Tinder tests a controversial height filter as paid dating apps users keep dropping

Love is a lot less lucrative lately—if you’re the company that owns Tinder (MTCH), Hinge and OKCupid.

Shares in Match Group fell 7% on Thursday after the company reported its paid user group shrunk 5% by 700,000 people—from 14.9 million users in 2023 to 14.2 million in 2024, and its plans to cut 13% of its workforce.

New CEO Spencer Rascoff, who started the job in February, faces uncertain times in the online dating market. User engagement has slowed due to inflation and lack of new features, although both Match and Bumble (BMBL), its main U.S. competitor, are using AI features to try and improve user experience.

One new Tinder feature has been controversial: a new trial allowing paying users to use height as a filter. It’s raised the ire of self-identified “short kings” concerned about “heightism.” Hinge, on the other hand, already has height as a filter. Match Group owns both companies. In 2010, OKCupid said its research showed that most men inflate their height by two inches.

While 2010 to 2016 is considered the peak of popularity for dating apps, global revenue and number of users continue to rise. A 2024 survey by Forbes found that 45% of Americans thought apps were the best place to find a date.

Yet those people are likely older: a 2023 Axios survey found that a whopping 79% of college-age adults don’t use any dating apps at all. “I feel dating apps have ruined the dating scene for many people my age and ruined their self-confidence,” one Texan student told Axios. Digital natives might turn to analog solutions instead, like fitness clubs.

Bumble’s revenue was also down in its first-quarter report, although it met its revenue target; its shares rose in April after the news.