Tinder is paying out $60.5 million in a class action lawsuit alleging that the dating app charged older users more than younger ones for Tinder Plus and Tinder Gold subscriptions.
The lawsuit claims that the platform violated California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act and its Unfair Competition Law, statutes that take a dim view of pricing people differently based on who they are.
Tinder did not admit to any wrongdoing but agreed to settle to avoid the expense of continued litigation. Qualifying for the payout, however, requires quite a bit of paperwork, and the eligibility rules are narrow.
Users must have bought Tinder Plus or Tinder Gold in California, with specific date and age requirements, with purchases made on or after March 2, 2015, qualifying only if claimants were over 29 at the time, and purchases made from March 2, 2016 onward requiring users to have been over 28. More importantly, in both these scenarios, claimants must have been charged higher prices because of their age.
Most people who qualify should already have received a notice by mail or email, with the details needed to file. If a notice never showed up, the claim form remains available on the settlement website, or can be downloaded and mailed to the administrator.
Time to start digging through old receipts
The form requires a claimant’s full name, current contact information, an approximate time as to when the subscription was bought, which state the user lived in at the time, and an estimate of how much was spent in total. That last part needs proof of purchase, so digging through old receipts or app store records is probably part of your afternoon.
Payout amounts will vary based on how much was spent, so someone who paid for a few months of Gold isn’t walking away with the same check as someone who kept a subscription running for years.
It’s worth noting that claim forms are due by August 18, 2026, after which the window closes.
Tinder isn’t the only settlement offering payouts at the moment. A $3 million robocall case tied to student loan servicing calls is paying up to $1,000 per person, and a $120 million money app fraud settlement covering residents in at least 45 states, some of whom will receive distributions automatically without filing anything.
The Tinder settlement received final court approval on June 4, 2026. Whether $60.5 million split across a decade of California Tinder subscribers amounts to much per person depends entirely on how many people file. As is typical with class actions, individual payouts will vary based on total participation.
Sources: Tinder Class Action, Law, Class Action, The Sun