Hinge Pushes Back on ‘Attractiveness Bias’ Claims as New CEO Takes Over

Now that Hinge founder and longtime CEO, Justin McLeod, has stepped down, all eyes are on his replacement, Jackie Jantos, to see where she takes Match Group’s new crown jewel next. 

When I think “Hinge,” I think stability — a rare feat in the swipe-fatigued world of dating apps. The app has historically achieved sustained growth at a time when other apps, including Tinder and Bumble, have struggled to make a strong impact. Some would even say that Hinge has surpassed Tinder in terms of mainstream relevance. 

The app’s “designed to be deleted” tagline has become something of an iconic phrase, at least within the dating industry, due to its unique ability to support user interests while retaining their loyalty. 

Jantos said this tagline continues to speak volumes about Hinge’s path forward. “That is a philosophy that guides our product,” she said. “When our daters are successful, our business is successful.” 

But with its 15th birthday coming up, Hinge is clearly poised for a metamorphosis. Jantos, who was Hinge’s Chief Marketing Officer for four years before taking the helm, recently spoke to the Financial Times about how she plans to inject new blood, new ideas, and new success strategies into the app. 

Does Hinge’s Algorithm Favor Attractiveness? 

All it takes is one quick scroll through social media to see that people’s patience with dating apps, even Hinge, is wearing thin. Some have even gone so far as to question whether Hinge’s algorithm favors those who are traditionally attractive, and therefore receive more likes than others. 

So Jantos is setting the record straight about how, exactly, Hinge’s algorithm works. “No,” she said flat out to doubters. 

Instead, the algorithm is designed to track the profiles you like and pick up on patterns. “It uses all this information essentially to put in front of you people who we think will meet your criteria.” 

“We are trying to find who you might like and who might like you.”

In tracking people’s likes and dislikes, the algorithm can, ideally, pick up on overlaps and suggest accurate connections. “We are trying to find who you might like and who might like you,” Jantos explained. 

The algorithm is Hinge’s main matchmaking tool — nothing more, she reassured users. But this doesn’t mean that Hinge is ignoring user complaints.

In fact, Jantos made it clear that a major strategy going forward is to listen more closely to Gen Z’s thoughts about the state of dating and to innovate in kind. “I look to Gen Z for inspiration,” she said. 

One app can’t possibly meet the needs of every single dater, but that doesn’t mean Hinge can’t try. New AI-powered features like Prompt Feedback and Convo Starters attempt to shorten the “match to date” pipeline while others encourage daters to take a more relaxed approach. 

Adaptation is Hinge’s Strategy for Survival

Dating platforms are at a turning point: adapt, or stick with what they know. But Hinge knows that staying the same is not actually an option. What resonated with users yesterday may not resonate today. 

Part of the problem is that platforms can’t always innovate quickly enough to keep up with new trends or shifting sensibilities. 

For example, the definition of “healthy relationship” has been greatly diversified since the dating app heyday of the 2010s. Apps that acknowledge all kinds of dynamics, from LGBTQ+ relationships to ethical non-monogamy, are best poised to retain loyal users. 

Hinge is in a better position than most to do this, thanks in part to its investment in its own proprietary research center, Hinge Labs. Being on the cutting edge of dating trends has allowed the app to stay relevant. 

“Many apps in the category haven’t innovated in a way to keep up with the changing dynamic of how people identify.”

“Conversations around gender are no longer binary,” Jantos said as an example. “What I bring, most importantly, is awareness of what my experience is and what my experience is not.” 

When Jantos’ experience isn’t enough to meet the moment, she finds someone with the experience who can. Success often hinges on a company’s ability to say, “I’m not the right person to handle this — but I can hire someone who is,” she suggested. 

It’s possible that the ability to adapt says more about a company’s chances of success than anything else. 

“In the past decade, many apps in the category haven’t innovated in a way to keep up with the changing dynamic of how people identify, how people are looking for relationships, and what sort of relationships they want to be in,” Jantos said. 

The End of the McLeod Era

Jantos described her transition from CMO to CEO as “seamless,” thanks in part to her strong relationship with Match Group and Tinder CEO Spencer Rascoff. 

It helps that she’s inheriting one of Match Group’s most popular brands. “Hinge has an incredible amount of autonomy and agency,” she said, which will undoubtedly make it easier for her to explore new pathways to growth. 

And Jantos didn’t shy away from addressing the elephant in the room: Does McLeod, Hinge’s stalwart founder, moving on to bigger and (potentially) better things mean that Hinge’s core voice is lost forever? 

“One thing you learn as a CEO is how powerful your voice can be when you speak up,” Jantos said. The founder’s voice, especially, is “always really, really important,” she said, a fact that would make any first-time replacement CEO a little nervous. But Jantos knows that her strengths will shine during this precise moment in time. 

“One thing you learn as a CEO is how powerful your voice can be when you speak up.”

“My style is much more in bringing other voices into the room and distributing the decision making,” she explained. The leadership strategies that worked ten years ago won’t necessarily work now, because the industry has transformed since then. “Now we’re operating at scale and we need to move fast, as a group,” she emphasized. 

“Moving fast” means jumping on trends and consistently providing diverse user experiences. Boosting the number of paying users who subscribe to HingeX or Hinge+ is only part of the goal; Jantos described Hinge’s free features as a “sacred” part of the app’s future.

“There’s a lot of innovation in the category right now, and I love that because I think the category has underserved daters,” she added. 

And meeting the needs of all daters, regardless of their identities and dating goals, is Hinge’s ultimate goal moving forward. To this end, we’ll undoubtedly hear Jantos’ voice more and more as she settles into her new role.