Tinder (app)

Tinder is an online dating and geosocial networking application launched in 2012. On Tinder, users "swipe right" to like or "swipe left" to dislike other users' profiles, which include their photos, a short bio, and some of their interests. Tinder uses a "double opt-in" system, also called "matching", where two users must like each other before they can exchange messages.

In 2022, Tinder had 10.9 million subscribers and 75 million monthly active users. As of 2021, Tinder had recorded more than 65 billion matches worldwide.

History
Sean Rad launched Tinder at a hackathon at the Hatch Labs incubator in West Hollywood, Los Angeles County, California, United States in 2012.

Sean Rad and engineer Joe Munoz built the original prototype for Tinder, "MatchBox", during a hackathon in February 2012. The hackathon was hosted by Hatch Labs, a New York-based startup incubator with a West Hollywood outpost. Realizing the name MatchBox was too similar to Match.com, Rad, his co-founders, and early employees renamed the company Tinder. The company's flame-themed logo remained consistent throughout the rebranding.

2012: Prototype and launch
In January 2012, Rad was hired as general manager of Cardify, a credit card loyalty app launched by Hatch Labs. During a hackathon in his first month, he presented the idea for a dating app called Matchbox. Rad and Munoz built the prototype for MatchBox and presented the app on February 16, 2012.

In March, co-founder Jonathan Badeen (front-end operator and later Tinder's CSO), and Chris Gulczynski (designer and later Tinder's CCO) joined Cardify.

In May, while Cardify was going through Apple's App Store approval process, the team focused on MatchBox. During the same period, Alexa Mateen (Justin's sister) and her friend, Whitney Wolfe Herd, were hired as Cardify sales reps.

In August 2012, Cardify was abandoned, Matchbox was renamed Tinder, and co-founder Justin Mateen (marketer and later Tinder's CMO) joined the company.

In September 2012, Tinder was soft-launched in the App Store. It was then launched at several college campuses and started to expand quickly.

2013: Swipe feature developed
Tinder's selection function, which was initially click-based, evolved into the company's swipe feature. The feature was established when Rad and Badeen, interested in gamification, modeled the feature on a deck of cards. Badeen then streamlined the action after a trial on a bathroom mirror. Tinder has been credited with popularizing the swipe feature many companies now use.

2014–2016: Growth
By October 2014, Tinder users completed over one billion swipes per day, producing about 12 million matches per day. By then, Tinder's average user generally spent about 90 minutes a day on the app.

Rad served as Tinder's CEO until March 2015, when he was replaced by former eBay and Microsoft executive Chris Payne. Rad returned as CEO in August 2015.

In 2015, Tinder released its "Rewind" function and its "Super Like" function and retired its Tinder "Moments" and "Last Active" feature. In January 2015, Tinder acquired Chill, the developer of Tappy, a mobile messenger that uses "images and ephemerality".

In 2016, Tinder was the most popular dating app in the United States, holding a 25.6% market share of monthly users. On the company's third-quarter earnings call, Match Group's CEO Greg Blatt described the popular dating app Tinder as a "rocket" and the "future of this business."

In September 2016, the company also initiated testing of its "Boost" functionality in Australia. The feature went live for all users in October of that year.

In October 2016, Tinder announced the opening of its first office in Silicon Valley in the hope of more effectively recruiting technical employees.

In November 2016, Tinder introduced more options for gender selection.

In December 2016, Blatt took over as interim CEO of Tinder. Rad stepped down as CEO, becoming chairman of the company.

2017: Merger with Match
Tinder had annual revenue of $403 million and accounted for 31% of Match Group's 2017 annual revenue of $1.28 billion. In the same year, it surpassed Netflix as the highest-grossing app on the app store. Match Group's market cap as of December 28, 2017, was $10.03 billion.

