Hayley Birkin

Chapter 2 Dating, a UK app for bereaved singles, has reached 25,000 users, the company says. Founder Nicky Wake also runs WidowsFire and has bought M14.

Bumble's Q1 revenue was $212.4M, but paying users fell 21.1% to 3.2 million. Net earnings rose 165.4% to $52.6M ahead of the Q4 2026 "Bee" AI launch.

47% of Gen Z would rather meet a partner at a book club than on a dating app, according to ThriftBooks research, pressing Match Group and Bumble.

Match Group posted Q1 revenue of $864M, beating estimates, as paying subscribers fell 5% to 13.5 million and it said it will slow hiring.

Dating app Known charges $15 per confirmed first date, not subscriptions, and has raised $10M. Its founder reports a 50% acceptance rate on proposed matches.

Meta uses AI to analyse height and bone structure in photos to identify users under 13 on Facebook and Instagram, which dating apps should watch.

Match Group has invested $100M for a minority stake in Sniffies, with an option to acquire the app outright later. Announced on 27 April.

Hinge has launched 'Signals', an unpurchasable badge for users who send personalised messages and confirm dates, but it gave no data on relationship outcomes.

Match Group is partnering with World to introduce iris-scanning verification on Tinder. World has faced action in Spain, Kenya and Germany.

Machine Zone co-founder Mike Sherrill has backed SPARK, a Singapore dating app that aims to cut screen time, with an undisclosed sum.

Bumble has taken a $475 million senior secured term loan from STORY3 Capital Partners and lenders to retire its existing term loan in full.

Swiss dating startup noii dropped its matching algorithm for in-person events and drew 350 attendees to its first German event in Stuttgart.

EliteSingles shuts permanently on 30 April 2026 with 48 hours' notice, as parent Spark Networks faces insolvency proceedings in Germany.

Americans lost $2.1 billion to social media scams in 2025, the FTC says, while dating apps face heavier safety duties than social platforms.

Grindr is running a Madonna campaign for Confessions II in its app, testing ad revenue beyond subscriptions across 14 million monthly active users.

South Korea fined matchmaker Duo 1.2 billion won ($810,000) over a January 2025 breach affecting nearly 430,000 users and a three-day reporting delay.

Kochi Prefecture in Japan will reimburse residents aged 20 to 39 up to 20,000 yen (£93) annually for state-approved matchmaking platforms.

Clarifai has deleted 3 million OkCupid photos and models trained on them, the FTC says, over a 2014 transfer that breached OkCupid's privacy policy.

Psychiatrist Amir Levine argues Match Group's $9 billion app business exploits users' threat-detection systems, and 78% report emotional exhaustion.

California's SB 598 would make dating apps run criminal background checks on all users and flag violent felony and sex crime convictions.