Dating app privacy: data collected, incognito tools and fines

What dating apps collect

Dating app privacy starts with location. It is in the policies of Hinge, Tinder, Bumble, HER, OkCupid and Plenty of Fish, among others. Tinder says features that rely on precise geolocation are unavailable if you decline, and HER collects location whenever the app is opened unless location services are off. Precision varies: eharmony collects zip codes as location data, HUD uses approximate location from the IP address or the device, and SCRUFF stores the last known location and shows distance on profiles by default, with a setting to hide it or change its accuracy. The how location matching works page lists which apps work from your position, and physical-safety questions are in safety on dating apps.

Account and device data come with it. Bumble lists geocoordinates, email, phone, gender, city, birthday and name as core account data, and Feeld, DOWN, eharmony, Coffee Meets Bagel and SCRUFF mention a device ID. DOWN and Coffee Meets Bagel also use Facebook profile data when you sign in with Facebook. Whatever goes on the profile is visible to others: HER's policy says gender, sexual orientation and dating preferences are visible to other users, and Match's help center says public-profile details are visible to other members.

Sensitive data: orientation, sex life and health

Ashley Madison treats the gender a member seeks as sensitive data because it indicates sexual orientation. AdultFriendFinder treats sexuality and content of a sexual nature as sensitive personal information, and Feeld lists precise geolocation and sexual orientation as sensitive data. OkCupid, Plenty of Fish and Match describe orientation and similar details as something members choose to provide. Match Group may use some of it, for example to show offers for its other services, unless the member turns that off in Privacy Preferences. eharmony lists sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, ethnicity and political views as sensitive and says it uses them only to provide the service.

Health details appear in the Grindr, SCRUFF and Badoo policies. Grindr profile fields can include HIV and vaccination status if the user adds them, and users can opt out of certain AI-related uses of sensitive data in Settings, Privacy Settings. SCRUFF collects HIV status only if you provide it. Badoo says consumer health data may be shared across the Bumble Group and with service providers. Terms reach into content too: Tinder's give it a license to use members' content to improve the Services, including with AI, and AdultFriendFinder's section 14A licenses submitted content, chat history and photos for AI features, including training.

Face and ID checks

Verification brings in biometric data. Hinge says face geometry data from Selfie Verification is deleted within 30 days. Bumble keeps photo verification scans up to 3 years after last interaction and ID documents 90 days after verification. OkCupid's Face Check FAQ says face maps are kept for the lifetime of the account and deleted within 30 days of closure, while an older Photo Verification article says biometric data is deleted once verification completes. Feeld sends facial biometric data for age checks to Yoti, Pure uses Veriff, and Coffee Meets Bagel uses Persona. The profile verification page lists which apps offer the check.

Ads, sharing and store labels

Policies word advertising differently. Bumble's says gender and age plus coarse location feed targeted third-party ads. Tinder says it provides certain info about you to third parties, including advertising partners, and its policy describes a toggle for the sale or sharing of personal information. Hinge lets US users opt out of targeted advertising, and HER names AppLovin for targeted ads. Ashley Madison says personal data is never sold, and HUD says it will never share or sell personal information to advertisers. Tinder's terms allow data sharing between affiliates for safety, naming Hinge, Plenty of Fish, OkCupid and Match, and OkCupid's policy names Facebook Login, Pixel and the SDK.

Store labels and policies sometimes read differently. Coffee Meets Bagel's Google Play data safety label says "No data shared with third parties", while its policy describes sharing with service providers and advertising partners. Grindr's App Store text says it "does not share any of your Grindr profile information with Advertising or Marketing partners", while its policy says free accounts show third-party ads that share limited data with ad partners. The listings and policies do not explain the differences.

Deleting an account and what stays

Closing an account leaves some records in place. Bumble deletes almost all profile data 28 days after deletion but keeps core account data six years. Grindr generally removes deleted profiles within 28 days and keeps a device ID and limited logs up to two years. Hinge and Tinder keep data for a three-month safety window after closure and transaction data for 10 years. The deletion guide has the steps.

