Hinge's big push into India: what it means for serious daters

Hinge is owned by Match Group, the company that also owns Tinder. Its App Store listing describes it as "the dating app for people who want to get off of dating apps" and says "we built an app that's designed to be deleted." A Hinge profile is a set of photos plus short written prompts. Instead of swiping on a whole person, you like or comment on one specific photo or prompt; as the listing puts it, "every match begins by someone liking or commenting on a specific part of your profile."

That comment matters. Hinge's own research, reported by TechCrunch in December 2025, found that 72% of Hinge daters are more inclined to consider someone when a like comes with a message.

Over the past year Hinge has added AI around that core rather than replacing it. Prompt Feedback suggests how to improve your written answers. Convo Starters, launched in December 2025, shows three tailored tips beneath each photo and prompt when you like a profile. Match Group's August 2026 letter lists more: Friend's Take, launched in mid-July, lets friends and family add text, voice, video and photo reflections to your profile; Your Type Lately, being tested in select markets, lets you describe what you're looking for in your own words; and the team is building its first reinforcement-learning model to judge when a user might need a nudge or a tip.

Hinge is Match Group's growth engine. In the second quarter of 2026 its direct revenue was $204 million, up 22% on a year earlier, and its paying users rose 17% to 2.0 million. Match Group says Hinge is still expected to reach $1 billion in revenue in 2027, driven by product innovation, international expansion and monetisation.

India already matters to Hinge on usage. According to Forbes India, India is Hinge's third-largest market by users and second only to the US for downloads, with Delhi and Mumbai its largest cities here.

The wider market is growing too. Redseer's December 2025 analysis expects India's online dating segment to reach INR 2,000–2,500 crore by 2030, growing 12–14% a year, and notes that apps positioned as the go-to for "serious" dating reported a 17% increase in paying users. Redseer also found that women make up about 26% of users on Indian dating platforms, which shapes what any feed-based app feels like, especially for men.

Hinge told Forbes India it is rolling out safety features for Indian users: a waitlist that curates the community while new members build out their profiles, screenshot protection for profile images, Face Check to confirm a profile belongs to a real person, and a block list so you can keep your profile away from colleagues, family and people you already know.

Those are sensible choices for this market. Discretion matters to a lot of Indian daters, and not being seen by your manager or your cousin is a real concern, not a nice-to-have.

• More choice in the middle. Between swipe apps and matrimony sites there's a growing set of apps for relationship-minded adults. More competition should raise the bar on safety and quality for everyone.
• A bigger pool, mostly in the metros. If you live in Delhi or Mumbai, expect more people on Hinge while the campaign runs. Elsewhere, check how many people you actually see before paying for anything.
• The same model as everywhere else. Hinge in India is the same photo-and-prompt feed: photos are visible from the start, you write your own profile, and you browse. If that's what you want, it's a well-built version of it.
• Paid tiers shape the experience. Hinge sells subscriptions (Hinge+ and HingeX, per its App Store listing). Redseer notes that only 5–15% of monthly active users on Indian dating and matrimony apps typically upgrade, so see what the free version gives you before you decide.

1. What do you want to know first? Hinge leads with photos and prompts. Other apps lead with facts, or with how someone thinks. Pick the one that matches what you actually screen for.
2. Who writes your profile? On Hinge you do. Some people love that; others freeze at a blank prompt.
3. How many people do you want to see? A feed gives you volume. A curated app gives you fewer people, chosen for you.
4. How does it handle family and culture? If family approval matters to you, check whether the app asks about it at all.
5. What does it verify, and what does it protect? Screenshot protection, blocking known contacts, and photo or ID checks differ a lot between apps.

We build BiggDate, so read this part with that in mind. BiggDate takes the opposite approach to a feed. You start with a roughly 20-minute conversation with Maahi, an AI, which builds a Soul Profile covering attachment style, conflict patterns, values and dealbreakers, and asks how much family approval matters to you. You then get up to 5 curated matches a day, each with a short explanation of why the pair could work. To start talking, each of you answers a question from the other (a Soul Knock); photos and chat open after that.

It isn't better for everyone. If you enjoy writing prompts and want a large, established pool in Delhi or Mumbai, Hinge is a good choice, and plenty of people use more than one app. If you're tired of browsing and want fewer, more considered introductions, BiggDate is free during early access in India, the UAE and the US. Our side-by-side comparison with Hinge goes into more detail.