As Bumble gets ready for a big overhaul meant to win back Gen Z users (who are pretty over dating apps right now), its latest earnings still reports that paying users are declining. In the first quarter of 2026, total paying users fell 21.1% to 3.2 million, down from 4 million a year ago.  This has been the story for a few quarters now. However, during the call to investors this afternoon, Bumble has framed this as a deliberate shift toward higher-quality, more intentional users. So while total revenue dropped 14.1% to $212.4 million (though it did beat expectations), and Bumble app revenue fell to $172.7 million, its total average revenue per paying user increased nearly 9%. It also reported higher profits: Net earnings increased to $52.6 million compared to $19.8 million in the year-ago quarter (largely from cutting sales and marketing expenses). On the company’s investor call, founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd described the paid-user decline as part of an intentional reset.…