How Do You Restore a Tinder Purchase?

It depends on where you paid. For a purchase tied to your Apple ID or Google Play account, open Tinder, go into the app's settings and tap Restore Purchases. For a purchase made on Tinder.com, with PayPal, or with the credit card option on Android, you enter the Restore Token from your purchase confirmation email, which starts with RT. Restoring does not start a new transaction, so it will not charge you again.

If you bought the plan inside the app and it is tied to your Apple ID or your Google Play account, the restore happens in the app.

1. Open Tinder.
2. Tap the profile icon.
3. Tap the settings icon.
4. Scroll down and select Restore Purchases.

Before you tap it, check that the phone is signed in to the same Apple ID or Google account you paid with. The restore looks for purchases on the store account the phone is using, so the wrong one finds nothing.

If you bought on Tinder.com, paid with PayPal, or used the credit card option on Android, the restore happens on Tinder.com instead.

1. Open Tinder.com in your browser.
2. Tap the profile icon.
3. Scroll down to Manage Account.
4. Enter the Restore Token from your purchase confirmation email. It starts with RT.

If you cannot find the token, search your inbox for the confirmation email from the purchase. Try the email address you used when you paid, which may not be the one you use every day.

Tinder says restoring a purchase will not initiate a new transaction. It only reapplies purchases you already made. You are asking the app to recognize a plan you paid for, not buying it again, so there is no risk in trying.

What you can restore is limited to subscriptions and other non-consumable purchases. Tinder's help page says consumables, the items meant to be used once, like Super Likes and Boosts, cannot be restored. If the missing thing is a Boost rather than a plan, a restore will not bring it back.

A few things stop a restore, and each one has a clear cause.

• The plan is on another Tinder account. Tinder says a subscription can only belong to one account at a time. If you see a message saying it is tied to an existing account, the plan sits on an account you are not signed in to.
• You changed platforms. Subscriptions do not transfer between iPhone and Android. If you moved from one to the other, Tinder's advice is to cancel the old subscription and subscribe again on the new phone.
• The phone is on a different store account. The Apple ID or Google account on the phone has to be the one that paid.
• The token is from a different purchase. Check the date on the confirmation email matches the plan you are trying to bring back.

If none of these fits, Tinder's help page asks you to contact its support with a screenshot of the error you are seeing.

The worst response to a missing plan is to buy it again. Restoring costs nothing. A second purchase costs you a full period, and then you have two plans to untangle and possibly a refund to chase.

So try the restore first. If it fails, work through the causes above. Only buy again once you know the old plan is cancelled or has run out.

A plan the app stopped recognizing gives you an accidental test. For however long the paid features were missing, you were using Tinder the way a free user does.

Think back over those days. If you only noticed because a menu looked different, the plan may not be doing much for you. That is worth knowing before the next renewal. If your matches and conversations clearly dropped off while it was missing, that is real evidence the plan works for you, and getting it back is worth the effort.

Either way, remember what the plan can and cannot touch. a dating coach's view is that paid features multiply what an account already gets. The first photo she sees and the first message you send decide what she does next. Those are the same with or without a subscription, and they are yours to improve whenever you like.