In March 2017, Tinder launched Tinder Online, a web-optimized version of the app. Initially, it was available only in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, the Philippines, and Sweden, and did not include special features such as "Super Likes" or "Tinder Boost". Tinder Online launched globally in September 2017. During the launch of the web version, Tinder took legal action to shut down third-party apps providing a web extension to use the Tinder app from a desktop computer.

In July 2017, Match Group merged with Tinder for approximately $3 billion.

In August 2017, Tinder launched an additional subscription service, Tinder Gold, that allows subscribers to see which users "swiped back" without alerting those users. Tinder Gold quickly became a successful revenue source for the company, boosting Match Group's total revenue by 19% compared to 2016. This boost in revenue and profits came as Tinder's paid member count rose by a record 476,000 to more than 2.5 million, mainly due to product changes and technology improvements. Tinder Gold's popularity led to a surge in Match Group shares and recorded high share prices. Blatt called Tinder's performance "fantastic" and said the company was driving most of Match Group's growth in late 2017.

Blatt resigned from Match Group and Tinder in 2017 after allegations of sexual harassment. He was replaced by Elie Seidman.

2018–2019
In 2018, Tinder had annual revenue of $805 million and accounted for 48% of Match Group's 2018 annual revenue of $1.67 billion. Match Group's market cap as of December 30, 2018, was $15.33 billion.

On August 6, 2018, Tinder had over 3.7 million paid subscribers, up 81% over the same quarter in 2017. On August 21, 2018, Tinder launched Tinder University, a feature that allows college students to connect with other students on their campus and at nearby schools.

In 2019, Tinder had annual revenue of $1.152 billion and accounted for 58% of Match Group's total 2019 annual revenue of $2.0 billion. Match Group's market cap as of December 30, 2019, was $21.09 billion.

On May 10, it was reported that Tinder was planning for a lighter version of the app, Tinder Lite, aimed at growing markets where data usage, bandwidth and storage space are a concern.

Tinder had 5.2 million paying subscribers at the end of 2019's second quarter, up 1.5 million from the year-ago quarter and up 503,000 from the first quarter of 2019. It became the highest-grossing non-gaming app, beating Netflix. Tinder's subscriber growth led Match Group's shares to the best single-day gain in their history on August 7, adding more than $5 billion to the company's market capitalization.

On September 12, Tinder relaunched Swipe Night, an interactive series where users make decisions following a storyline. Swipe Night had previously been launched in October 2019. It was slated to be launched internationally in March 2020, but it was postponed until September due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Swipe Night's international launch included multiple countries and languages.

In 2019, Tinder had annual revenue of $1.2 billion.

2020
In 2020, Tinder had annual revenue of $1.355 billion and accounted for 58% of Match Group's 2020 revenue of $2.34 billion. Match Group's market cap as of December 23, 2020, was $40.45 billion.

In January 2020, the Tinder administration enabled a panic button and anti-catfishing technology to improve U.S. users' safety. In the future, these features are planned to become globally available. If something goes wrong on a date, a user can hit a panic button, transmit accurate location data, and call emergency services. To use this feature, users must download and install the Noonlight app. Also, before going to a meeting, users are required to take selfies to prove their photos in Tinder profiles match their real identities.

In response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, in March 2020 Tinder temporarily made its Passport feature available for free to all its users worldwide. Previously this feature had been only accessible to users who had purchased a subscription.

In August, Tinder revealed plans for its Platinum subscription plan, which gives users access to more features for a higher price than gold. The same month, Jim Lanzone took over as CEO.

On September 1, Tinder was banned in Pakistan in a crackdown on what the Pakistani government deemed "immoral content".

On November 4, Tinder reported higher than expected third-quarter earnings and significant platform growth amid the pandemic: the app grew its user base by 15% and its subscriber count by 16% since the third quarter of 2019. According to Business Insider, Tinder's growth was fueled by a large population that turned to online dating in response to increasing social isolation and health risks. In 2020, Match Group products, including Tinder, released video-based features to facilitate long-distance dating. Tinder had 6.6 million subscribers globally in November, growing from 6.2 million reported in June.