Incognito and private photo tools

Incognito tools limit who sees your profile, and the rule differs by app. Tinder, OkCupid, Coffee Meets Bagel and HER show you only to people you have liked first, Plenty of Fish to people you like or message, and Match to people you have communicated with. Feeld hides you in the feed until you Like someone. Pure hides your online presence and holds back read receipts in 24-hour "hats", and Badoo's Invisible Mode lets you view profiles without notifying them. Where the pages name a plan, the tool is paid, and Match sells it as an add-on called Private Mode. The pages checked are silent on an incognito setting for AdultFriendFinder, DOWN, happn, Hinge and HUD, and Ashley Madison's App Store listing names "Stealth Mode for iOS" without saying what it hides.

Private photos work through different mechanisms. Feeld limits them to Connections under Majestic Membership, Grindr lists private albums you can share and unshare in its base feature list, and Pure Album is a private album shared per chat. Ashley Madison advertises permission-based private image sharing, and HUD's Photo Protection Blur lets you receive media only when and how you choose. The per-app detail sits on incognito mode across apps and dating apps with private photos. For a ranked list built around discretion, see the private dating apps compared.

Breaches and fines, and what each figure measures

The record of dating app privacy actions mixes figures that measure different things: a regulator's penalty, a class settlement fund, a count of records or images.

• Ashley Madison, July 2015 breach, settled December 14, 2016. Hackers published profile, account security and billing information of more than 36 million users in August 2015; the 36 million counts users whose data was published. The FTC, with 13 states and the District of Columbia, alleged deceptive security claims (a "Trusted Security Award" the company did not receive) and retention of personal data for up to 12 months after a "Full Delete" (FTC case page). The judgment was 17.5 million US dollars, mostly suspended because the company could not pay, with about 1.6 million payable, so the cash sum says little about the size of the breach.
• AdultFriendFinder, May 2015. Fortune reported on May 22, 2015 that the site's owner launched an investigation after a hack, and gave the site 63 million users worldwide, which is the site's total. Later breach reports and any penalty were not confirmed from a regulator source.
• Grindr, Norway, 2021 to 2025. Datatilsynet, the data protection authority, fined Grindr NOK 65 million (about 7.2 million US dollars at the time, per The Local) for disclosing GPS location, profile details such as age and the fact of being a Grindr user to third parties for behavioral advertising without a legal basis, and treated being a user as data indicating sexual orientation. The fine, announced December 15, 2021, was upheld by the Privacy Appeals Board on September 29, 2023, by Oslo District Court in a judgment dated July 1, 2024, and by Borgarting Court of Appeal on October 21, 2025. The GRC Report article says Grindr had one month to decide whether to seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court. No later outcome was found.
• Bumble and Badoo, Illinois, 2024. The final approval order for a 40 million US dollar settlement fund came on October 23, 2024, in a class action under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act over user photographs. According to Bumble's FY2024 10-K, the defendants did not admit wrongdoing and agreed to delete collected biometric information and comply with the law. The sum is a class settlement fund agreed in court.
• OkCupid, March 30, 2026. The FTC filed a complaint and stipulated order saying OkCupid gave a third party access to nearly three million user photos plus location and other information, with no formal or contractual limits on use, and that Match and OkCupid took steps to conceal this and to obstruct the investigation (FTC press release). Press reports name the recipient as the facial recognition firm Clarifai and say it later certified deletion; the FTC page text checked does not name it. No monetary payment appears in press coverage, and the three million counts photos.
• A women's dating-safety app, July 2025. Fortune reported on July 26, 2025 that an unsecured database exposed about 72,000 images, including about 13,000 verification selfies and government ID photos. The company said only users who signed up before February 2024 were affected. The service reviews dating partners and does not match users, and no penalty is listed.

The FTC's Match Group settlement of August 12, 2025, at 14 million US dollars, is a consumer protection case about a free six-month offer, billing disputes and cancellation. It involved no data breach. The cancellation guide covers that side.

Dating app privacy settings to check (advice)

• Allow location only while the app is open, and use a distance-hiding or accuracy setting where one exists, as SCRUFF's policy describes.
• Leave optional orientation and health fields empty unless a match needs them. SCRUFF, Match and OkCupid describe collecting them only when members provide them.
• Look for the switches the policies name: the sale or sharing toggle in Tinder, Privacy Preferences in Match, the targeted advertising opt-out for US users in Hinge, and Privacy Settings in Grindr for the AI opt-out.
• Sign up with an email address instead of Facebook if you want Facebook profile data kept out of DOWN and Coffee Meets Bagel.
• Treat anything you send as copyable: HUD's policy says other users can screenshot or record what you share.