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Skills you'll build
How dating apps keep you engaged (not romantically)
The design equivalent of clickbait headlines
How Hinge leverages social scarcity
Hinge has one of the most self-defeating taglines in product history.
"Designed to be deleted".
The implication is that they're the honest dating app. They want you to find someone, leave, and never come back.
And it resonates. In 2025, the number of paying users grew by 16.5%, while revenue disproportionately jumped by 26%.
In other words, they're getting better at persuading users to spend money. How have they done this? Clever design.
This case study isn't about the business model of dating apps (they do need to make money somehow).
It's about the specific ways that the interface is designed to keep you inside a cycle.
Case study
Written by Peter Ramsey
Published
Last edited
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