Photo-illustration by Newsweek/Getty/Canva/Is Gen Z Killing The Dating App?
By Marni Rose McFall
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Over the past few years, there's been headline after headline saying that Gen Z isn't drinking, clubbing or having sex as much as previous generations.
Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012, has purportedly swapped out pints for Pilates, and the self-care obsessed group seems to have become disillusioned with dating, too.
An unintended casualty? Dating apps. As Bumble lays off staff and Match Group embarks on a rebrand, Newsweek asks experts—are Gen Zers really not interested in dating, or are they just doing it differently? And what does it mean for the future of dating apps?
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The Great Dating Drought
Dating apps massively altered the way people meet and connect. Pew Research Center reported in 2023 that one in 10 partnered adults met their partner on a dating site or app, rising to one in five for those aged under 30. However, that same year, an Axios survey of college and graduate students found that 79 percent of college students weren't using any dating apps.
In a 2022 nationally representative U.S. survey of 2,000 adults from the Kinsey Institute and Lovehoney, one in four Gen Z adults said they were yet to have partnered sex. And there was a gender divide, with men being more likely than women to report never having had partnered sex (one in three men vs. one in five women).
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More recent research points to a continued decline in dating app usage. In May, the Kinsey Institute and DatingAdvice.com conducted a nationally representative survey of 2,000 single adults to examine the current dating landscape. Just 21.2 percent of Gen Z participants said that apps were their primary way of connecting, and 58 percent said they were focused on meeting in person.
Dr. Justin Lehmiller, a senior research fellow at the Kinsey Institute and host of the Sex and Psychology Podcast, worked on both pieces of research. "For a generation raised on technology, most of them don't actually seem to want to use technology to find love and prefer to find it the old-fashioned way instead," he told Newsweek over email.
This shift in desire may be driving a shift in the dating industry. Bumble, the dating app where "women make the first move," has lost 90 percent of its value since going public in 2021 and recently announced it is laying off 30 percent of its staff.
Newsweek reached out to Bumble via an online contact form for comment.
"There are a number of reasons why young adults appear to be turning away from online dating," Lehmiller said, pointing to the expense of online dating (many apps offer paid options, and going on dates can be expensive), for a generation struggling financially. Then, there's Gen Z's drive for authenticity. "One doesn't have to spend much time on a dating app to discover authenticity is often hard to come by," Lehmiller said.
Taking Romance Offline
So, are tech-raised Gen Zers really taking an analogue approach to dating?
"Gen Z is the most digitally native generation, but that doesn't mean they want more digital disconnection—they are obsessed with the idea of authenticity," content creator and matchmaker Alexis Germany Fox told Newsweek.
Fox said that Gen Z isn't interested in "endless swiping" or "surface-level bios." Beyond that, "Apps that rely solely on quick-glance attraction feel outdated to them."
In a rapidly changing tech world, dating apps have already become a bit old fashioned.
The first online dating site, Match.com was launched in 1995—before Gen Z was even born. Apps like Tinder, Hinge and Bumble came later, in 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively. The youngest of Gen Z were born in 2012.
"Gen Z seems to think that there are only 'leftovers' on the apps, so they aren't even worth their time anymore," Fox said.
In October 2024, comedian and actor Leslie Jones said on The Drew Barrymore Show, "They just need to put all the apps on one app and call it 'What's left?'" The clip has been viewed 4 million times on TikTok, Gen Z's digital watering hole.
Newsweek spoke to Dr. Jennie Rosie, an associate professor at James Madison University and host of the Love Matters podcast. Drawing on her own research, published in the Virginia Social Science Journal and the Florida Communication Journal, she said "Gen Zers want serious, long-term relationships."
However, they "feel pressured by dismissive dating norms to adopt more casual practices." This leads to Gen Z "putting less focus on their long-term goals of life partnership."
Rae Weiss, a Gen Z dating coach, said that this generation is moving away from dating apps because swiping feels "transactional, laborious and scripted."
"The burnout from choice overload has left us craving authenticity and meaningful interaction, so we're seeking out organic ways to meet people offline," Weiss told Newsweek. "There is little incentive for genuine conversation or progressing relationships when you can always start anew.