2021 to date
Match Group's market cap as of October 14, 2021, was $44.59 billion.

In February 2021, Tinder announced it would launch a range of mobile accessories under the brand name Tinder Made. The app reported that month an all-time high in users ready to "go on a date" as opposed to virtual and online chats during the height of the pandemic in the U.S. It gave away pairs of COVID-19 testing kits to some matches to encourage responsible behavior as users begin to meet in person again.

In March 2021, Tinder announced a service that would let users run background checks on potential matches after an investment in Garbo, a company that "collects public records and reports of violence or abuse, including arrests, convictions, restraining orders, harassment, and other violent crimes". Garbo does not publicize drug possession charges or traffic violations, citing disproportionate incarceration. This service comes with a fee that has not yet been disclosed to users.

In August 2021, Tinder announced an ID verification service to mitigate catfishing on the platform.

In September 2021, Lanzone announced that he was stepping down as chief executive to pursue a new role at Yahoo. Tinder named Renate Nyborg its new CEO. She is the company's first female CEO.

In December 2021, Nyborg announced that the company was working on creating a metaverse called Tinderverse, a shared virtual reality. The company is also testing Tinder Coins, an in-app currency users can earn as a reward for good behavior, allowing them to pay for the platform's premium services.

In May 2023, Match Group announced its intent to restrict access to Tinder in Russia and withdraw from the Russian market by June 30, 2023, citing the need to protect human rights. In doing so, it became one of many Western companies to leave Russia after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Tinder became unavailable in Russia on the intended date. In response, a group of Russians staged a mock funeral in Sochi. Mourners, dressed in black, shared their stories and experiences with the app and placed red carnations on a mock gravestone in the form of a smartphone.

In 2023, Tinder introduced a new feature, Tinder Matchmaker. It allows the user's friends and family to access their Tinder account and suggest potential partners for them.

According to Tinder, the addition of a feature that allows friends to select compatible matches makes online dating safer because the "team-based" approach helps users mitigate potential risks associated with interacting with strangers. Melissa Hobley, Tinder's Chief Marketing Officer, said that singles often seek advice from friends when choosing a match: "The new feature streamlines this process, allowing your most trusted friends to join you on your dating journey."

In January 2024, Match Group named Faye Iosotaluno as chief executive officer of Tinder.

Tinder ceased operations in Belarus after February 14, 2024.

Operation
After building a profile with a Meta login or cell phone number, users can swipe yes (right) or no (left) on potential romantic matches. Chatting on Tinder is only available between two users who have swiped right on one another's profiles. The selections a user makes are not known to other users unless two users swipe right on each other's profiles. Once the user has matches, they can send personal photos, called "Tinder Moments", to all matches at once, allowing each match to like the photos. The site also has verified profiles for public figures, so that celebrities and other public figures can verify their identities.

The app is available in about 190 countries and can be used in 45 languages.

Financials
Since merging with Tinder in July 2017, Match Group's market capitalization has grown from $8.34 billion to $44.59 billion as of October 14, 2021. In August 2021, Morgan Stanley valued Tinder's worth at $42 billion. The valuation is based on a multiple of 40x EBITDA, similar to its counterpart Bumble.

In March 2014, media and internet conglomerate IAC increased its majority stake in Tinder, a move that is believed to have valued Tinder at several billion dollars. In July 2015, Tinder was valued at $1.35 billion by Bank of America Merrill Lynch based upon an estimate of $27 per user on an estimated user base of 50 million with an additional bullish estimate of $3 billion by taking the average of the IPOs of similar companies. Analysts also estimated that Tinder had about half a million paid users within its user base, which consisted mostly of free users. The monetization of the site has come through leaving the basic app free and then adding different in-app purchase options for additional functions and features.

