Tinder Gold Prices Spike, Users Outraged

Tinder is a global dating app that was launched in 2012. According to their website, it has been downloaded over 500 million times and is available in 190 countries worldwide. Half of its users are between the ages of 18 and 25. Tinder also boasts other statistics, such as the number of romantic dates in one week, which they claim is over 1.5 million, and offers over nine sexual orientations.

However, one of our readers highlighted the high membership cost for Tinder Gold, one of the app’s premium features. Benefits include unlimited likes and the ability to see who liked your profile. However, non-paying users cannot see who likes them.

The reader noted that he used the app for about a year and could not remember such a high price, which in March 2023 was 709 Czech crowns per month. Although more affordable options exist, such as a six-month membership for just over 2,000 crowns, the monthly payment still amounts to 358 crowns.

We contacted Tinder’s international press office to inquire about the membership cost and any price increases. We also asked if they could provide statistics on the app’s usage in the Czech Republic and Prague. However, we have not received a response after more than three months.

Tinder is a popular topic for foreign media, and many publications have written articles about it, including Business Insider, which surveyed over 47,000 Tinder users. The survey revealed that 30% were married, 12% were in a relationship, and 44% were single.

The survey also found that men make up 62% of Tinder users. However, this is not the only dating app available online. There are many others, some of which have been accused of being fraudulent. For instance, dTest, a Czech consumer protection organization, has been fighting against some of these apps for over three years. In May 2020, they even filed a lawsuit against two Luxembourg-based companies, be2, and Interdate. The problem was that the apps automatically renewed users’ memberships without clearly informing them beforehand.

While consumers may only lose a few hundred or thousand crowns to these fraudulent apps, dTest estimates that the total damage amounts to millions. To combat these apps, dTest launched a campaign and filed a class-action lawsuit. The lawsuit was successful, and the fraudulent apps compensated the affected consumers.