Bumble is officially killing the swipe

When Bumble posted a cryptic image on Instagram telling the swipe that "it's over," people questioned whether the dating app was really getting rid of swiping. Today, its founder and CEO, Whitney Wolfe Herd, confirmed that it is.

On "The Axios Show," Wolfe Herd said, "We are going to be saying goodbye to the swipe and hello to something that I believe is revolutionary for the category."

The change in the matching mechanism will hit certain markets starting in the fourth quarter of 2026.

What will replace the swipe? Wolfe Herd didn't say exactly, but it likely has to do with the new AI-driven matchmaking experience, Dates. Wolfe Herd has also mentioned on multiple earnings calls that Bumble is revamping the app's backend as well.

"We are evolving into our next chapter," Wolfe Herd told Axios's Sara Fischer, which is similar to what a Bumble spokesperson told Mashable yesterday when asked about the Instagram post.

The full episode doesn't appear to be live yet, but from Axios's own coverage, Wolfe Herd also said that the app will not "force one gender over another to do something first," yet the app will keep "the essence of what was always meant to be women making the first move."

Bumble has already begun moving away from its "women making the first move" ethos that it held since its inception in 2014.

In 2024, the app launched "Opening Moves" to let men message women first in heterosexual matches. Then-CEO Lidiane Jones said the move was at least partly due to dating app fatigue. Wolfe Herd soon returned as Bumble's CEO in early 2025, and in February 2026, the app removed the option in Mexico and Australia.

Swiping has been integral to Bumble's user experience since its launch, two years after Tinder (which Wolfe Herd also cofounded) popularized the "hot or not" swipe model. But given that Bumble's revenue and paying users are down year over year, it seems the company wants to try something new to regain those users.

Tinder, too, has seen financial dips recently, and it's also made some changes.

In March, Tinder released a suite of new features, including an AI matchmaker, Chemistry. Hinge, meanwhile, doesn't have swiping and keeps growing financially, suggesting that dating app users may be tired of rejecting someone with their thumb.