The Dating App Reinvention
But this may not be a death knell for apps. "I don't think dating apps are going to disappear any time soon, but they will need to evolve if they want to get more young people to join," Lehmiller said.
Match Group's Spencer Rascoff, who joined as CEO earlier this year, is leading changes to the company's apps, which include Tinder and Hinge. Tinder—long associated with "hookup culture"—specifically is undergoing a rebrand to appeal more to Gen Z.
Delivering prepared remarks at Match Group's Q1 2025 earnings report, Rascoff said that to meet this generation's needs, they're "focused on building features that feel more fun and spontaneous." One such feature on Tinder includes a double date function, which has proved popular with users aged under 29.
On Hinge—the dating app "designed to be deleted" and generally known for more intentional dating—Gen Z makes up more than 50 percent of users. Hinge has released specific Gen Z dating reports, the "Your World" prompts feature and "Your Turn Limits," which require users with too many matches to either reply or end the conversation before matching with new people.
The shifts are being felt around the dating world. One platform that is both booming and bringing a Gen Z audience with it is Feeld. It is described on its website as an "inclusive dating app" aimed at people interested in ethical non-monogamy, polyamory, casual sex and the LGBTQ+ community. In the first quarter of 2025, Feeld achieved some 841,000 downloads—its highest number to date—according to Statista.
"Feeld has always been a bit different," Ashley Dos Santos, a senior communications executive at Feeld, told Newsweek.
"What we're seeing now with Gen Z especially is a broader cultural shift towards more open, intentional ways of connecting," Dos Santos said. "This generation is questioning old norms around gender, sexuality and relationships, and choosing exploration and authenticity over more rigid categories. Feeld isn't here to dictate how people should date—we're here to create safer spaces for them to define it for themselves."
Dos Santos said they've seen an 89 percent increase in Gen Zers joining Feeld in the past year. "They're leading the way in forming meaningful connections on the app, and are also the most fluid generation we've seen," she said.
Gen Z's sexual fluidity may be a key driver in Feeld's popularity. A 2024 report from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) found that nearly 30 percent of Gen Z identified as LGBTQ+. To put that number in perspective, baby boomers only identified as LGBTQ+ 4 percent of the time, while millennials identified as LGBTQ+ 16 percent of the time.
Feeld isn't the only dating app gaining in popularity, with LGBTQ+ platform Grindr also experiencing a surge in users.
Chief Product Officer AJ Balance told Newsweek over email that "Grindr has always been about enabling authentic connections for the LGBTQ+ community."
"What makes Grindr unique is that we've never shied away from the realities of our users' experience. We are constantly gathering feedback and research from our users, including our Gen Z users."
Balance said that a 2024 survey they conducted among gay and bisexual men found that over 50 percent of those in Gen Z were seeking either marriage or a monogamous relationship, with that age group also expressing a greater desire to have a family.
"We are seeing incredibly strong engagement on our app," Balance said, noting that Grindr users spend an average of an hour a day on the platform. "In just 2024, more than 130 billion chats and more than 9.5 billion taps were sent."
Their product road map includes an "AI Wingman feature," which is a "personal digital assistant designed to help people spark better conversations."
"Grindr is a place for people to meet, but also to learn, explore identity, make friends, form relationships, and access vital resources," Balance added.
What Does the Future Hold for Dating Apps?
As Gen Z brings a new set of preferences and problems to the dating world, it's clear that a rapid evolution of apps is necessary.
"For dating apps to remain relevant, they'll need to evolve beyond the swipe," Fox said. "That might mean integrating more real-life components like curated local mixers or event partnerships and creating better in-app experiences for vibe checks."
Weiss echoed this idea, saying, "I'm also seeing Gen Z place a high value on the accountability and comfort that comes from having a friend, coworker, acquaintance or institution in common.
"For dating apps to stay relevant, they'll need to prioritize helping users move from online to in-person quickly and build community ties—by surfacing mutual connections and providing insight into community overlap, much like LinkedIn does when it shows where your networks intersect," Weiss said.
Fox added that "Gen Z isn't anti-digital, they're anti-fake. The future of dating tech must align with that."
While a world without dating apps feels unlikely, Gen Z appears to be paving the way toward a world where they are used differently. Pledge authenticity and you might get them to hit download.
Update 7/7/25, 7:28 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information and comment from AJ Balance.
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