Tinder on Android now tries hard to bypass the Google Play Store's payment system

Tinder has made a change to its Android app, encouraging users who want to make in-app purchases to enter their debit card data rather than use the Google Play’s Store own built-in mechanisms. To be clear, users can still opt to use Google Play, Tinder has simply introduced its own payment flow which users are encouraged to use first. However, once a user opts to use Tinder’s own payment system, the option go back to Google Play is now removed for that user.

While the Google Play Store is very convenient for users as they would have a singular point of cancellation for subscriptions, developers often resent the cut they pay to Google for the privilege of using that payment system. Some developers like Spotify and Netflix even kick users over to the website to make payments there instead. With that being said, Tinder is one of the only big names to implement its own payment system in-app, as Bloomberg notes.

Tinder has not yet applied the same change to Apple’s App Store, but it’s unlikely the firm has not yet seriously considered it.