If you’re downloading Tinder in the UK, you’ll now be required to complete a mandatory facial scan.
Starting today, Tinder is implementing a facial verification feature called Face Check in the UK. This follows Tinder’s initiative to require all new users in the U.S. to undergo the same process as of October 2025, following a trial in California.
In addition, new Tinder users in the U.S., Canada, Australia, India, and other regions, including Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, will also need to complete a facial scan. Users start this process by taking a video selfie on the app, which Tinder then uses to verify their profile photos. If the photos match, users receive a Photo Verified badge. This feature can reportedly identify if someone has multiple accounts.
Tinder initially introduced photo verification in 2021, followed by video verification in 2023. By 2024, Tinder began necessitating ID checks for verification checkmarks.
Face Check comes at a time when identity verification is gaining importance online, especially in the UK due to the Online Safety Act, which mandates age verification on platforms hosting potentially adult content. Just before the Online Safety Act was enacted in July 2025, major dating apps, including Tinder, announced their plans to incorporate age checks.
Dating apps are under heightened scrutiny due to safety concerns, particularly with scams, which Face Check aims to mitigate. According to an August 2025 survey in the UK, 63% of people aged 18-24 find scams increasingly difficult to detect. Internal Tinder data indicates a more than 60% reduction in exposure to “potential bad actors” such as spam, scams, or fake profiles, and over a 40% decrease in reports of bad actors.
Additionally, dating apps face criticism for safety concerns. In December 2025, several women sued Match Group, which owns Tinder and other apps, for allegedly permitting a serial rapist on its platforms. In February, Mashable reported that Hinge, another Match Group app, is also planning to pilot compulsory facial scans.