Bumble says it will remove swiping in a redesigned app this year

In short: Bumble says it plans to stop using the swipe feature later this year as part of a major redesign.

What happened

Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd said the company will “say goodbye to the swipe” in an interview with Axios, according to TechCrunch. Swiping is the familiar left or right gesture many dating apps use to sort through profiles.

The change is expected to come with a broader overhaul of the app later this year. Bumble has had several disappointing quarters, and TechCrunch reports the company has been losing paying users. In the first quarter, paid users fell about 21% to 3.2 million, down from 4 million a year earlier.

Wolfe Herd has described the company as focusing on “quality over quantity,” meaning fewer users overall but more active and well-intentioned members. TechCrunch also notes Bumble is expected to lean more into AI, which is software that can make suggestions by learning from patterns (like a very fast assistant that guesses what might work). Bumble is working on an AI dating assistant called Bee.

Why it matters

For many people, swiping is basically the main way dating apps work, like flipping through cards in a deck. If Bumble removes it, the app could feel very different, and it may change how quickly people move through matches and start conversations. It is also another sign that dating apps are experimenting with AI features, even as some younger users say they do not want AI to be too “in your face.”

Source: TechCrunch AI