r/technology • u/thinkB4WeSpeak • Sep 11 '26

Society Dating Apps Are Dying

https://time.com/article/2026/09/09/dating-apps-are-dying/
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u/GargantuanCake Sep 11 '26

Apparently there was a time a while back where Hinge's leadership realized that its algorithm was working too well. People were forging relationships and once you're in one you aren't a customer anymore. So they decided to create a system that essentially sabotaged relationship forming.

The problem is that dating apps ended up going too far in the other direction; a dating app needs to, you know, actually lead to dates for people to use it. That however just isn't happening anymore. Meanwhile Tinder in particular got obliterated by an avalanche of bot accounts, scammers, and women just using it to promote their OnlyFans. The app that was supposed to get you laid stopped getting you laid so unsurprisingly people stopped using it.

Same with the dating and relationship apps; they quit leading to dating and relationships so people abandoned them. Weird how that works out. If you quit giving your customers what they want they leave.

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u/DoctorOctagonapus Sep 11 '26

When your entire business model revolves around making yourself redundant to your customer base, I don't know what people were expecting.

I'd like to see a not-for-profit dating app. I reckon that would work quite well.

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u/GargantuanCake Sep 11 '26

Be that as it may once people stop finding dates and relationships on the apps they leave them. This was the core issue with the "we must stop relationships from forming" decision. Meanwhile they're facing a PR nightmare thanks to the fact that dating apps are in general absolute cesspits now.

Paradoxically people forging relationships is kind of important for the long term existence of matchmaking apps and services as relationships tend to lead to families. If nobody has any children then no children are growing up to be adults who want to forge their own relationships. It's a stupid decision overall as people do sometimes break up and again children grow up into adults eventually. They'd have new customers entering the dating market just by virtue of how human existence works but decided that the thing to do was to sabotage relationship formation in general. Granted they're also assuming that long term singlehood won't just make people outright give up. Why waste your time on dating apps if you aren't getting any dates?

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u/SleeplessStoner Sep 11 '26

Bro they aren’t thinking a generation ahead of time, they’re thinking what gets us the most for the next two quarters

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u/mike_b_nimble Sep 11 '26

That's too generous. These fucknuts only think one quarter at at time. It doesn't matter if the business shuts down next quarter, as long as I make the absolute most profit possible this quarter. Nobody ever taught them that sustainable returns eventually nets you more than a single massive spike followed by collapse.

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u/Ryuujinx Sep 11 '26

Nobody ever taught them that sustainable returns eventually nets you more than a single massive spike followed by collapse.

But it makes less then a giant spike, then getting out and your returns into something else. As long as they aren't the one holding the bag in the end, they don't really care about what happens to the business after.

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u/VictorReal_Monster Sep 11 '26

Yeah god forbid you realize that if you get people together on your app they'll create babies and tell those babies how they met.

It's like the easiest longterm business ever but NOOOOOOOOOOO gotta make that dosh as quick as fucking possible.