Match Group making face liveness mandatory for US Tinder users

Tinder says Face Check, its facial verification feature, will roll out across the U.S. The biometric liveness detection feature is aimed at reducing impersonation and enhancing authenticity across its platform, according to Tinder’s parent company Match Group. 

Face Check is currently required for all new users in California and several countries. Face Check uses facial liveness detection, powered by biometrics from FaceTec, to confirm that users are real and that their appearance matches their profile photos. Tinder keeps a user’s “FaceMaps” and “FaceVectors” — your biometrics — for the lifetime of an account, and are deleted once an account is closed, according to the app’s FAQ and Privacy Policy.  

According to the dating app maker, verification data is shared only with Tinder’s service providers, to “ensure smooth operation” of Face Check, with the data stored on its AWS servers. Addressing U.S. residents, it says that it does not “sell” or “share” the data. 

FaceTec, uses 3D biometric liveness detection technology, which successfully stopped all attempts to spoof and bypass it with Level 4 attacks in an independent evaluation earlier this year. 

Level 4 attacks are defined in FaceTec’s Spoof Bounty program as attacks which decrypt and edit “the contents of a 3D FaceMap to contain synthetic data not collected from the session,” and “have the Server process and respond with Liveness Success.” Additionally, it was recently upgraded with Level 5 protection against emerging GenAI-driven spoofing attempts.  

New members in the UK, U.S., Brazil, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand have undergone ID Check (also powered by FaceTec), which verifies age and identity against a government-issued ID. But the new Face Check system has users completing the verification process by recording a short video selfie within the app. The face liveness detection prevents the creation of accounts using deepfaked identities and confirms the person is real and present and matches their profile photos.  

If verified, they receive Tinder’s Photo Verified badge, signaling authenticity to other users. The system also flags instances where the same face is used across multiple accounts, helping prevent fake profiles and impersonation.

Tinder is the first major dating app to integrate mandatory facial verification directly into the onboarding experience. The feature has already launched in Colombia, Canada, Australia, India, and several Southeast Asian countries, with plans to expand across more U.S. states and global markets where regulations allow.

Match Group claims that early results from Face Check’s deployment show promising improvements in user safety: a 60 percent drop in exposure to potential bad actors, a 40 percent reduction in reports of suspicious behavior, and increased user confidence in the authenticity of matches.

“We’re strengthening and accelerating our investments in Trust and Safety,” said Spencer Rascoff, CEO of Match Group and head of Tinder. “We’ve tested Face Check extensively and are confident in its positive impacts on the Tinder ecosystem.” 

Match Group, which also owns Hinge, OkCupid, Match.com and Plenty of Fish, among others, plans to extend Face Check to other apps in its portfolio starting in 2026.

Article Topics

biometric liveness detection  |  biometric verification  |  biometrics  |  FaceTec  |  facial verification  |  onboarding  |  selfie biometrics  |  Tinder