Tinder is testing a new location-sharing feature to connect lonely hearts.

Dubbed Places, the tool aims to match users who are in the same specific location, like the cinema, or local coffee shop.

Places is completely separate from the usual swipe-based feed Tinder users are accustomed to.

Tinder users need to tap the newly-added pin icon, which lives at the top of the main app window, to access a map which shows all the locations you have visited within the last month.

Tinder Places lets users view potential matches who have visited the same locations. The dating app says previously unmatched or blocked users will not re-appear in Tinder Places

Any fellow Tinder users who visited the same spots will appear on the map, where their profile can be viewed and swiped left (rejected) or right (matched) in the usual manner.

Users will only be able to view the location they have in common. There’s no way to access users’ entire Places history.

Tinder promises that users who have been unmatched or blocked in the past will not appear again in Places, which should save users from some awkward encounters at their favourite coffee shop.

In fact, Tinder says it has designed the entire feature with privacy in mind.

The swipe-based dating app will only display a location in the Places feed some 30 minutes after the user has left, making it impossible to track Tinder users based on the new map feature.

‘Even if you cross paths with someone at the coffee shop, Tinder won't show you there until later unless it’s somewhere you’ve already included in your Places,’ Tinder announced on its blog.

HOW DO YOU USE TINDER PLACES? Tinder Places is a new feature that lets users find potential matches based on the locations they visit. To start using Tinder Places, open the mobile Tinder app on iPhone or Android and tap the newly-added pin icon, which sits alongside the Tinder logo at the top of the main window. If this is the first time you’ve used Tinder Places, you’ll need to opt-in to the feature. Once you’ve granted the necessary permissions, Tinder will surface a map populated with the places of interest you have visited in the last month. Tinder Places groups potential matches based on places of interest you have in common. Anyone you've previously unmatched or blocked will not appear in Places Tapping on a location will bring up any potential matches who have visited the same spot within the last 28 days. These profiles can be swiped left (to reject) and right (to match) in the usual manner. The app will send you an alert whenever a new place is added to your Tinder Places profile. Tapping on the notification gives you the option to remove that particular location from your Tinder Places map. As a safety precaution, Tinder will only add public places to your profile when it detects that you have left — and private locations are never featured. Tinder Places is currently being trialled in Australia and Chile. Advertisement

Tinder says it has designed the new location-based feature with privacy in mind. Users can switch Places off at any time, and can even delete a specific public place from their feed

Places is also designed to prevent private places – like GP surgeries, banks and workplaces – from appearing in your dating app profile for others to see.

Tinder manages this by using data from social app Foursquare, which already has location data on a huge number of local businesses, public spaces and places of interest.

If a location does manage to slip through the cracks, Tinder allows users to delete any of the places in their Places feed, and the feature can be toggled on and off at any time, too.

Tinder Places is currently being trialled in Australia and Chile.

Director of location products at Tinder, Samantha Stevens told technology blog The Verge that the company is ‘looking forward to seeing how users adopt and interact with Places in our test markets’.