Swiping left

Hi! It’s Jessica in New York. Some younger people are swiping left on dating apps. But first...Three things you need to know today:• Apple i [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hi! It’s Jessica in New York. Some younger people are swiping left on dating apps. But first... Three things you need to know today: • Apple is readying [new iPads and MacBook Air]( • Google released a [new AI model]( • TikTok’s parent will [buy back up to $5 billion in stock]( Roses are red Happy cuffing season! Or for those not up on Gen Z slang, it’s the time of the year to start a relationship. But this holiday season, there are signs of frustration with the online dating scene, and Gen Z TikTok is overrun with criticisms of the apps. Keara Sullivan, a 24-year-old comedian, got over 430,000 likes on a video saying anyone who met their partner on an app in the last 18 months “got [the last chopper]( out of ‘Nam.” Many comments on the video zeroed in on recent changes to the way the most popular dating apps work. Match Group Inc. owns many of the top dating apps in the US, including Tinder, Hinge, The League and Match.com. Bernard Kim, who was hired last year as chief executive officer from the video game maker Zynga Inc., said on the company’s last earnings call in October that he’s increasing the use of tactics to keep people spending their time and money on Match’s apps. Tinder, the No. 1 app, started selling a subscription in the fall that costs $500 a month. Hinge, the third-most-popular dating app and the one young people tend to see as the place to go to find serious relationships, is emblematic of the changes at Match. Its slogan is “the dating app designed to be deleted,” but some users said it no longer feels that way. In the past couple years Match has made several changes to Hinge that fuel those frustrations. It added a feature to send virtual roses that boost the recipient’s profile, which can be a way to game the algorithm. Users get one rose a week, unless they pay $4 for an additional rose. Match took away an option to report people on Hinge who don’t appear to be looking for a serious relationship. In its place, Match added features catering to Hinge users who might want short-term relationships or those who are “figuring out their dating goals.” “Hinge does not care about finding your soulmate or someone to go out with. They just care about taking your money and keeping the attractive people locked away and on the app for as long as possible,” said Andra Berghoff, a 25-year-old from Minnesota who went viral on TikTok after talking about her frustrations with the Hinge algorithm. The moves are helping Match lift its sales. Revenue increased in the last two quarters after two consecutive periods of decline. A Match spokeswoman said third-quarter downloads for Hinge were the app’s best ever and that 1.3 million pay for a subscription. But investors aren’t convinced the changes are a long-term fix. The [stock is down]( about 80% from its high in 2021, during the online dating boom of the Covid-19 pandemic. The king of online dating is facing a newly emboldened rival: in-real-life dating. Data from the ticketing service Eventbrite shows that the number of speed dating events on its site last year [increased by 63%](. You still have to pay for the roses IRL, but they do smell nicer. —Jessica Nix The big story Former US health officials revealed new details about a massive hack on government systems in the early days of Covid-19 that [went largely unnoticed](. Get fully charged Apple and Google were forced to hand over [user notification data to foreign governments](, a US lawmaker said. AMD introduced a rival to Nvidia’s AI chips and [dramatically increased its forecast]( for industry sales. Meanwhile, Nvidia’s CEO singled out China’s Huawei as a “formidable” [rival in AI chips](. Israel’s tech deals fell to a [10-year low]( as the war with Hamas rages on. The EU signaled it won’t challenge Apple’s [iMessage on antitrust grounds](. Meta is testing new AI features on [Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp](. More from Bloomberg Get Bloomberg Tech weeklies in your inbox: - [Cyber Bulletin]( for coverage of the shadow world of hackers and cyber-espionage - [Game On]( for reporting on the video game business - [Power On]( for Apple scoops, consumer tech news and more - [Screentime]( for a front-row seat to the collision of Hollywood and Silicon Valley - [Soundbite]( for reporting on podcasting, the music industry and audio trends - [Q&AI]( for answers to all your questions about AI Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Tech Daily newsletter. 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