You can now find local events on Tinder — and match with other attendees

Tinder is expanding its in-app Events feature to nine cities beyond the original test case in Los Angeles, with more coming by the end of Sept. It sounds like Partiful or Facebook Events infused in the dating app.

Tinder piloted Events in Los Angeles earlier this year as a way for singles to get off the app and meet people IRL. It coincides with an influx of offline dating events and the trend of trying to find a date anywhere but on one's phone — say, a run club.

Now, in the U.S., Events is also available in New York City, Dallas, Denver, Kansas City, and Phoenix. In Europe, it's launching in Berlin, Munich, Zurich, and Geneva. The app plans to launch Events in 26 more cities over the next couple of months. While Tinder isn't sharing the full list, it told Mashable that San Jose and Baltimore are among them.

Those in eligible cities can access the Events tab in your Tinder app, where you can browse local events, mark yourself interested, see who else is interested in attending, RSVP, purchase tickets, and check-in and receive an "Attended" badge on your profile. You can also match with other attendees.

During the Los Angeles pilot, Events drew engagement from 66 percent of all eligible active users in the market — meaning they opened the Events tab and interacted with the experience, such as browsing events. (Only Photo Verified users can fully access Events.)

Most adoption in the test was from Gen Z users; 71 percent of 18-24 year olds engaged with Events, which was more than users 25 and older (63 percent), according to Tinder.

More than half of users (53 percent) who interacted with the Events tab returned the following week, indicating they were interested in what it had to offer. Another indication was the success of at least one event: A 60-person candlelight ceramics class sold out within a day of the event partner promoting it, according to a press release shared with Mashable.

Users also wanted to attend DJ nights, game nights, creative classes, hikes, and group runs. More than 60 events were held in Los Angeles during the pilot.

Accessing the Events tab is free on Tinder. Individual events may be free or require a ticket purchase from the event organizer, depending on the event.

The Events tab comes at a time when Tinder and another major dating app, Bumble, are capitalizing on the IRL event craze while simultaneously boosting AI. When Tinder announced the Los Angeles Events pilot in March, it also launched its AI matchmaker, Chemistry.

Bumble, meanwhile, is throwing its own events in New York City this summer. But the app upset some users when founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd announced it was ditching the swipe and ushering in an AI experience.