Paid subscriptions
Tinder launched its subscription version, Tinder Plus, in March 2015, with the functionality enabling limitless matches, whereas the free Tinder app restricts the number of right swipes in a 12-hour period. It has sparked debate by restricting the number of "likes" a free user may offer in a given length of time, as well as charging varying amounts for different age groups. The price of a Tinder Plus subscription was £14.99/US$19.99 per month for users over 28 and £3.99/US$9.99 per month for users 28 and under.

In 2016, Tinder independently increased paying members by nearly one million, while Match Group's 44 other brands added just 1.4 million.

In June 2017, Tinder launched Tinder Gold, a members-only service that offers users Tinder's most exclusive features: Passport, Rewind, Unlimited Likes, Likes You, five Super Likes per day, one Boost per month, and more profile controls. The price of a monthly membership started at $14.99 for users under 30 and $29.99 for users over 30.

As of December 2020, Tinder had 6.6 million paid users. According to a Match Group SEC filing, the growth in international and North American average subscribers was primarily driven by Tinder.

Users
Tinder is used widely throughout the world and available in over 190 countries and 56 languages. As of September 2021, an estimated 75 million people used the app every month. In late 2014, Tinder users averaged 12 million matches per day. To get those 12 million matches, users collectively made around 1 billion swipes per day. Tinder now limits users' number of available swipes per 12 hours based on an algorithm to make sure users are actually looking at profiles and not just spamming the app to rack up random matches. As of June 2016, Tinder may not be used by anyone under 18. If minors are found to be using Tinder, they are banned until they are 18. As of April 2015, Tinder users swiped through 1.6 billion Tinder profiles and made more than 26 million matches per day. More than 558 billion matches have been made since Tinder launched.

Advertising
An ad campaign launched by "The Barn" internship program of Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) used Tinder profiles to promote their NYC Puppy Rescue Project. BBH added Facebook pet profiles to the Tinder network. The campaign received media coverage from Slate, Inc., The Huffington Post, and others. In April 2015, Tinder revealed its first sponsored ad promoting Budweiser's next #Whatever, USA campaign.

On December 11, 2020, Tinder announced a partnership with popular artist Megan Thee Stallion for the Put Yourself Out There Challenge, giving $10,000 to users who made unique profiles.

Lawsuits
On June 30, 2014, former vice president of marketing Whitney Wolfe filed a sexual harassment and sex discrimination suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court against IAC-owned Match Group, Tinder's parent company. The lawsuit alleged that Rad and Mateen had engaged in discrimination, sexual harassment, and retaliation against her, while Tinder's corporate supervisor, IAC's Sam Yagan, did nothing. IAC suspended Mateen from his position pending an ongoing investigation, and stated that it "acknowledges that Mateen sent private messages containing inappropriate content, but it believes Mateen, Rad and the company are innocent of the allegations". The suit was settled with no admission of wrongdoing, and Wolfe reportedly received over $1 million in the settlement.

In March 2018, Match Group sued Bumble, arguing that it was guilty of patent infringement and of stealing trade secrets from Tinder. In June 2020, an undisclosed settlement was reached between Match Group and Bumble to settle all litigations.

In December 2018, The Verge reported that Tinder had dismissed its vice president of marketing and communication, Rosette Pambakian. Pambakian alleged former Match Group and IAC CEO Greg Blatt sexually assaulted her in a hotel room after a company party in December 2016. She further accused the company of firing her when she reported the incident.

In August 2018, Rad, Mateen, and eight other former and current Tinder executives filed suit against Match Group and IAC, alleging that they manipulated the 2017 valuation of the company to deny them billions of dollars they were owed. The suit charges that Match Group and IAC executives deliberately manipulated the data given to the banks, overestimating expenses and underestimating potential revenue growth, to keep the 2017 valuation artificially low. Tinder's 2017 valuation was set at $3 billion, unchanged from a valuation that had been done two years earlier, despite rapid growth in revenue and subscribers. The plaintiffs sought more than $2 billion in damages. The trial was scheduled to begin on November 8, 2021. On December 1, 2021, Match Group and the plaintiffs settled for $441 million.

