The state of dating

The swipe is dead, even Bumble says so

By Matthew Firth, founder of NexSpark · Jun 17, 2026 · 4 min read

Bumble's CEO just announced the company is, in her words, saying goodbye to the swipe. The app that helped make swiping a dating reflex is now walking away from it.

Take a second with that. The swipe, the gesture that defined a decade of online dating, is being retired by one of the companies that profited from it most.

We're not surprised. We built NexSpark without a swipe on purpose.

Why the swipe had to go

Swiping was never designed to find you a partner. It was designed to keep you swiping. Endless faces, snap judgments on a photo, a dopamine loop that rewards the app every time you come back and don't find anyone. Roughly 78% of dating app users now say they're exhausted by the experience. That's not a glitch, that's the model working as intended.

When the people who sell the swipe start removing it, the verdict is in: optimizing for time-on-app is the opposite of optimizing for finding love. (We break down the mechanics in why dating apps are designed to keep you single.)

What replaces it

Not a cleverer feed. A different premise.

NexSpark is matchmaking, not swiping. You answer a few honest questions, we show you your relationship archetype and the kind of person you're actually compatible with, and then a real matchmaker, assisted by AI, reviews and approves introductions. No browsing. No public profiles. You stay anonymous until you both choose to connect.

The difference is who's doing the work. Swiping makes you the algorithm, hunting through strangers. Matchmaking does the searching for you and only brings you someone when there's a real reason to.

The honest part

We're early. We're matching in Atlanta first and welcoming founding members from across the U.S. while we grow. It's free to join and free to get matched during launch. If you've deleted the apps and you're done swiping, you're exactly who we built this for.

The swipe is dead. Come find out what's next.