- Lidiane Jones, the CEO of Bumble, told investors its app will look different when it relaunches.
- Jones said Bumble is reconsidering whether women will have to make the first move anymore.
- Bumble is expected to relaunch its app in the second quarter of 2024.
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Bumble might work differently for female users when the dating app relaunches later this year.
With Lidiane Jones as its new CEO, Bumble could be axing the feature that made it stand out from its competition. During a fourth-quarter earnings call, Jones told investors that she’s not so sure about women “making the first move” on Bumble anymore.
“It feels like a burden for a subset of our customers today,” Jones said on the call.
Since it was founded by Whitney Wolfe Herd in 2014, the app has boasted its female-focused mission. Talks of removing the feature began under Wolfe Herd, but Jones began overhauling Bumble when she became CEO in November.
Bumble has marketed itself as a female-focused dating app.
Bumble
Now, a relaunch is expected in the second quarter of 2024 as Bumble tests out new ways to let its users connect without women having to message first. Some of the changes could include allowing men to message first or letting women choose pre-written greetings.
The changes Bumble is considering as it looks to relaunch underscore the competitive landscape of modern dating apps, as the companies behind them regularly experiment with new payment structures and features to entice people to choose their product.
In late February, Bumble announced it would slash 350 jobs as part of a series of moves to “transform our organization and accelerate our product roadmap,” Jones said in an earnings statement. Around the same time, the new CEO began building out a team of executives at Bumble made up of people who once worked with her at Slack.
Meanwhile, a generation of people who’ve relied on dating apps are flocking to social media with complaints and stories about deleting their profiles. Some have looked to alternatives, such as writing date-me Google Docs.
One user told Business Insider that Bumble was initially a better alternative to Tinder before it also became oversaturated with people looking to hook up.
A Bumble representative told BI to expect more details on the relaunch in the coming months.
