Dating apps with profile verification: how each app checks a profile

Dating apps with profile verification and what they call it

Profile verification is a check that a profile belongs to a real person, most often by comparing a selfie or short video with the profile photos, after which a verified badge may appear. Plenty of Fish's Selfie Verification article describes it in those terms, with a badge that shows on the profile once the check is done.

The names vary. Photo Verification is the label at Badoo, Bumble, Feeld, OkCupid, Pure and Tinder, Selfie Verification at Hinge and Plenty of Fish, Profile Certification at happn, Live Video Verification at HUD, Verified Profiles at HER and Match, and Verify Your Profile at Ashley Madison. Coffee Meets Bagel calls it profile photo verification, and DOWN calls it a selfie check. Several apps run more than one check. Bumble has Photo Verification and ID Verification, Badoo lists phone verification and ID verification next to its photo check, and OkCupid has Photo Verification and a newer Face Check. Match's help center has articles titled Photo Verification, Self Verify FAQ and SMS Verification.

How the selfie and video checks work

Badoo asks for a selfie that copies a gesture. Automation and humans review it, and a blue checkmark follows. Bumble's Photo Verification gives a grey verified badge and may use facial recognition. OkCupid's Photo Verification is a video selfie with a Liveness Check and 3D Face Authentication that earns verified status.

Plenty of Fish matches a video selfie to the main profile photo and shows a badge, and changing the main photo means verifying again. happn gives a Certified Profile badge after a video check that the profile photo matches the member's real face, and its safety center cites AI-powered face detection. HUD's privacy policy says that if you wish to verify your profile photo, HUD uses third-party services to capture a number of photos from a live video stream.

DOWN's check is a quick selfie that, per Google Play, confirms a real person and that the selfie matches the profile photos. Its privacy policy adds on-device liveness detection. Pure's badge takes under 30 seconds and needs no ID, and members can also ask someone in chat for a true photo. Human review is mentioned only for Badoo's selfie check and for the manual review option on Bumble's ID Verification.

ID checks and document scans

Bumble is the clearest ID check in the entries. ID Verification gives a blue badge, is run by Veriff and has a manual review option, and Google Play lists it among the free features.

Ashley Madison's Google Play listing says verifying builds trust, boosts credibility and prioritizes communication with other Verified Members. Its safety page says members are directed to a third-party ID verification service, and the store text does not describe the method. Coffee Meets Bagel's terms say it may verify by selfie or government ID as part of fraud prevention, and happn's terms allow facial image capture or ID document checks at registration. For Badoo, the help article lists ID verification without describing it.

Required or optional

DOWN's FAQ says every person on DOWN is photo-verified before they can swipe, and the check is required: No verification, no entry. OkCupid says it is requiring a biometric Face Check scan with a video selfie to estimate age, check profile photos and reduce fraud. Badoo's App Store listing describes a three-step verification process after which you can interact only with verified profiles.

Bumble and Coffee Meets Bagel sit in the middle. Bumble's terms say it may require identity or phone verification at any time, and Coffee Meets Bagel says that in certain circumstances it may require you to verify your profile photo. Feeld calls photo verification an optional feature, HUD's privacy policy wording makes it optional, Plenty of Fish describes it as optional and still rolling out, and Pure's badge is optional. For Tinder, the listings do not say whether it is optional or required.

Who runs the check and what it collects

Several apps hand the check to an outside vendor. Coffee Meets Bagel's privacy policy names Persona and a scan of facial geometry. Bumble's ID Verification is run by Veriff, and Pure's FAQ names Veriff for the ID check UK members may be asked for. DOWN's privacy policy says non-US residents are processed in the UK by Yoti Limited. HUD names third-party services without naming the vendor.

Hinge's privacy policy says the check involves face geometry data, and Feeld's homepage says it uses biometric identity verification. The pages checked do not say how long verification data is kept. What the apps do with the rest of your data is in the our privacy guide.

What a badge does not cover

A verified badge is not a background check. OkCupid and Plenty of Fish say in their terms that they run no criminal background or identity checks on users. Coffee Meets Bagel's terms say We do not routinely verify the identity of our Users, and its photo check applies in certain circumstances and is not a general badge for every member. The terms that other apps quote, and what to do before meeting someone, are in the our safety guide.

Checks that also confirm age

Some of the same steps double as age checks. DOWN's privacy policy says its check confirms identity and age with on-device liveness detection, HUD's Terms 10.3 say the liveliness check also confirms the age requirement, and OkCupid's Face Check scan is used to estimate age. Feeld in the UK and Australia, Pure in the UK, and happn in some countries where the law requires it add a separate age check. The rules behind those checks are in the same guide.

Where the method is thin: HER, Hinge, Match and Tinder

HER's homepage says users are verified and authenticated by connecting their profiles with existing social media accounts, and members are encouraged to verify. The exact steps are not described. HER Premium also has a Verified Profiles filter that shows profiles verified by the HER Trust & Safety Team; it is one of the fields listed under advanced filters.

Hinge's App Store listing says Selfie Verification makes it easier for daters to be sure people are who they say they are. Beyond that, its privacy policy mentions Face Check in regions where it is required.

Match's App Store listing lists Verified Profiles and says every profile goes through checks to help keep the platform authentic. The Photo Verification and Self Verify articles in its help center could not be read, so the method is not confirmed. Tinder's Google Play listing names Photo Verification, and the App Store says Tinder includes multiple ways to verify profiles, without describing them.

Apps where profile verification is not confirmed

The sources read for AdultFriendFinder and Grindr did not confirm a profile verification feature, so whether those apps have one is open. Verification is one of the profile controls collected under dating app features, and private photos and video chat are covered on their own pages.