As part of our Tinder coverage at TechJunkie, we tried to find out if Tinder is deleting old and inactive accounts. This is a frequently asked question and it doesn’t seem to have a definitive answer. This started a little research on my part to see if any of the profiles you see on Tinder are active. Here’s what I discovered.
Does Tinder delete old and inactive accounts? The short answer is no, I don’t think they do. The longer answer is more complex.
Tinder profiles
Tinder does not publish any official data on how it works, its algorithm, or its secrets. However, enough people use it and have used it long enough to have anecdotal evidence that we can use to make fairly accurate assumptions. These are just educated guesses but we think we know how it works.
We think Tinder does not delete old and inactive accounts. We also think that some people think that deleting the app from their phone is the same as deleting their account. How often you see old or inactive profiles depends on where you live and there are more active users.
numbers game
If you live in a place like Los Angeles with hundreds of thousands of single people using dating apps, the pool is as wide as it is deep. Depending on which filters you specify, your pool of potential matches could be huge. As far as we know, we can say that the newest members will appear first, then everyone using boosters will appear, those that are rated hot by the algorithm and others after that.
We know that new users get a short boost to help them achieve success and hook themselves up. We know that if you buy reinforcements or subscribe to Tinder Plus, the supplements temporarily send your profile card to the top of the list. We also know that Tinder has an algorithm that rates your temperature based on how many other hot people swipe right or left. All of this affects where you appear on someone’s deck.
Only when you’ve exhausted them are you likely to see old or inactive accounts. They tend to appear at the bottom of the stack to increase the numbers or because the profiles are technically still alive.
If you live in a smaller place like rural Idaho or elsewhere, your experience will likely be different. Your local potential pool will be much smaller, so you are more likely to see old or inactive accounts. Unless you expand your location range or set it to your nearest big city, you’re more likely to see inactive profiles.
Lawsuit for and against showing old and inactive accounts
There are pros and cons to Tinder showing old and inactive accounts. There is an increase in numbers in the professional column. With enough users in the world already, installing a free Tinder account and just seeing a dozen people in your area isn’t going to get you excited or enticing to subscribe.
In the con column, nothing will happen if you swipe right on an inactive profile. Unless the person decides to return to Tinder, they will not see the match and will not respond. That’s not going to make you love Tinder at all.
In the practicality column, there is quite a bit of administrative overhead in deleting old and inactive accounts. If you delete the account, the contact is less likely to come back. If you hold it there, they can log in and start scrolling right away.
If Tinder does indeed send old and inactive accounts to the bottom of the pile and only shows them when you run out of other options, it’s a half-decent option. It would be better to take them out of circulation entirely, but until you do, leaving them for last is the next best thing.
If you don’t want your profile to circulate while you do something else, you can delete your account. It will stop anyone from popping up and asking awkward questions and will allow you to start over if you want to rejoin.
It takes 30 seconds to delete your Tinder account:
- Open Tinder and log in.
- Select your profile and choose Settings.
- Select Delete Account and confirm.
If you subscribe to Tinder Plus or Tinder Gold, you must cancel your subscription first, otherwise you may continue to be billed even if you have closed your account.
