Bumble will eliminate swiping from its dating app later this year, CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd confirmed Thursday.

The company plans to replace the signature feature that defined 2010s dating apps with what Wolfe Herd called "something revolutionary for the category" in an interview with Axios.

The overhaul comes after several disappointing quarters. Bumble's paid users fell 21% to 3.2 million in the first quarter, down from 4 million a year earlier.

"We are going to be saying goodbye to the swipe and hello to something that I believe is revolutionary for the category," Wolfe Herd said.

AI-first dating strategy

Bumble is expected to lean heavily into artificial intelligence for its redesign. The company is developing an AI dating assistant called Bee and has positioned AI as "a supercharger to love and relationships."

Wolfe Herd has previously expressed interest in more experimental AI features, including personal AI bots that could date other bots on users' behalf.

The CEO framed the user decline as a strategic choice rather than market failure. "We have executed a deliberate reset of our member base," she said on this week's earnings call. "We made a clear choice to prioritize quality over quantity."

Bumble's app overhaul won't launch until the fourth quarter of 2026. Users will continue swiping until then.

The timing presents challenges as Gen Z users increasingly view prominent AI features negatively. Whether Bumble's "Black Mirror"-style AI dating concepts will attract users in their twenties remains unclear.

Dating apps already use AI algorithms to determine which profiles users see. Bumble's bet is that more visible AI features will differentiate it from competitors like Tinder and Hinge as the company attempts to reverse its user decline.