# Tinder's Algorithm and RSRR: Photo Scores, Bias and Paywalls

- Original post: https://www.twitter.com/i/status/2112591782857109809
- Source account: [@ayoships](https://x.com/ayoships)
- Source language: English
- Duration: 1:19
- Published: 2026-10-21
- Canonical URL: https://www.translate.mom/transcript/5QelbjmHuxGU/en/tinder-s-algorithm-and-rsrr-photo-scores-bias-and-paywalls

## Transcript

[0:00](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/5QelbjmHuxGU/en/tinder-s-algorithm-and-rsrr-photo-scores-bias-and-paywalls) I reverse engineered Tinder to figure out more about their algorithm and how they get eight point five million people to pay every month.

[0:05](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/5QelbjmHuxGU/en/tinder-s-algorithm-and-rsrr-photo-scores-bias-and-paywalls?t=5) I discovered that Tinder's calculating two things, what you want and how much you're wanted. Tinder learns your type by turning every photo you swipe right on into an embedding and averaging them.

[0:14](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/5QelbjmHuxGU/en/tinder-s-algorithm-and-rsrr-photo-scores-bias-and-paywalls?t=14) It even times how long you stare at each photo.

[0:16](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/5QelbjmHuxGU/en/tinder-s-algorithm-and-rsrr-photo-scores-bias-and-paywalls?t=16) Tinder also tracks how often people swipe right on you.

[0:18](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/5QelbjmHuxGU/en/tinder-s-algorithm-and-rsrr-photo-scores-bias-and-paywalls?t=18) They call it RSRR, your Right Swipe Received Ratio, which is basically out of everyone who sees you, how many actually want you?

[0:24](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/5QelbjmHuxGU/en/tinder-s-algorithm-and-rsrr-photo-scores-bias-and-paywalls?t=24) Tinder even trained a model that runs on your phone and can predict that number for every one of your photos. Their photo selector feature scans up to twenty thousand photos in the last two years, and they run this model on every photo of you and pick the best twenty-seven. Tinder claims everything stays on device,

[0:37](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/5QelbjmHuxGU/en/tinder-s-algorithm-and-rsrr-photo-scores-bias-and-paywalls?t=37) but they still collect each photo's RSRR score, plus how explicit it is and how young you look in it. So I pulled the model out and ran it against my own synthetic data set to get a window into their algorithm.

[0:46](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/5QelbjmHuxGU/en/tinder-s-algorithm-and-rsrr-photo-scores-bias-and-paywalls?t=46) I discovered that across the board, mirror selfies triple your score, and more revealing clothes pushes it even higher for both men and women.

[0:52](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/5QelbjmHuxGU/en/tinder-s-algorithm-and-rsrr-photo-scores-bias-and-paywalls?t=52) However, the darker your skin, the lower your score.

[0:54](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/5QelbjmHuxGU/en/tinder-s-algorithm-and-rsrr-photo-scores-bias-and-paywalls?t=54) For men specifically, sunglasses and outdoor photos help while doing nothing or worse for women. For women, being heavier and older does hurt your score significantly, while neither does anything to the men's score.

[1:03](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/5QelbjmHuxGU/en/tinder-s-algorithm-and-rsrr-photo-scores-bias-and-paywalls?t=63) Then Tinder uses this RSRR score to sell you.

[1:06](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/5QelbjmHuxGU/en/tinder-s-algorithm-and-rsrr-photo-scores-bias-and-paywalls?t=66) If Tinder decides your profile is popular, some of the people who swipe right on you will enter a paywall flow with the sale literally tagged as high RSRR upsell, so Tinder can measure exactly what your popularity earns.

[1:16](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/5QelbjmHuxGU/en/tinder-s-algorithm-and-rsrr-photo-scores-bias-and-paywalls?t=76) Let me know in the comments what content you'd like to see next.