Whitney Wolfe Herd built Bumble into a billion-dollar app. Now she wants to destroy the entire swipe model.
Her new project? An AI dating app that doesn't judge photos but analyzes your emotional patterns. Based on attachment theory - a psychological concept therapists have used for decades, but no dating app has ever taken seriously.
This timing isn't accidental. The dating app industry is in a full-blown crisis. According to a Forbes Health survey, 79% of Gen Z users experience dating app burnout. And Bumble's official Q2 2025 financial report shows an 8.7% decline in paying users, dropping to 3.8 million.
The Dating App Crisis
Tinder lost 594,000 users in the UK alone in twelve months. Bumble? 368,000 gone. Hinge: 131,000.
These aren't "normal fluctuations". This is a mass exodus.
According to South Denver Therapy's analysis, roughly 70% of all matches never lead to an actual conversation. Most chats die after two or three messages. A Norwegian study found users need an average of 291 matches to form a single committed relationship.
The problem? Swipe apps optimize for engagement, not real connections. The longer you swipe, the more money they make. If you find your life partner after three weeks, you're a lost customer.
This is exactly where attachment theory comes in: It explains why superficial matches don't work and which emotional patterns enable truly compatible partnerships.
What Is Attachment Theory?
Here's where it gets interesting: Attachment theory isn't some psychology buzzword. It explains why you keep falling for the wrong people - or why your relationships implode after three months.
John Bowlby, a psychiatrist in the 1950s, discovered that how you formed bonds as a child programs your relationship patterns as an adult. In his words: "Intimate attachments to other human beings are the hub around which a person's life revolves. Not only in childhood, but through adolescence, the years of maturity, and into old age."
Sound abstract? It's not. If you constantly attract emotionally unavailable partners, or you panic when someone gets close - those are attachment patterns in action.
Mary Ainsworth later identified four fundamental attachment styles:
Secure attachment (about 60% of people): You can allow closeness without clinging. When your partner spends an evening with friends, it's not a crisis. Research shows securely attached people have more satisfying relationships - not because they're perfect, but because they can communicate openly.
Anxious attachment: Every unanswered text feels like a catastrophe. You need constant reassurance and fear being abandoned. Intense, emotional, often exhausting - for you and your partner.
Avoidant attachment: Too much closeness makes you nervous. You emphasize your independence, sometimes so much that partners feel rejected. "I need space" is your favorite phrase.
Disorganized attachment: You want closeness but fear it at the same time. Contradictory impulses make relationships chaotic. You pull close and push away - sometimes on the same day.
Wolfe Herd's Vision for the New AI Dating App
According to Fortune, Wolfe Herd describes her vision this way: The AI could "scan all of San Francisco for you and say: These are the three people you really ought to meet."
The new app uses a Large Language Model trained with psychologists and relationship counselors. Instead of evaluating photos, the AI analyzes emotional patterns, relationship history, and psychological compatibility.
The key difference: Traditional algorithms learn from your swipe behavior. They optimize for what captures your attention. This new app wants to understand what attachment patterns you bring and which partners could actually be compatible with you. By integrating attachment theory into the matching algorithm, users could find emotionally compatible partners faster.
As Wolfe Herd emphasizes: "We're in the era of AI, and I want to make sure that we use AI to make love more human again. I don't want it to become devoid of human touch."
Why Attachment Theory in Dating Could Work
Imagine this: Lisa has anxious attachment. When her partner doesn't respond for three hours, she spirals. Max is avoidant - every time Lisa wants closeness, he withdraws. This isn't coincidence. They trigger each other's worst patterns.
A securely attached partner could give Lisa the stability she needs. Instead of running away, he'd say: "I'm here, even when I don't respond immediately." That could calm her anxiety instead of amplifying it.
Current dating apps match Lisa and Max because they both look good in photos. An attachment-based app would say: "This combination ends in a toxic cycle."
Dating apps have ignored what psychologists have known for decades: Physical attraction is only a small part of successful relationships. Emotional compatibility determines whether a first date becomes a partnership. Research on attachment theory shows exactly that.
Critical Perspective: Attachment Theory Has Limits
That said, this psychological concept shouldn't be overstated. As Psychologie Heute reports, its predictive power is limited to the social-emotional domain. It says nothing about intelligence, career success, or other life areas.
Also worth noting: Attachment patterns aren't set in stone. People can change their patterns through therapy, secure relationships, and personal growth. An app that slots you into a category might not capture this dynamism.
Still, the approach is more promising than the status quo. Even if the technology isn't perfect, it could help start the conversations that actually matter.
What This Means for You
Regardless of whether you'll use this new app: Understanding your own attachment style can improve your dating life. Do you recognize yourself in the anxious pattern? The avoidant one? That knowledge helps you make more conscious choices. The principles of attachment theory work even without AI.
The dating app landscape will change. The question isn't if, but how fast. Gen Z has made it clear: Endless swiping without real connections doesn't work anymore.
You don't have to wait for Wolfe Herd's app. There are already platforms that prioritize community and genuine compatibility over quick swipes. Discover profiles on SparkChambers, where your interests and values matter more than your first profile photo.
