Facebook has broken Tinder and users who were booted off the dating app have taken to Twitter to complain about it, as spotted first by Select All.
Ever since the Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal, in which as many as 87 million users had data improperly shared with the UK data mining firm, Facebook has been rolling out more security and data privacy updates. Today, however, the company announced sweeping changes to many of its most prominent APIs, restricting developer access in a number of crucial ways.
Soon after, Tinder users started noting on Twitter that they had been kicked off the dating app and couldn’t log back on, as those who used Facebook Login were caught in an infinite loop that appears to be related to an unknown bug. Since you need a Facebook account to log into Tinder, this bug has potentially affected Tinder’s entire user base.
The app has been bringing up an error message to booted users, titled Facebook Permissions, stating that users need to provide more Facebook permissions in order to create or use a Tinder account. If users tap “Ask me,” which is the only given option, the app requests they log into Facebook once more and the loop starts again.
That feel when tinder logs you out and doesn’t let you back in. There goes my future wife.
— . P A N I I C . (@nathius_1996) April 4, 2018
Tinder has responded in a tweet, “A technical issue is preventing users from logging into Tinder. We apologize for the inconvenience and are working to have everyone swiping again soon.” The web browser still works in the meantime. Facebook said in a statement to The Verge, “This was part of the changes that we announced today, and we are working with Tinder to address this issue.”
I have a date tonight and I don’t have her number. This is a serious problem for me in case our plans change — I’ll have no way of knowing
— Max Davids (@maxxdavids) April 4, 2018
Update April 4th, 5:00PM ET: This article has been updated with a statement from Facebook and Twitter.
https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/4/17200034/facebook-broke-tinder-down-privacy-api-fixes