• Bumble is gearing up to launch a new version of its friend-making app, Bumble For Friends.
• Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd said BFF is a "long-term growth" opportunity for the company.
• The dating app company also outlined its plan to "return to growth."

Bumble isn't giving up on helping people find and make new friends.

In fact, it's doubling down on Bumble For Friends (BFF) and gearing up to launch a new version of the app in August, the company announced during its second quarter earnings call.

Bumble's CEO, Whitney Wolfe Herd, said the BFF app is "one of our most exciting long-term growth opportunities, especially as demand for friendship, real-world connection, and belonging continues to grow."

The new version of the BFF app is built on Geneva, a community-focused social platform Bumble acquired in 2024, as well as Bumble's safety infrastructure, Wolfe Herd said. She added that this version will combine "one-on-one matching and events, with community features to quickly follow, designed to help people build real friendships offline."

Bumble acquired Geneva for about $17 million, according to an 8-K filing from July 2024.

Wolfe Herd said BFF is a "big priority" for Bumble Inc., which is primarily known for its dating app.

"I cannot tell you how excited and how convicted we are in this future," she said. "The organic demand for Bumble For Friends, particularly from Gen Z women and younger millennial women, is extremely exciting."

Friend-making apps have been having a moment, too. Startups like 222, Pie, and Timeleft are trying to corner the in-real-life (IRL) market by setting people up with strangers or connecting them with communities in their city.

"We are a leading friendship app in the space, and frankly, we're the only one in the dating space that has a friend finding feature at scale, so this gives us a real competitive edge," Wolfe Herd said.

Meanwhile, Wolfe Herd got real about Gen Z on Bumble's earnings call.

"I think there's a bit of a misconception that Gen Z is some completely different species that doesn't think about love and connection the same way most of humanity does," she said.

But the qualms Gen Z feels toward dating apps (such as swiping fatigue, feeling judged, fears of rejection, or safety concerns) are "the same issues that everyone has struggled with online love," Wolfe Herd added.

Getting Bumble back on track for 'growth'

Bumble reported a 7.6% year-over-year decline in total revenue, with second-quarter revenue decreasing from $268.6 million in 2024 to $248.2 million in 2025. Total paying users declined 8.7% YoY, the company reported.

"Four months ago, I returned as CEO of Bumble and reset our strategy for quality over quantity across the whole business," Wolfe Herd said. "We've taken decisive actions over the last quarter. We've removed over $100 million from our cost base by streamlining operations, restructuring headcount, and shifting to a more efficient organic marketing engine."

Bumble in June announced plans to lay off 30% of its staff.

The company's changes outlined during Wednesday's earnings call are part of Wolfe Herd's plan to position Bumble for "a return to growth."

Bumble also announced the appointment of Kevin Cook as CFO, who was previously CFO at data software company Cloudera.

Meanwhile, Match Group, which owns Tinder and Hinge, reported earnings on Tuesday, shining a light on the latter app.

"Simply put, Hinge is crushing it," Match Group CEO Spencer Rascoff said on the company's earnings call. "Hinge's success should put to rest any doubts about whether the online dating category is out of favor among users."

• Match Group's CEO said that he was very pleased with Hinge's performance.
• Hinge's success contrasts with a broader decline in the online dating industry.
• The company plans to apply Hinge's strategies to improve Tinder's performance.

Hinge may be a bright spot in the fizzling online dating industry.

On Tuesday's earnings call for Hinge and Tinder parent Match Group, CEO Spencer Rascoff said that Hinge is an example of what can be achieved with a motivated team and a great product.

"Simply put, Hinge is crushing it," Rascoff said. "Hinge's success should put to rest any doubts about whether the online dating category is out of favor among users."

Match's chief financial officer, Steven Bailey, said that Hinge generated $168 million in revenue in the second quarter, a 25% increase from the same time last year.

The dating app's paying users grew by 18% year over year to 1.7 million, and revenue per paying user grew 6% to nearly $32.

Rascoff added that the company is following Hinge's formula in its turnaround plans for Tinder. The company did not disclose as many numbers for Tinder as it did for Hinge, but said the app's revenue was down 4%, to $461 million.

"Hinge's success gives me pride in Hinge, but also confidence in Tinder," the CEO said. "At Hinge, everything ladders up to one north star: getting users on more great dates."

Rascoff said that Hinge was successful because it keeps "intentionality" at the core of a user's dating experience and was using AI to craft "thoughtful high-quality responses, helping spark better first impressions."

'Numbers game'

In a memo in March, Rascoff, who joined Match as CEO in February, said that Tinder and Hinge users feel that the company is too driven by metrics.

"Too often, our apps have felt like a numbers game rather than a place to build real connections," Rascoff wrote, adding that this needs to change.

"I've heard incredible stories of love," Rascoff said. "But I've also heard frustration from users searching for real, meaningful matches and expecting more from the experience."

Rascoff's overhaul of the platforms follows a broader sentiment shift away from online dating. Swiping fatigue and the rising costs of going on dates are leading many users to ditch apps for outlets that allow in-person connections.

Between May 2023 and the end of 2024, more than half a million users left Tinder, according to a report from the UK-based online behavior research group Ofcom.

That's showing up in dating apps' bottom lines.

Revenue for rival app Bumble decreased 6.5% to $201.8 million in the first quarter of the year. Bumble reports its second-quarter earnings on Wednesday, August 6.

On Tuesday, Match reported $864 million in second-quarter revenue, unchanged from the same time last year. It reported a 5% drop in operating profit to $194 million.

Match's stock rose close to 7% after hours on Tuesday. The company is down 5.5% over the last year.

Hinge CMO and President Jackie Jantos chats about how Hinge is marketing itself to a new generation in what has become a listless dating scene.