The newsroom for the people building the dating industry.
This Week in Dating Business
The Romance Scam Prevention Act Is Now Law. Dating Apps Have Until October 2027.
Match and Grindr Report Next Week. Here Is What to Watch.
States Challenge Character.AI's Sale Process Ahead of October 30 Hearing
Match Group Partners With India's Cybercrime Centre on Romance Scam Warnings
Three Plead Guilty in $9 Million Romance Fraud Case Built on Fake Dating Profiles
ProductBumble Adds Searchable Usernames Called HandlesBumble launched Handles, optional searchable @usernames that let people find a specific profile without sharing a phone number. Matching rules are unchanged.
ProductTinder Launches Group Hangouts, Matching Friend Groups With Each OtherTinder's new Group Hangouts lets friend groups match with other groups around a shared activity, starting in the U.S.
ProductOnce Stops Being a Dating AppThe app built on one curated match a day now sells chat, charging in-app currency to keep talking, even to paying subscribers.
ProductPLEEZR Bets Matching on 'Masculine and Feminine Energy'PLEEZR launched this month with a matching algorithm built around a proprietary assessment of users' "masculine and feminine energy ratios," promising fewer matches with deeper compatibility. Founder…
ProductTinder Is Making a Reality Show Because It Can't Fix the AppTinder is producing 'Double Date Island,' a long-form reality series with TikTok, spanning eight countries with location shoots in Portugal. Match Group (MTCH) disclosed in Q3 2024 that Tinder's avera…
ProductMirrorMe Charges R488 a Month for Safe Dating. Vetting Unclear.MirrorMe, a Johannesburg startup built by GIOX DEV, charges up to R488 (£22) monthly for full access to its invite-only dating app in South Africa, a price representing over 12% of the country's media…
ProductMatch Group's Own Survey: 47% of Singles View Dating AI Negatively64% of U.S. singles aged 18, 39 have used AI to craft dating profiles or sustain conversations, per a Match Group survey of roughly 1,000 respondents 47% view AI negatively in romantic relationships,…
ProductChispa Bets on Football Heartbreak With 'Lucky Losers'Match Group's (MTCH) Chispa app launched a 'Lucky Losers' campaign targeting Latino singles around football tournament eliminations. Chispa's own survey claims 97.4% of single Latino football fans wou…
ProductDating Apps Optimized for the Wrong Thing and Got an Identity CrisisIndian media reports claim Gen Z are using Hinge for job-hunting and LinkedIn for dating. No platform data, no usage statistics, and no confirmation from either company supports these claims. Match Gr…
ProductHornet Takes Its Reality Competition Model Into TurkeyHornet's 2025 Thailand Model Search attracted over 1,000 participants and contributed to record active user levels in the market. The platform is expanding the program to Turkey and Thailand in 2026 w…
ProductMAXION Bets an Anti-Algorithm Pivot on Dubai's Burned-Out Daters79% of dating app users report burnout according to industry data cited by MAXION, a UAE dating app targeting Dubai professionals aged 28 to 45 Fewer than 5% of women plan to continue using convention…
ProductGuardian Flame Built the Safety System Big Platforms Refused ToGuardian Flame launched in New Zealand this month with mandatory government ID verification and a risk-scoring system built on previous dates' feedback. The app was directly inspired by the 2018 murde…
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