The fine print, up front
Methodology
- 01Sample
- 17 million swipe events from the US, collected through 2026. Anonymized outcomes from a live dating platform, under a data-use agreement.
- 02Unit
- Profile × viewer outcome.
- 03Approach
- Photo and text features are extracted on the platform side; we receive only de-identified signals (photo counts, photo attributes, bio length) and swipe outcomes. Model fit on 80% of the sample, tested on the remaining 20% hold-out. Findings that did not hold on the hold-out set were discarded.
- 04Decision time
- Decision time measured as the interval between consecutive swipes within a session, excluding gaps over two minutes; slightly overestimates viewing time since it includes load and animation. Across the sample, the median profile gets under 2 seconds before the swipe; about two-thirds of decisions land within 3 seconds.
- 05Selection bias, honestly
- The sample comes from one platform's users, who skew toward that platform's demographics; findings may transfer imperfectly to apps with a different user base. Swipe outcomes measure first impressions, not conversations or dates.
- 06What we don't publish
- Anything identifiable.
Findings
What the model sees
| Photos on profile | Women | Men |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1 | 33% | 9% |
| 2 | 38% | 10% |
| 3 | 39% | 11% |
| 4-5 | 39% | 11% |
| 6+ | 38% | 10% |
Per-profile right-swipe rates, profiles with 40+ impressions, US, through 2026.
- The median profile gets under 2 seconds of attention before the swipe; about two-thirds of decisions happen within 3 seconds.
- Profiles with a single photo get ~20% fewer right-swipes than profiles with four or five. The gap holds at every age we checked.
- Smiling in your first photo runs about 9% below not smiling, both genders.
- Having a bio barely moves your score at all. Very long bios trend slightly negative.
- On the platform we studied, women's profiles received right-swipes about 36% of the time; men's about 9%.
That's it.