Read this before you #DeleteFacebook — it could have unexpected consequences for your dating apps

Facebook is in hot water. Late last week, news broke that a data-mining company, Cambridge Analytica, had harvested the data of more than 50 million Facebook users, then reportedly used the info to help the Trump campaign target advertisements, an action that likely influenced the results of the 2016 presidential election. This goes against Facebook’s policies, and even worse, Facebook knew it was happening and did almost nothing to stop it. The events triggered the #DeleteFacebook movement, prompting many to actually do just that. But before you join in, you should read this — because deleting your profile could have some unexpected consequences for your dating apps.

There are plenty of legitimate reasons to join the #DeleteFacebook movement. This Cambridge Analytica controversy is a big deal, and makes it really hard for users to trust Facebook. Aside from that, this isn’t the only time Facebook has been under fire for supposedly assisting the Trump campaign — remember the whole fake news scandal?

But here’s the thing: Deleting Facebook is tougher than you think. The social media platform is connected to many of the other apps you use, including your dating apps.

Without a Facebook account, your dating apps are going to get seriously screwed up.

This issue was first brought up by Christopher Wylie, the whistleblower who spilled the beans about Cambridge Analytica. Wylie said that since he had deleted Facebook, he could no longer use Tinder. false

Mashable’s Rachel Thompson looked into it and found the same to be true for her own Tinder account. She wrote, “After some digging, I discovered that deleting Facebook will also prevent you from accessing your existing Tinder account. So, that means kissing goodbye to all your lovely matches, and convos.”

You don’t have to have a Facebook account in order to use Tinder (you can sign up with a phone number), but if you are connecting to the dating app through Facebook and you delete your Facebook account, you’ll have to make a new Tinder account. That means you’re creating a new profile and starting from scratch. If you’ve been on Tinder a while, this is pretty inconvenient.

If you use Bumble, it’s even more difficult to delete Facebook. As Mashable reports, Bumble currently requires you to have a Facebook account to sign up. If you deactivate your account, you can continue to use your Bumble account — until you log out of the app, after which you won’t be able to get back in.

Basically, if you delete your Facebook account, you’re also deleting any current Tinder and Bumble account. Deleting your Facebook account can affect other dating apps as well — take a look at Mashable’s research to see which other dating apps link to Facebook.

In the meantime, you can also see which other apps are linked to your Facebook account by going to Account settings>Apps>Logged in with Facebook. You’d be surprised at how much you could lose by deactivating your profile.

This certainly isn’t ideal, and it probably serves as a good reminder to always try and sign up for new accounts separately from Facebook, even if it seems inconvenient. Facebook has made it difficult to get rid of a profile — and that’s really not cool.

Filed Under