Dating apps getting desperate after huge exodus of users deciding swiping wont find them true love
Dating apps aren’t delivering when it comes to finding a life partner.Single people are getting sick of swiping and abandoning dating apps and them in droves.
That’s left the apps themselves desperately attempting to pivot amidst public backlash against their business premise — to the point of turning their backs on what made them successful in the first place.Tinder, which made billions on the idea that people want to meet one another easily online, has taken to hosting in-person events.Bumble, which just made a deal to go private after years its stock price tanking, has turned its back on its feminist mission, which used to require women to make the first move.They’re trying anything to keep public trust, despite the fact three-quarters of Americans now believe dating apps have made romance feel transactional, per a 2026 Harris poll.“[The apps] took the friction out of finding someone, but they also took the friction out of exiting, which means that you weren’t getting the depth of the experience,” Boston University business professor Marshall Van Alstyne told The Post.
“Initially, they were creating a lot of value to get folks on board [lots of people to potentially date], but now they’ve entered the extractive phase [charging subscription fees], and I think we’re now seeing the consequences.”Business is looking pretty grim.Match Group, which owns Tinder, Match.com, OkCupid, and many other platforms, laid off 13% of their workforce last year, and Bumble 30% last June.Bumble once had 12.5 million users who spent an average of 100 minutes a day swiping, but the app’s paying users fell by almost 17% year-over-year, and revenue dropped 15% during the same period.Since going public in 2021, Bumble has lost 90% of its market value.
The struggling app made a deal last Tuesday to go private for $1.3 billion — chump change compared with its $14 billion valuation at its initial public offering.To New York City matchmaker Maria Avgitidis, part ...