Will you pay to use Tinder?

Yesterday, after a right-swiping spree on Tinder, I hit the little green heart icon for a potential match when, inexplicably, a screen popped up telling me I had used all my right swipes for the day. It included a stop watch counting down from 12 hours, when I could continue.

And so, with little warning, Tinder has introduced (imposed, really) Tinder Plus on its audience, which spans 50 million users worldwide. The Plus version offers unlimited right swipes, the ability to change your location (a useful tool if you travel frequently) and the ability to “rewind”, or go back to a profile that you accidentally swiped left so you can swipe right.

When you’ve hit your limit of right swipes for the day, you’re shown this screen.

I’m 25 years old, so Tinder is trying to charge me $9.99 per month for the Plus account. The amount they’re charging, according to multiple sources, varies based on age (the older you are, the more you pay) and location (if you’re located in a developing country, you might only have to pay a few dollars per month).

Conventional business wisdom says that it’s hard to get your customers to start paying for a product/service they’re used to getting from you for free. Tinder could have created Plus as a way for users to acquire additional features, such as the rewind and location changer, while leaving unlimited swiping in tact for everyone.

To the left of the X icon that you use to swipe left, there is now a rewind icon. When you press it, but you don’t have a Plus account, you’re shown this screen.

So it remains to be seen how much of a backlash Tinder will face from longtime users, at least some of whom figure to boycott Tinder Plus. Or maybe for some users it won’t make much of a difference. You’re allowed about 90 to 100 free right swipes every day, according to sources, so maybe that’s sufficient for most users. I don’t know how many times the average user swipes right, but the 21 million matches per day Tinder generates worldwide will likely take a bit of a nosedive.

With Tinder Plus, you can change locations so you’re not confined to seeing possible matches in your current location.

Tinder Plus users won’t have to see ads that Tinder plans on implementing for its free version in the near future.

While I question the logic in the execution of Tinder Plus, and what could prove to be a foolish decision to ask users to pay for a feature they’ve been getting all along, it remains to be seen what effects the onset of Tinder Plus will have on the company’s users and its bottom line.