Tinder is leaning into dating appsโ reputation for superficiality with the launch of a new feature that lets paid subscribers add their height preferences to their profiles.
After a Reddit user posted a photo of the new height setting in the Tinder app, a company spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch that the discovery setting has been launched as a global test.
Tinder Gold and Premium subscribers in the test group will have access to the feature, but not free users, weโre told. In addition, the setting will indicate a preference, rather than functioning as a โhard filter,โ the company says. That means it wonโt actually block or exclude profiles but instead inform recommendations.
โWeโre always listening to what matters most to our Tinder users โ and testing the paid height preference is a great example of how weโre building with urgency, clarity, and focus,โ said Phil Price Fry, VP Comms at Tinder, in an emailed statement. โThis is part of a broader effort to help people connect more intentionally on Tinder. Our new product principles guide every decision, and this one speaks directly to a few: prioritizing user outcomes, moving fast, and learning quickly. Not every test becomes a permanent feature, but every test helps us learn how we can deliver smarter, more relevant experiences and push the category forward.โ
While typically dating apps let users filter for people by more traditional concerns, like someoneโs age or whether they want a long-term relationship or kids, the height setting is likely to cause more controversy and concern.
Since the rise of online dating, a focus on someoneโs physicality โ like their looks or size โ has become a primary factor in determining whoโs worth a match. Tinder helped accelerate this trend thanks to its user interface, which puts a heavy emphasis on looking through peopleโs photos. Other Tinder users often quickly react to those photos with left or right swipes to indicate interest.
In addition to exposing peopleโs preferences for the conventionally attractive, dating appsโ popularity led to a culture where a bias toward taller men became the norm. Itโs not uncommon to come across profiles where women state theyโre only looking for matches who are at least 6 feet tall, for instance โ even if in real life theyโd be more flexible about this requirement.
Tinder has even poked fun at this trend in previous years, like when it made an April Foolsโ Day announcement that it would introduce a โheight verificationโ feature in its app. (Many men didnโt find this particular joke funny.) The height bias has also been the subject of other parodies, like when designer Soren Iverson imagined a version of Tinder that let men override usersโ height requirements for a fee.
The company may hope that the addition of a height setting could encourage more women to use and pay for the app, which tends to be more heavily dominated by men both in the U.S. and internationally.
The testโs launch follows Tinder parent Matchโs recent earnings, which revealed a 5% fall in paying users. Paid subscribers across Matchโs dating apps fell to 14.2 million in the first quarter, down from 14.9 million users a year ago. The company is in the middle of another CEO transition, with Match CEO Spencer Rascoff set to run Tinder too later this summer.
