Nobody to lust after on Happn? You can expand your range (but don’t break social distancing rules)

This isn’t a great time for dating apps, but Happn, the one that lets you give the eyes or finger to other users who are nearby, is probably suffering more than most. It’s therefore taken a leaf out of its rivals’ books, and expanded its range − by a whopping 3600%.

Happn users can normally like or reject other Happn users who have been within a 250-metre radius of you at some point during the day.

That works well in cities and busy towns, where you could be constantly passing new people in the street, but with social distancing measures in place and people being told to stay at home as much as possible, Happn users have seen their potential love pool dry up.

(Not that they’re allowed to actually do anything if sparks do fly. But I suppose a good flirt could help pass the time.)

If it’s not Happning where you are, you can now expand your lust range all the way up to 90km. The app will display nearby Happn users first though.

Related: Happn takes a swipe at Tinder… over swiping

“We understand the pressures and anxieties that the lockdown period can place on many, whether in a couple or single,” said Didier Rappaport, CEO of Happn. “Allowing our users to still have the opportunity to crush with people they may have met in ordinary life, we hope will help people to not feel completely alone during this ongoing isolation period.”

Happn has also teased a couple of upcoming features: Emotions and SuperNote.

Emotions will let you react to certain aspects of your crush’s profile, like one of their profile pictures or their bio, and SuperNote will allow you to message someone who hasn’t liked you back (yet − let’s stay optimistic). You’ll get a limited number of SuperNotes per day, so take your time agonising over every single one of those lucky recipients!

Both features are currently in testing, and are scheduled to launch this summer.