Bumble Drops Women-First Rule and Swipe Feature as Revenue Slumps After 30% Job Cuts
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 14
Bumble Drops Women-First Rule and Swipe Feature as Revenue Slumps After 30% Job Cuts
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 14
Summary
Bumble has now scrapped its signature women-message-first model and is preparing to remove swiping, dismantling the two features that defined the app since its 2014 launch.
30% of Bumble’s workforce has already been cut this year as paying users fell sharply and the company faced sustained share-price pressure, framing the redesign as a response to both weaker demand and changing user behavior.
66% of women told Bumble they preferred men to send the first message, and the company had already softened the old rule with Opening Moves and a longer 72-hour response window.
Across the nearly £10bn online-dating industry, rivals are also reworking swipe-and-match products around AI—Tinder is testing Chemistry, Grindr is shifting to an AI-first model, and Bumble is building its Bee assistant.
Researchers say that pivot may miss the deeper problem: users, especially Gen Z, increasingly distrust apps they see as monetizing loneliness and are wary of letting AI further into intimate relationships.