Kim Harris

Match Group's Chine Mmegwa told City AM Tinder had been static but is evolving, as Tinder's daily active user decline narrowed to 4% in Q2.

The BBC reports singles citing app fatigue are choosing in-person events at £15 to £30, while Match Group says Tinder is bringing IRL experiences into the app.

Durham police laid three more charges against Salvatore Malandrino in an alleged romance fraud involving over $1M, after more alleged victims came forward.

Bloomberg reports wealthy tech-industry clients are paying human matchmakers instead of using apps, while Match Group says Hinge payers rose 17% to 2M.

CNN reports Bumble is dropping the swipe and Grindr is piloting bot-to-bot chats to vet dates, but gives no pilot details. Grindr Q2 revenue rose 33%.

Tinder ran a free three-day SwipeCenter game centre in Shibuya on 18-20 September, with a dating game and coins earned by downloading and using the app.

Bumble will drop swiping in select markets from Q4 2026, Axios reported. It was piloting AI assistant Bee in March. Q2 paying users fell 16.4% to 3.2M.

Known, the swipe-free app from two 22-year-old Stanford dropouts, matches members after an AI voice interview of about 30 minutes and charges $15 per match.

Bumble launched opt-in searchable Handles for verified US iOS members on 14 October, one day after agreeing a $1.3B take-private by Ithaca Holdings.

Miami startup Stoke plans a five-venue Wynwood pilot for its free check-in dating app, then a January launch targeting 60 venue partners, Axios reports.

Character.AI has filed for Chapter 11 and Disney bid $20M for a licence to its tech. What the sale and new state demands mean for dating apps.

Adam Mosseri says Instagram has no plans for a dating feature. What that means for Match Group, Bumble, Hinge and Meta's Facebook Dating.

A Rochester federal judge sentenced Stephen Odiboh to 33 months and $196,500 in restitution over a romance scam with $356,500 in total loss and attempted loss.

Hinge now gives daters who commit minor harassment in chats a warning and a compulsory lesson, not a ban. Serious and repeat cases still mean removal.

Tinder launched Group Hangouts, letting up to 15 people share one profile. In Australian testing, 40% of group invitations were accepted.

AI dating service Ditto grew from 42,000 sign-ups in February to 200,000 across 20-25 US campuses, and has raised $10.8 million in total.

Dating app SPARK is rebranding as a 'real-world social network' for venue-based meetups after 1,400 bookings in Thailand over 12 months of testing.

Singapore's GovTech has launched FirstDate, a dating app giving civil servants aged 21 to 35 one match at a time, amid a fertility rate of 0.87 in 2025.

Grindr will make PrEP accessible directly in its app from next year, CEO George Arison said, moving beyond HIV prevention awareness.

After5.pm has launched in San Francisco, replacing swiping and matching with small-group meetups every evening from 5 p.m. The app is self-funded.