Safety is always top of mind at Tinder. In some countries, additional safeguards apply to services intended for adults. For example, the EU Digital Services Act, the UK’s Online Safety Act, Australia’s Social Media Minimum Age Act and Brazil’s Digital ECA require that online platforms use age assurance methods to protect young people online. Our automated Age Check processes help us ensure that all Tinder members are adults, as required by law and our Terms of Use.
Please read this article for details about the age assurance methods employed by Tinder, and how your data is used and stored for age assurance.
Age Check: How Tinder estimates your age
Age Check Review: What Tinder does with your age estimate
Age Checks based on App Store profile
Age Check: How Tinder estimates your age
Tinder uses a variety of age assurance methods (“Age Checks”) to help us ensure that you’re at least 18 years old. In general, we need at least one photo including your face to estimate your age with automated technology. The Age Check process presented to you may vary depending on applicable legal requirements and guidance in your region.
We currently use the following mandatory age checks:
Learn more about how these age checks work and how your age estimate is reviewed in the relevant sections below. If you are presented with an age check, you must complete it to fully access Tinder. You won’t be able to send likes or messages, and your profile won’t be visible to others, until you successfully complete the age check.
In some regions, including the UK, you may also be required to complete a secondary ID verification check. If presented with an ID verification check, you must complete it to access Tinder. Learn more below.
Additionally, in some regions, we may receive age information provided by the Apple App Store or Google Play Store to help prevent anyone under 18 from accessing our service. Learn more below.
Age Check: Face Photo Upload
Applicable Region(s): Australia, UK
If you’re located in these regions, you'll need to upload at least 1 clear photo of your face to your profile so that we can complete the age check process. This helps us confirm that you meet the minimum age requirement to use Tinder, as required by law and our Terms of Use. We’ll use automated technology to confirm that at least one of your profile photos is a solo photo of you and to detect your face. If we do not detect a solo face photo, you’ll be prompted to upload one.
Our automated technology analyzes your uploaded face photo(s) to estimate whether or not you’re 18 or over. See below for more detail.
Age Check: Face Check™ Scan
Applicable Regions: Australia, Brazil, UK
We’re rolling out a requirement that new users complete a biometric Face Check scan with a video selfie in order to help make Tinder a more authentic place. When you take a video selfie, we use facial scanning technology to check that the video was taken of a real, live person, and that it was not digitally altered or manipulated. Your facial geometry, which may be considered “biometric information” in some places, will be used and stored to check your profile photos, reduce fraud, and help ensure that no other profile is using your likeness.
Face Check also helps us estimate your age. We capture and store two audit images - screenshots - from your video selfie, which are analyzed with automated technology to estimate whether or not you’re 18 or over. See below for more detail.
After successfully completing your video selfie and uploading a clear solo face photo that matches the face in your video selfie, you’ll automatically get a Photo Verified badge. Learn more about how Face Check processes your data here.
Age Check: Video Selfie
Applicable Region(s): European Economic Area + Switzerland
If you live in the EEA or Switzerland, you will be prompted to take a video selfie. You can authorize Tinder to use your video selfie only to complete your age check; alternatively, you can also provide consent to simultaneously use your video selfie to complete Photo Verification, in addition to the mandatory age check. Please note that the term “Face Check” may be used to refer to the optional Photo Verification process.
Age Check only: If you authorize Tinder to use your video selfie only for your age check, we use facial scanning technology to check that the video was taken of a real, live person, and that it was not digitally altered or manipulated. We capture and store two audit images - screenshots - from your video selfie, which are analyzed with automated technology to estimate whether or not you’re 18 or over. See below for more detail.
Age Check and optional Photo Verification: Photo Verification is an optional process that allows you to show that the photos on your profile look like you by simply taking a video selfie. When you take a video selfie, your facial geometry, which may be considered “biometric information” in some places, will be used and stored to check your profile photos, reduce fraud, and help detect whether other profiles are using your likeness. Your age will also be estimated as described immediately above.
After successful Photo Verification, you’ll get a new verification badge to show people that you have completed the Photo Verification process. Please read our Photo Verification article for full details about how your data is processed.
Note: If you authorize Tinder to use your video selfie only to complete your age check, you will not be eligible to receive a Photo Verified badge. If you would like a Photo Verified badge, please complete Photo Verification when you complete your age check, or later by accessing the feature in Edit Profile.
Age Check Review: What Tinder does with your age estimate
Your face photo(s) or audit images are analyzed by automated technology to assess the likelihood that you’re at least 18 years old.
- If we determine you’re likely over 18, you can continue using Tinder as usual.
- If we can’t confirm your age or determine that you’re likely under 18, your account will be reviewed by a trained agent for manual review. We may request additional verification, such as an ID verification check.
