Key Takeaways

“Report and block” is no longer the gold standard for user safety on dating apps. This year, platforms have invested in innovation to take a proactive approach to trust and safety, rather than a reactive approach after a betrayal of trust occurs. 

We know users want a safer and more secure online dating environment because, well, they told us so: 76% of consumers surveyed by Barclays Scams Bulletin said tech companies must do more to prevent romance scammers from sneaking onto dating platforms. 

Proactive safety even made its way to Congress in 2025, signalling a clear and near-universal demand for online dating features that prioritize prevention. 

By prioritizing trust and safety at the very beginning of the matchmaking process, platforms are sending a clear message to users: We hear your calls for safety and transparency and are actively working on ways to cut bad actors off at the pass, and introduce new safety tech as early in the process as possible. 

Trust is in demand, so any platforms that evolve to become more trustworthy also raise their perceived value. Perhaps this is partly why in-person matchmaking became more popular in 2025: An experienced matchmaker has a vested interest in vetting clients before connecting them. 

The following features are gaining in popularity and illustrate how dating apps are not only trying to introduce safety as early in the process as possible, but also change the overall culture surrounding dating apps so safety becomes part of each app’s brand identity. 

Tea is a High-Profile Cautionary Tale 

The dating safety app, Tea, was born from a demand for trust and safety. 

After all, the early stages of a relationship can be so uncertain for women, especially for those who meet their dates online. Who is the person in this profile picture, really? Is he truly who he says he is, or will his entire personality change the moment he gets me alone? 

This fear isn’t exaggerated: 66% of users don’t trust apps to protect them from scammers, frauds, and criminals, according to a 2025 DatingNews survey. 

Tea offered women a solution. On its app, they could find the unfiltered truth about the men they connect with on the apps, potentially avoiding a dangerous situation in the process. 

But Tea fell short of its own grand promises of trust and safety with its weak security measures. A major data breach ultimately left countless women vulnerable to bad actors and scammers. And yet, the app saw continued growth even after the scandal came to light. 

Women knew the app had major security issues, but, ironically, were compelled enough by the app’s “safety first” format to risk it. 

Tea’s heights – it was once ranked #2 in the App Store — are bested only by its lows: It was removed from the App Store in October 2025 for violating privacy policies (whether these privacy violations pertain to the data breach or to the men featured on the app remains to be seen).

And yet, Tea’s popularity in spite of its safety holes is evidence of the public’s desire for apps that make safety their No. 1 priority. 

ID Verification Isn’t a Want — It’s an Expectation 

If dating apps didn’t start the year with ID verification, they almost certainly ended the year with it.

ID verification encapsulates the idea of proactive trust by attempting to stop scammers in their tracks before they can even access an app. 

Tinder’s Face Check is a leading example of the benefits of ID verification. By building Face Check into the onboarding process, Tinder is able to cut scammers, catfish, and bad actors off at the pass. 

Strong ID or age verification software can be the difference between a trustworthy platform and one users avoid like the plague. Match Group’s Trust and Safety guru Yoel Roth even called Face Check “perhaps the most measurably impactful Trust and Safety feature I’ve seen in my 15-year career.”

Identifying potential scammers during the onboarding process allows users a smoother, more enjoyable experience — and the same goes for the app’s developers, who no longer have to conduct as many investigations after a profile is flagged. 

“As an app user myself, apps that can’t guarantee safety lose their credibility — and fast,” said DatingNews’ resident op-ed writer, Hayley Folk.

Case in point: Face Check has contributed to a 60% decrease in exposure to bad actors, and a 40% decrease in user reports of bad actors, according to Tinder. 

There’s a common refrain that safety innovations like ID verification are either an unnecessary expense or a dangerous hurdle in the onboarding process. But platforms would be wise to listen to the needs of the user, many of whom see ID verification as a welcome addition to the onboarding process. 

Kaarel Kotkas, the CEO and Founder of Veriff, a company that handles identity verification for companies like Bumble, told Folk,  “If IDV is labeled as ‘another barrier to entry,’ then it’s more about the poor user onboarding experience than the process itself.” 

In 2025, dating apps accepted ID verification as a vital part of the onboarding process that, when implemented thoughtfully, can save the company time, energy, and money down the line — and provide more user value than many other non-safety-related tech innovations. 

A ‘Verified’ Badge Became a Signal of Trust in 2025

Providing safety is one thing; evoking safety is another. 

Modern dating app users want tangible proof that the people they interact with on apps are not only trustworthy, but interested in finding genuine connections. This year, a “verified” badge became a popular way for apps to help users convey both their authenticity and their earnestness to other users.

This shifts the mindset around ID verification for users, making them consider the benefits right as they sign up. After all, a verified badge is a small but meaningful signal of trust. It says, “This person took the time to prove their identity, and they would only do that if they want to find a similarly trustworthy person on this app.”

In today’s world, trust is a commodity. Platforms that give users clear ways to signal trustworthiness automatically boost their perceived value.

AI Paves the Way for Proactive Trust

To combat hackers and data breaches, apps are literally looking inward. Platforms are innovating from the inside to secure data storage, strengthen encryption, enforce stricter authentication. 

In 2021, Tinder made strides toward proactive trust with its “Are You Sure?” feature, which, as Match Group puts it, intervenes “in real time… to warn the sender their message may be offensive, asking them to pause before hitting send.” 

This intervention may only change user behavior 17% of the time, but “Are You Sure?” and its proactive timing hits on a vital user need: quick, efficient, and reliable tech that encourages users to think critically about their online behavior. 

Nothing says “quick” and “efficient” quite like AI, though the “reliable” part is still, arguably, out of our grasp. Still, “Are You Sure?” was successful enough for Match Group to expand it to Hinge, Plenty of Fish, and Meetic. 

The dating app Hily used AI to clarify consent for users in 2025. The feature, Consent Guard, gives the users who send and receive an explicit photo or text a choice: Is this text or photo appropriate? Do I really want to send — or receive — something so graphic? 

Hily CPO Liubomyr Pivtorak told DatingNews that AI-enabled safety features like Consent Guard are essential tools, not only for safety, but for the app’s overall growth. “It’s how we turn Hily into not only a bigger platform, but a safer and more trusted one,” he told us. 

It’s an important lesson for all dating platforms going forward: Proactive safety measures don’t only create value for the user, but for the company itself, paving the way for further growth.