Privacy concerns
Critics have raised concerns about Tinder regarding issues including cybersecurity, data privacy, and public health. Public health officials in Rhode Island and Utah have claimed that Tinder and similar apps are responsible for an increase in some STDs. In February 2014, security researchers in New York found a flaw that made it possible to find users' precise locations for between 40 and 165 days. Tinder's spokesperson, Rosette Pambakian, said the issue was resolved within 48 hours. Tinder CEO Sean Rad said in a statement that shortly after being contacted, Tinder implemented specific measures to enhance location security and further obscure location data. In August 2016, two engineers found another flaw that showed all users' matches' exact locations. The location was updated every time a user logged into the app, even for blocked matches. The issue was detected in March 2016 and fixed in August 2016.

In July 2017, a study published in Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing found that Tinder users are excessively willing to disclose their personally identifiable information. In September 2017, The Guardian published an article by a journalist who requested all data that the Tinder app had recorded about her from the company and found that Tinder stores all user messages, user locations and times, the characteristics of users who interest a particular user, the characteristics of particular users of interest to other users, and the length of time users spend looking at particular pictures, which for the journalist amounted to 800 pages of detail.

Safety
In 2021, Tinder partnered with and invested in Garbo, a nonprofit background check company, to add a feature enabling users to run background checks on their matches. Critics believe the integration of background check software discriminates against the third of the adult U.S. working population who have criminal records. Another issue critics raised was the background checks' unreliability, since they disproportionately impact Black people and other ethnic minorities. A Prison Policy Initiative spokesperson claimed that because the U.S. applies laws unequally, introducing criminal background checks to dating apps filters out marginalized groups. Moreover, public records and court documents often contain erroneous or outdated information. Garbo does not advertise drug possession charges or traffic violations in an attempt to combat further marginalization.

In 2022, Tinder announced a partnership with the campaign group No More in an attempt to protect its users against domestic violence, especially women, who are more vulnerable. The No More feature will educate users about safe dating.

Banning of trans people
In August 2015, Business Insider reported that transgender Tinder users were being reported and banned for being transgender. The article included an interview with a trans woman who also described abusive messages she received that included transmisogyny and homophobia. In December 2017, Vice reported that the pattern of being reported and banned had continued. The article included an anecdote from American YouTuber Kat Blaque, saying that every account she had ever had on Tinder had been banned.

In March 2018, an article in The Cut reported that a trans woman sued Tinder for removing her profile and refusing to explain why it had been deleted. The article further reported that many transgender people had their accounts reported and banned, some within several hours of opening them. In October 2019, PinkNews reported that the reporting and banning of trans people had continued. The article stated that Tinder has "50 gender options" but bans trans users for their gender identity. A trans woman is reported as saying, "the fact that the system can be abused in such a way just shows, yet again, that they [Tinder] don't care about the trans and non-binary people using their app."

In late 2019, articles in Reuters and The Independent focused on Tinder's lack of action to correct the issue of transgender users' accounts being reported and banned. In August 2022, an article in The Cut highlighted the issue again. One trans woman interviewed recommended OkCupid as friendlier to LGBTQ+ people.

Reviews
The New York Times wrote that the wide use of Tinder could be attributed not to what Tinder was doing right but to flaws in the models of earlier dating software, which relied on mathematical algorithms to select potential partners. Relationship experts interviewed by the newspaper said that users used the photos that come in succession on the app to derive cues as to social status, confidence levels, and personal interests. Marie Claire wrote that the app was "easy to use on the run," "natural," and "addictive" due to its game style, but that "it's hard to focus" and Tinder "is still very casual sex-focused—many are only on Tinder for a quick hook-up, so if it's a serious relationship you're after this app might not be for you."

In September 2020, the Pakistani government announced that it would ban five dating apps, including Tinder, because the apps provided immoral or indecent content that does not comply with Pakistani law.

User behavior
Men use dating apps and websites more than women do—both by frequency of use and number of users. According to Statista, as of March 2021, 75.8% of the U.S. Tinder user base is male and 24.2% is female. The first study on swiping strategies revealed that "men tend to like a large proportion of the women they view but receive only a tiny fraction of matches in return—just 0.6 percent", while women are much more selective about swiping but match at a 10% higher rate than men. The study also found that women are more engaged, take longer to compose their messages, and write longer messages.

According to University of Texas at Austin psychologist David Buss, "Apps like Tinder and OkCupid give people the impression that there are thousands or millions of potential mates out there. One dimension of this is the impact it has on men's psychology. When there is ... a perceived surplus of women, the whole mating system tends to shift towards short-term dating," and there is a feeling of disconnect when choosing future partners. The appearance of an abundance of potential partners may cause online daters to be less likely to choose a partner and be less satisfied with their choices of partners. Data released by Tinder in 2018 showed that of the 1.6 billion swipes it records per day, 26 million result in matches (a match rate of approximately 1.63%).

In August 2015, journalist Nancy Jo Sales wrote in Vanity Fair that Tinder operates within a culture of users seeking sex without relationships. In 2017, the Department of Communications Studies at Texas Tech University conducted a study to see how infidelity was connected to Tinder. The experiment was conducted on 550 students from an unnamed university in the southwestern United States. The students first provided their demographic information and then answered questions about Tinder's link to infidelity. The results showed that more than half reported having seen somebody on Tinder they knew was in an exclusive relationship (63.9%), while 73.1% of participants reported that they knew male friends who used Tinder while in a relationship, and 56.1% reported that they had female friends who used Tinder while in a relationship. Psychologists Douglas T. Kenrick, Sara E. Gutierres, Laurie L. Goldberg, Steven Neuberg, Kristin L. Zierk, and Jacquelyn M. Krones have demonstrated experimentally that after exposure to photos of or stories about desirable potential mates, people decrease their ratings of commitment to their partners. David Buss has estimated that approximately 30% of men on Tinder are married.

Before Tinder, most online dating services matched people according to their autobiographical information, such as interests, hobbies, and future plans. Tinder places a higher weight on first impressions. For social scientists studying human courtship behavior, Tinder offers a much simpler environment than its predecessors. In a 2016 study analyzing Tinder users' behavior in New York City and London, researchers created with three profiles using stock photographs, two with actual photographs of volunteers, one with no photos, and one that was apparently deactivated. All pictures were of people of average physical attractiveness. These profiles then liked all profiles presented to them, and then counted the number of returning likes. The researchers found that men liked a large proportion of the profiles they viewed, but received returning likes only 0.6% of the time, while women were much more selective but received matches 10% of the time. Men received matches at a much slower rate than women. Once they received a match, women were far more likely than men to send a message, 21% compared to 7%, but took more time to do so. Tyson and his team found that for the first two-thirds of messages from each sex, women sent them within 18 minutes of receiving a match compared to five minutes for men. Men's first messages had an average of 12 characters and were typical simple greetings; by contrast, initial messages by women averaged 122 characters.

By sending out questionnaires to frequent Tinder users, the researchers discovered that the reason men tended to like a large proportion of the women they saw was to increase their chances of a match. This led to a feedback loop in which men liked more and more of the profiles they saw, while women could afford to be more selective in liking profiles because of a greater probability of a match. The feedback loop's mathematical limit occurs when men like all profiles they see while women find a match whenever they like a profile. It was not known whether some evolutionarily stable strategy has emerged, nor has Tinder revealed such information.

Tyson and his team found that even though the men-to-women ratio of their data set was approximately one, the male profiles received 8,248 matches while the female profiles received 532, because the vast majority of the matches for both the male and female profiles came from male profiles (with 86% of the matches for the male profiles alone coming from other male profiles), leading the researchers to conclude that gay men were "far more active in liking than heterosexual women." On the other hand, the deactivated male account received all of its matches from women. The researchers were not sure why that happened.