- If the manual review determines that you’re likely over 18, you can continue using Tinder as usual.
- If the manual review determines that you’re likely under 18, your account will be banned. To use Tinder, you’ll need to submit an appeal, as described below.
You may be prompted to complete an ID verification check if we can’t confirm your age or if required by applicable law. Learn more below.
If your account is under review, your profile won’t be visible to other users and your functionality will be limited until the review is complete.
The results of your age check may be used to help train certain machine learning models that support our trust and safety tools, as well as to test and audit those models and tools.
ID Verification Checks
After completing your Age Check, you may be prompted to complete an ID Verification Check in accordance with applicable legal requirements and guidelines (such as in the UK). We may also ask you to complete an ID Verification Check to help us confirm that you are at least 18.
The ID verification check helps us confirm that you meet applicable age requirements and check whether you appear to match your ID photo. You will not be able to access Tinder until you successfully complete the ID verification check.
Completing an ID verification check
If prompted, you have two options to complete the ID verification check.
Automated Review (fastest processing): You’ll be prompted to upload the front and back of a valid government-issued ID document. Tinder’s technology automatically checks whether:
- Your stored FaceMap from your Face Check scan matches the face in your ID photo; and
- The date of birth on the ID matches your Tinder profile info and indicates you are at least 18 years old. Your date of birth and age on Tinder will be updated if there’s a mismatch.
Manual Review (takes up to 24 hours): You’ll be prompted to upload the front and back of a valid government-issued ID document. Our tech redacts your ID so that only the ID photo and date of birth are visible, and sends it to a trained human agent for review. The agent will manually check whether:
- Your ID photo appears to match your profile photo(s) and audit image(s); and
- The date of birth on the ID matches your Tinder profile info and indicates you are at least 18 years old. Your date of birth and age on Tinder will be updated if there’s a mismatch.
Please note that the manual review process may take up to 24 hours.
If you pass the ID verification check, your account will be unlocked. Otherwise, your account will be banned. To use Tinder, you’ll need to submit an appeal, as described below.
How Tinder handles your ID verification check data
The results of the ID verification check (i.e., successful or not) are saved until 90 days after your account is closed (or 1 year if the account is banned).
We keep a redacted copy of your ID for 30 days to help audit and troubleshoot the ID verification check process. We also keep the photo and date of birth from your ID for the lifetime of your account to help audit and troubleshoot, evidence compliance with our legal obligations, and display your age on your Tinder profile. If your date of birth is updated during the ID verification check, we retain the previous date of birth for a limited time to help audit, troubleshoot, and respond to user inquiries.
Your FaceMap is retained as described in Tinder’s Face Check article and Privacy Policy.
Age Checks based on App Store profile
Applicable Regions: Brazil, United States: Texas
Where applicable, we use age information provided by the Apple App Store or Google Play Store to prevent anyone under 18 from accessing our service.
For New Users: After sharing your location during onboarding, you will be asked to share your Age Range, as determined by your Apple or Google Play Store account, to confirm you are over the age of 18. Your specific age and birthday will not be shared with Tinder. If you decline to share your age range information with Tinder, you will not be able to create a Tinder account.
If you are in one of the regions listed above and over 18 but unable to create an account, please check your app store settings to ensure:
- Your date of birth is correct
- Your account is not under parental supervision, and
- Age information sharing is enabled.
Once your settings are updated, return to Tinder and try again.
Note: After confirming your age range using your App Store information, you may be required to complete one of the age checks outlined above in accordance with applicable law.
Age assurance appeals
If your account is banned for being underage and you believe this was a mistake, you can appeal the decision through our Appeals Center.
If you're a resident of Australia and would like an alternative to submitting a government-issued ID when appealing an age-related ban, please contact us to request an additional review of your account by a moderator in lieu of providing your ID.
How your data is stored
The results from your Age Check will be stored in a secure format for 1 year. Your audit images, photo(s) and moderation records are processed in accordance with Tinder’s Privacy Policy. This means that Tinder will keep your audit images and photos for the life of the account (plus the applicable retention period following account closure or ban), the photos will continue to be visible on your profile until you replace them, and moderation records are retained for the life of the account (plus the applicable retention period following account closure or ban). Audit images are not added to your profile.
See How Tinder handles your ID verification check data above for details about how Tinder stores ID verification check data.
Your data is securely stored on Amazon Web Services (AWS). The technology used to estimate age is proprietary to Match Group. If you'd like to learn more about how AWS handles data, you can click here.
Tinder’s data practices
Visit our Privacy Policy to learn more about our privacy practices, including the Your Rights section. For more information about automated decision-making at Tinder, check out our Privacy FAQ.
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