Dating-safety watchdog
Garbo
by Garbo (nonprofit-backed)
The one background-check built for dating instead of repurposed for it — consent-aware, conviction-focused, ~$2.50 a search, integrated into Tinder. It wound down in August 2023.
⚠ This service has been discontinued — you cannot use it.
It's documented here because people still search for it. There is no like-for-like replacement; see the free checks at the bottom of the safety overview.
Can you legally use it?
consent-basedThe question the affiliate reviews skip — and the most important one for a “background check.”
Legal status — Consent-based
Built around a consent-aware, safety-first model rather than the data-broker resale model — and priced per-check, not as an auto-renewing membership. It is the standard the rest of the category is measured against, and it no longer exists.
How accurate is it?
Data quality: Court-focused.
Focused on convictions and records of violence/harassment and deliberately excluded most arrest data to avoid amplifying the bias in arrest records — a more responsible accuracy posture than the "everything we scraped" people-search reports.
sourceWhat Garbo costs
Observed 2026-06-08. Where a price is gated behind a search, trial-anchored or discount-tested we say so — we never guess.
| What you pay for | Price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Per search (in-app) At launch Tinder also gave each user two free checks (up to 500,000 total). Service wound down — no longer available. | ≈$2.50 + a small processing fee | source |
How it works: Inside the dating app, you ran a check on a match using their name and phone for about $2.50 — designed around the actual safety question (is there a record of violence here?) rather than maximising scary "records found" hits.
The privacy trade — both ways
low data riskWho you expose
A match — but designed around safety signals rather than broad surveillance, and not a data-broker resale model.
✓ Not a data-broker resale model
Getting your own record removed
n/a — service discontinued.
Flags
Red = a serious, documented issue (an FTC finding, a deceptive teaser, a hard auto-renew trap) · amber = a pricing / accuracy / privacy concern · green = something notably honest.
- 🟡
Discontinued — August 2023
On 17 August 2023 Garbo announced it was ending its Match Group partnership and winding down its consumer background-check service entirely (credits redeemable through 31 August 2023). It cited "a lack of commitment from online platforms and the growing problems with public records."
source
Who's behind Garbo?
A mission-driven, nonprofit-backed startup that partnered with Match Group to put low-cost background checks inside Tinder (2022), then Match, Plenty of Fish and Stir. Deliberately built differently: it surfaced convictions and records of violence/harassment but excluded most arrest data, to avoid amplifying the racial bias baked into arrest records.
The verdict
The honest model — consent-aware, conviction-focused, cheap, and built for dating rather than for selling memberships — and it folded, leaving the field to the data brokers. Documented here because people still search for it; it is no longer available, and there is no like-for-like replacement.
Same lens, the whole industry
We decode dating apps, coaches, matchmakers, courses, AI tools and profile services the same way — what it costs, who's behind it, and what the claims are worth. No affiliate money, anywhere.
Keep digging
We take no money from Garbo (nonprofit-backed) or any safety service, and we run none of their affiliate links. Figures observed 2026-06-08from the provider's own page, a dated review where the price is gated, or a primary FTC notice; gated and undisclosed details are recorded as such, never guessed. See methodology.