Popular dating app Bumble is killing off the ‘swipe’ in favor of AI matchmaking

# Popular dating app Bumble is killing off the ‘swipe’ in favor of AI matchmaking Source: [https://www.the-independent.com/tech/bumble-dating-app-swipe-ai-b2973174.html](https://www.the-independent.com/tech/bumble-dating-app-swipe-ai-b2973174.html) The Bumble[dating app](https://www.the-independent.com/topic/dating-app)will end the use of the swipe gesture on its app and replace even that meager human input with an AI\. Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd told[*Axios*](https://www.axios.com/2026/05/07/bumble-removes-swipe-hinge-tinder)on Wednesday that the[dating app](https://www.the-independent.com/voices/linkedin-dating-apps-hinge-bumble-career-move-b2900465.html)will shift to rely on AI\-driven matchmaking\. The company will incorporate the change during a relaunch planned for later this year\. "We are going to be saying goodbye to the swipe and hello to something that I believe is revolutionary for the category," Wolfe Herd told*Axios*\. Bumble is the second most\-used dating app in the world, with Tinder sitting at the top of the mountain\. The dating app swipe was popularized by[Tinder](https://www.the-independent.com/life-style/tinder-new-features-ai-app-b2947959.html), but other apps — such as Hinge, the world's third most\-popular dating app — don't use it at all\. "People are feeling exhausted, they're feeling fatigued\. They feel like the swipe has degraded their love lives," Wolfe Herd said\.  Bumble announced an overhaul planned for later in the year will see the end of the swipe gesture and the incorporation of AI\-assisted matchmaking into the app's features\.\(AFP/Getty\) The new Bumble will roll out in a limited number of markets in the fourth quarter\. No timeline was provided for exactly when the broader user base will see the changes\. It's still unclear exactly how Bumble's AI will be different from the algorithms that drive other dating apps\. In March, Bumble announced it was wading into the waters of generative AI with a new dating assistant app, named "Bee\." According to the company, Bee is supposed to act as a personal match\-maker for users, according to[*Tech Crunch*](https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/12/bumble-introduces-an-ai-dating-assistant-bee/)\. Wolfe Herd did give some insight into how users might engage with the relaunched version of Bumble sans swipe\. “We will be introducing more dynamic ways for somebody to express interest in your story, rather than just your profile, and this is going to drive more dynamic engagement, spark better conversation, and ultimately drive better KPIs across the board — like engagement and chances to get better conversations going,” Wolfe Herd said\. “You will also see us take a much more deliberate approach to getting people offline versus just in what people refer to as dead\-end chat zones\.” Gestures are not the only feature being removed\. Bumble will also end its policy of letting women initiate conversations\. "We will not force one gender over another to do something first," Wolfe Herd said, before insisting that the app would preserve "the essence of what was always meant to be women making the first move\." Bumble's overhaul comes amid several lackluster quarters for the company and a cratering in its paid user base\. In the first quarter of 2026, Bumble's paid users dropped approximately 21 percent to 3\.2 million, down from 4 million last year\. Wolfe Herd, during a recent quarterly earnings call, claimed that the drop in users was a "deliberate reset\." “This is a period of real transformation at Bumble over the past few quarters," she said\. “We have executed a deliberate reset of our member base\. We made a clear choice to prioritize quality over quantity, focusing on well\-intentioned, engaged members\. That decision reduced overall scale, but meaningfully improved the health of our ecosystem\.” Despite the drop, Bumble still reported better\-than\-expected earnings for its fourth quarter\. While the overall number of paying users had dropped, the average revenue generated per paying user increased up to 7\.9 percent to $22\.20\.