Hinge App Crashes and Some Users Lose Their Matches and Profiles

Popular dating app Hinge crashed on a Thursday late in August, and when users were once again able to log in, they found that some of their matches were gone. Many took to Twitter to voice their complaints.

The app crashed Thursday morning August 20th according to Insider, and the Hinge team worked to fix the problem and make it available again only 30 minutes later. However, when people began to log back in, some noticed problems – especially that their matches were no longer appearing in their queue.

Other problems occurred too: some user profiles remained intact, but others had various glitches that weren’t consistent. Some were told they attempted to log in too many times and were therefore blocked from trying. Some had their profiles deleted, others had their matches sent to the “likes” section, some lost their message threads with their matches, and still others lost their matches altogether.

Some users on Twitter recalled Hinge’s new tagline “designed to be deleted” to point out the irony of losing their matches on the app. One user tweeted: "Hinge: Designed to be deleted. Also Hinge: We deleted everyone.”

Hinge’s parent company Match Group rushed to put out a statement soon after, saying that they were working on the problem. A few hours later, the app appeared to be up and running without bugs, and users were able to get their messages, profiles and matches back.

Hinge is one of Match Group’s most popular apps, along with Tinder, OkCupid and Plenty of Fish, and Match Group has seen a user activity spike in the last several months as lockdowns from COVID-19 have occurred around the world. People turned to dating apps for connection, many of them using third party apps to video date. Match Group saw an opportunity to roll out video chat features in its suite of apps in response to the new demand, something the company says has only been popular since the pandemic began.

Hinge recently launched a video chat feature, where users who match and message each other can opt-in to start a video chat. Plenty of Fish was the first of Match’s apps to launch its new video feature, which includes livestream capabilities so users can tune in to each other’s feed in real time and send virtual gifts and messages. There is also Next Date, a virtual speed dating round where users can go from one livestream to the next.

Most recently, Tinder has begun testing its own in-app video chat feature in select markets.

Match Group recently exceeded revenue expectations in Q2, despite some initial concern of subscriber drop-offs in March and April. All of Match Group’s apps, including Hinge, have seen an increase in user activity.

For more on this dating service you can read our Hinge app review.