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Tinder’s mandatory facial recognition check comes to the US

2025-07-01T05:10:31-04:00

Tinder is trialing mandatory facial recognition security features in the US to verify profiles and crack down on impersonation and fake accounts. New users in California are now required to provide a biometric "Face Check" scan to confirm their face matches their profile photos for the dating service, Axios reported on Monday.

The Face Check feature involves taking a short video selfie that's used to match biometric indicators and prove that the Tinder user isn't a bot using artificially generated images, providing them with a verified badge upon completion. The scan will also check if the user's face is being used in multiple accounts, whi …

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Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd returns as CEO amid a dating app decline

2025-01-17T16:46:21-05:00

Bumble founder and executive chair Whitney Wolfe Herd, who stepped down as CEO at the beginning of 2024, is returning to the post in mid-March. Former Slack CEO Lidiane Jones, who succeeded Herd, has resigned for "personal reasons" and will remain in the role until Wolfe Herd takes over.

"As I step into the role of CEO, I'm energized and fully committed to Bumble's success, our mission of creating meaningful, equitable relationships, and our opportunity ahead," Wolfe Herd says in a statement. "We have exciting innovation ahead for Bumble in this bold new chapter."

Bumble gained popularity in part because it was set up for women to message …

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Tinder can now pick your dating profile picture for you

2024-07-17T06:01:03-04:00

It’s not immediately clear what Tinder’s Photo Selector feature looks for in a “good” selfi. | Image: Tinder

Tinder is releasing an AI-powered feature that supposedly makes it easier for users to select better photos for their dating profiles. The dating app says its new Photo Selector tool aims to "take out the guesswork" when picking your most flattering photos by curating a diverse selection that's "optimized to help users find a match."

To use Photo Selector, users will need to take a selfie within Tinder and allow the app to access their device's camera roll. Tinder's new AI feature will then use facial recognition to collate a selection of images for the user to review and add to their profiles. The curation is processed on-device and doesn' …

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Tinder Select is a $499 per month plan for Tinder’s 1 percent

2023-09-25T15:51:24-04:00

Tinder announced a $499 per month invite-only subscription, Tinder Select, on Friday, Bloomberg reports. As part of the premium plan, subscribers can message people they've not matched with, while the "most sought-after" users will see their profiles. Tinder says it only offers the plan to less than 1 percent of its users it considers "extremely active" and that the applications will open up on a rolling basis.

"We know that there is a subset of highly engaged and active users who prioritize more effective and efficient ways to find connections," said Tinder's chief product officer, Mark Van Ryswyk. "So we engaged in extensive tests and fee …

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Tinder is implementing video verification to further curb creepy scammers

2023-04-26T00:01:00-04:00

Tinder’s new video verification process. | Image: Tinder

Tinder is fortifying its photo verification system with video - specifically, by asking members to take a series of video selfies to prove they're actually the real person they claim to be and not just some AI hound dog. The new feature, announced today, is rolling out globally as the new method to verify your account - and will be needed to earn the coveted verified blue-checkmark (no, a billionaire is not going to just give it to you).

The new Tinder process to verify yourself with a video selfie involves recording a video of yourself in the app using your smartphone's front camera to make sure you're a person. It sounds similar to other …

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Can ‘niche’ dating apps save us?

2023-02-08T09:00:00-05:00

These days, there are dating apps for just about everything you can imagine: from specific religions, ethnicities, and political beliefs to various lifestyles and hobbies. You can find a dating app for vegans, one for rock climbers, and even one for professional clowns.

But these apps face a particular challenge. They have to find enough users and build a strong enough community to survive. And they have to do that in the face of Tinder-owner Match Group, which has its own growing portfolio of narrowly-focused apps, too.

The most successful niche dating app outside of the Match Group umbrella is Grindr, a publicly traded company with 11 mi …

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Tinder’s incognito mode hides your profile from people you don’t like

2023-02-07T17:57:56-05:00

Tinder now allows you to browse through profiles while staying hidden - but you'll have to pay for it. In a post on Tinder's newsroom, the dating app announced a new incognito mode that you can use to swipe through profiles without showing up in their recommendations feed unless you "like" them (via TechCrunch).

Currently, Tinder's algorithm surfaces your profile in other members' recommendations, whether you swipe right or left on them. Incognito mode, on the other hand, will hide your profile from other users unless you've expressed interest, which should help ensure you're profile's viewed by the people you want to see it.

The downside …

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What ‘feminist Tinder’ promised

2023-02-01T09:00:00-05:00

An early slogan from Bumble encouraged users to "be the CEO your parents always wanted you to marry." Since its founding in 2014, the company has billed its app as the more empowering dating service for women - one where women message matches first, and women are in control. It's earned Bumble the moniker of "feminist Tinder." And Bumble has been more than happy to play into that marketing.

But almost a decade on, Bumble can still feel as tired and broken as other dating apps. And it often seems like that feminist twist is more marketing fodder than meaningful change to how our apps run our love lives.

Episode four of Land of the Giants: D …

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Can you ‘hack’ your dating app to get better matches?

2023-01-25T09:00:00-05:00

Asking a dating exec how their matchmaking algorithm works is like asking Coca-Cola for its top-secret formula: they'll tell you it's a mystery, that it's too hard to explain, that they simply cannot talk about it, Fight Club style.

Tinder says that it looks at things like app usage, profile details, and swipe history to find your matches. Bumble also says it looks at your swipe history, while Hinge didn't say much, except that its "proprietary algorithm" was based on work done by two Nobel Prize-winning mathematicians.

But there's a reason why these companies are so cagey about their code. Mathematician Cathy O'Neil says she thinks that …

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How Tinder changed everything

2023-01-11T09:00:00-05:00

When Tinder launched in 2012, its creators didn't think much of it. "We put together what would eventually become Tinder in about six to eight weeks and launched it," says Jonathan Badeen, one of Tinder's co-founders and inventor of the swipe. The swipe was kind of like Tinder's secret weapon - it seems obvious now, but a decade ago, swiping transformed mobile dating by turning it into a kind of game.

Swiping was fun and compulsive, keeping users on the app for hours on end. It releases dopamine, a chemical in your brain that gives you a sense of pleasure, which, according to Dinesh Moorjani, another of Tinder's co-founders, kept users hook …

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