the island of Crete, Greece, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Stefanos Rapanis
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Hundreds Evacuated as Greece Wildfire Rages on Crete

Firefighters stand next to rising flames as a wildfire burns near Ierapetra, on the island of Crete, Greece, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Stefanos Rapanis
Firefighters stand next to rising flames as a wildfire burns near Ierapetra, on the island of Crete, Greece, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Stefanos Rapanis

A wildfire fanned by gale-force winds on the southern Greek island of Crete has forced the evacuation of locals and tourists, officials said on Thursday.

Greece is sweltering in a heatwave that is searing much of southern Europe, said AFP.

The country has become particularly vulnerable in recent years to summer wildfires, which are fueled by strong winds, drought and high temperatures linked to climate change.

Local media said around 1,500 people had to be evacuated because of the blaze, which broke out on Wednesday evening.

"Evacuations took place in numerous hotels and tourists were safely transferred to a closed gymnasium in the municipality of Ierapetra," vice-prefect Yannis Androulakis told TV channel Mega, referring to the holiday town in the southeast.

He said the authorities acted because water bomber planes could not reach the affected areas overnight.

"At the moment, there are three active fronts," Androulakis said. "Because of the strong winds, the fire has progressed quite rapidly."

Around 270 firefighters, 10 helicopters and drones have been deployed to tackle the blaze, said Vassilios Vathrakoyannis, a spokesman for the fire service.

They include reinforcements sent in from the capital, Athens.

"There are still a number of different fronts. The fire is burning scrubland and crops," he said.

"The winds are very strong -- up to nine on the Beaufort scale."

- Uneven, arid terrain -

Crete, Greece's largest island, has an arid, uneven landscape criss-crossed by gullies, making it difficult for firefighters to tackle the blaze.

The fire has damaged both houses and crops in fruit and vegetable greenhouses, local media said.

Like the rest of Crete, Ierapetra –- a seaside resort with a population of 23,000 -- takes in thousands of tourists in the summer.

Vathrakoyannis said the authorities would assess the extent of the damage once the fire had been brought under control.

He stressed the risk of fires was "considerable" in July, the hottest month of the year in Greece.

Until now, Greece had been more or less spared the heatwave that has gripped other parts of southern Europe.

The country recorded its hottest ever summer last year when 45,000 hectares were torched, according to WWF Greece and the Athens National Observatory.

In terms of surface area destroyed, 2023 was the worst on record.

Nearly 175,000 hectares were obliterated and 20 people died during a series of prolonged heatwaves when temperatures rose in places to 46 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit).