Once Stops Being a Dating App

Once launched in 2015 with a deliberately slow idea: one hand-picked match a day, when the rest of the category was racing to add more swipes. By the time Dating Group bought it in January 2021, for $18 million in cash and stock, Once said it had about 9 million users.

Today its U.S. App Store listing reads "Once: Chat & Connect App," with the subtitle "Not Another Dating App." The business model has moved with it. Alongside subscriptions of $14.99 to $29.99 a month, Once sells an in-app currency, Gems, in packs from $11.99 to $199.99, which users spend to keep conversations going. Paying subscribers need Gems too.

Users have noticed. The app holds 3.9 stars from about 55,000 App Store ratings, but recent reviews repeatedly complain about paying for Gems on top of a subscription and about profiles that feel automated. Once denies that it uses fake profiles.

Why it matters: Once is a clear case of a dating brand being turned into a pay-per-message chat business, a model with a long history in the lower end of the market. It can lift revenue per user in the short term. It also trades away the trust that made the brand worth buying, and it puts the product in the path of regulators now focused on fraud and fake profiles.

Sources: TechCrunch on the 2021 acquisition · Once on the U.S. App Store