A sudden change in Facebook’s policy on Wednesday crashed the Tinder app, temporarily deleted user correspondence and messages, and sent Tinderers into total panic. Tinder users said they couldn’t log into the app within hours of Facebook’s new policy being implemented.
The social media giant has changed the rules that govern data exchanges with third-party apps like Tinder. Facebook wants to prevent a scandal the size of the Cambridge Analytica-gate, in which 87 million Facebook users saw their personal data passed to a UK data analytics company aligned with the Trump campaign.
To log into the dating app, Tinderers must do so through their Facebook account or phone number. The first option is the most popular, but on Wednesday it was largely unavailable.
Lonely Hearts took to Twitter to complain about the incident, as the app stubbornly refused to bring them back to the sweep.
The problem was resolved
Tinder acknowledged on Twitter that a “technical problem” was preventing its users. The company apologized “for the inconvenience” and promised to recover the application “soon”. Meanwhile, the issue has been resolved, with Tinderers reporting that their matches and messages are back.
Matches have appeared on the app again now
– angus coventry (@anguscoventry) April 4, 2018
Tinder isn’t the only matchmaking app that needs Facebook to connect. Rival Bumble has the same login system and reported similar issues on Wednesday.
Many Tinder users have complained on Twitter that their matches, messages, and dates have gone missing. Some of them expressed concern that they might lose the love of their life. Others joked about not having any matches or new messages for years, wondering what the problem could be.
I had 890 matches… the goal was to reach 1000 – I need to recover my matches!
– Sara Greenwood (@ twisara90) April 4, 2018
I LOST ALL MY MESSAGES. WHAT IF I TALK TO THE LOVE OF MY LIFE ??? GO
– Bianca (@ biianncaa1) April 4, 2018
Correspondences and messages would still be available in the laptop version of the website, but not many people felt comfortable viewing the Tinder page on their home computer for everyone to see.
Image source: Vimeo