Tinder is eyeing a new AI-powered feature called Chemistry to help alleviate so-called “swipe fatigue,” a growing problem among online daters who are experiencing burnout and seeking better results.
The Match-owned dating app, introduced last quarter, said Chemistry leverages AI to get to know you through questions and, with your permission, can access your phone’s camera roll to learn more about your interests and personality.
During Match’s Q4 2026 earnings call, one Morgan Stanley analyst asked for an update on the product’s success to date.
Match CEO Spencer Rascoff said that while Chemistry was only being tested in Australia for the time being, the feature would give users “an AI-powered way to interact with Tinder.” He explained that users can choose to answer questions to “just get a drop or two instead of swiping through a bunch of profiles.”
In addition to Chemistry’s Q&A and Camera Roll features, the CEO hinted that the company plans to use its AI capabilities in other ways going forward.
Most importantly, Raskoff said the feature is designed to address complaints from users about swipe fatigue, or having to swipe through too many profiles to find a potential match.
The company’s pivot to AI comes as Tinder and other dating apps have suffered from declining paid memberships, user burnout and a drop in new sign-ups.
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In the fourth quarter, new Tinder registrations were still down 5% year over year, and monthly active users were down 9%. These numbers represent a slight improvement compared to last quarter, and Match attributes this to AI-driven recommendations and other product experiments that change the order of profiles that women see.
Mutch said this year he aims to address common challenges for Gen Z, such as increasing relevance, credibility and authenticity. To that end, the company said it is redesigning Discovery to make it less repetitive and using other features such as Face Check, a facial recognition verification system, to reduce malicious actors. At Tinder, Mutch noted that the latter has reduced interactions with bad actors by more than 50%.
Tinder’s decision to start moving away from swipes to more targeted AI-powered recommendations could have a big impact on the dating app. The swiping method now popularized by Tinder tricks users into thinking they are choosing from a myriad of profiles. But in reality, the app presents the illusion of selection because the match has to connect in both directions, and even then a spark is not guaranteed.
The company delivered fourth-quarter earnings of $878 million and EPS of 83 cents per share, beating Wall Street expectations. However, the stock fell on Tuesday on weak guidance, but rose again in pre-market trading on Wednesday.
Beyond AI, Match will also power product marketing to increase engagement on Tinder. The company has committed to spending $50 million on marketing for Tinder, including creator campaigns on TikTok and Instagram where users will claim “Tinder is cool again,” Raskoff noted.
