New Management and Initiatives Aim to Prevent Tinder From Losing Users

Tinder appears to be losing its steady growth of not only paid subscribers, but also new app installs. Bernard Kim is heading the dating app as well as its parent company Match Group and has installed a new executive team he hopes will turn the ship around.

According to Bloomberg, Tinder hit a high of almost 80 million users in 2020, in part due to a global pandemic and more people turning to dating apps while they were in lockdown. Since, the app has declined to 75.7 million users in 2021 and just last year fell to 71.1 million users.

At the same time, new users for Hinge and Bumble have increased. For Bumble, new installs of its signature app have jumped over 60 percent, from 18.1 million in 2020 to 29 million in 2022. And Hinge is showing strong growth as well, with 11.1 million new users in 2022 compared to 8.4 million in 2020.

Tinder’s global users have been flat since 2019, according to data from Sensor Tower, compared to Bumble and Hinge’s users, which have increased 87 and 140 percent during the same period, respectively.

Bloomberg points out Match Group’s revenue dilemma: Hinge and Tinder set limits in place for using the app. If you want to message someone you find attractive, there’s a paywall to do so. Since the recession, people have opted out of dating app subscriptions and paying for premium services, which has also meant declining revenue growth for these apps. And while Tinder and Hinge are adding attractive features like relationship goals to user profiles, whether people will pay for these services is up in the air, according to Bloomberg.

Still, according to Hindustan Times, there is room for Tinder to grow. Only 16 percent of 18-24 year-old singles use the app in the U.S., so there is a larger market to reach. In addition, about 85 percent of Tinder’s 71 million users don’t pay for it, so there is potential for generating more revenue.

Tinder is also involved in lawsuits against Apple and Alphabet for Google’s Play Store, in a bid to capture significant revenue from each in-app purchase made by users on these platforms, which could mean a boon to Tinder’s revenue potential.

Part of the problem is a messaging one, according to experts. Tinder has a hookup reputation, which is complicated by the growing Gen Z market, whose preferences are harder to pin down. Gender identity and sexuality is more fluid for this age group, and they crave an app that is more inclusive, which is why Tinder has added features to address these needs in recent years.

Dating app users also want to feel safer on the apps – as The Hindustan Times points out, fewer women are downloading Tinder these days. New initiatives like notifications for potential romance scammers and Face Verification aim to alleviate these issues.