Designed to be deleted, priced to be reinstalled

Hinge’s slogan is "designed to be deleted." It is a genuinely great line. It is also a line from a company whose revenue depends on you not doing that — Hinge belongs to Match Group, which reports its health to investors in paying users and revenue.

A product actually built to be deleted would celebrate your exit. Retention-optimized products tend to do the opposite when you try to leave:

• The delete flow tends to offer a pause instead of goodbye.
• Quiet users get "we miss you" nudges — Match says reactivating lapsed users is a priority.
• Win-back offers follow: a discount, a free feature.
• And eventually, "someone liked you 🥺".

None of that is a bug in the deletion experience. For a subscription business, keeping you is the job.

The cycle is the product

Surveys of burned-out users keep finding the same loop: delete, feel better, reinstall a few weeks later — often more than once a year. The industry word for that isn’t failure, it’s retention. Every "we missed you" is a measured, tested touchpoint in a funnel whose goal is your return.

You’re not weak for coming back. You’re the target of a funnel that is very good at its job.

Which is why this app doesn’t ask for willpower. It puts a wall where the funnel’s exit ramp used to be, and a price on the door. Funnels hate arithmetic.