Dating apps are struggling, here's why (2024)

While dating apps have dramatically changed how Americans make romantic connections, there's growing evidence that the once booming social platforms are on the decline. This comes as singles abandon the apps and search for love as their parents and grandparents once did—in person.

Earlier this week, Bumble's founder and chief executive Whitney Wolfe Herd stepped down from the nearly decade old company. Lidiane Jones, the chief executive at Slack Technologies, will take over the company in January, but the change could be a sign of dark times ahead for the dating app industry.

Also this month, Match Group, which owns Match.com, OKCupid, Hinge and Tinder, reported lower-than-expected earnings results. Specifically, the decline of paying customers on Tinder cut into its bottom line.

Americans have increasingly been on the lookout for human connection after the pandemic ended in-person workplace policies and temporarily closed restaurants and bars.

While dating apps have long been considered the top way to meet other singles, more Americans are turning to in-person dating, looking to meet each other at bars and restaurants, mutual friends or even shared hobbies. Essentially, what they did before the rise of dating app platforms.

"People have found that they prefer meeting people in person more than browsing profiles on a phone," Dustin Sitar, the CEO of The Groom Club, told Newsweek. "Meeting a potential date in person is more authentic as you get a feeling for a person's personality immediately."

The issues when it comes to dating apps are widespread.

Women often report feeling overwhelmed by the sheer abundance of less-than-stellar matches, while men sometimes complain that they rarely get a reply or even a match. With the apps built to allow you to swipe away potential suitors, ghosting has also become common.

Singles are increasingly frustrated with the algorithms that determine who they potentially match with as well.

"This dissatisfaction could be linked to the algorithms not quite hitting the mark for individual preferences or expectations," Deon Black, a sex educator and dating coach, told Newsweek. "Insecurity and overwhelm are also playing their part, potentially affecting user engagement and willingness to pay for premium features."

Because dating apps are looking to take in money from singles desperate for love, they often show only lower-ranked matches before offering users a chance to pay for better swipe placement and the ability to get higher-rated matches.

"They've reshaped the dynamics of modern romance, making it easier to meet people outside our immediate social circles," Black said. "However, they're also responsible for accelerating casual dating and hookup culture, which can lead to negative emotional consequences for some users. On a more amusing note, these apps have turned us into human versions of Goldilocks—always searching for someone who's 'just right.' But this constant swiping can lead to dating app fatigue or burnout."

The turn away from dating apps might be ironically being led by the younger generation.

Last week, an Axios survey of around 1,000 U.S. college and graduate students found 79 percent didn't use any dating apps.

This differs significantly from the young dating scene even in 2019, when around half of 18- to 29-year-olds in the U.S. reported using a dating app, according to Pew Research.

While dating apps offered one of singles' only choices during the pandemic when in-person dating environments were stripped from the ground up, singles might be looking for more genuine connections based on something deeper than your view of someone's photographs.

"People are increasingly disillusioned with the superficial nature of these platforms and the algorithms that often prioritize profit over genuine connections," Julia Rueschemeyer, a family lawyer and divorce mediator at Amherst Divorce, told Newsweek. "This has led to a resurgence in traditional, in-person dating methods."

Rueschemeyer said that even users that once believed in the apps are increasingly questioning their impact on social norms and personal relationships. In her experience in divorce mediation, many couples are complaining about the transient and inauthentic experiences facilitated by dating apps.

The dating app industry has also been fighting to retain high profits as Tesla's Elon Musk looks to turn his newly acquired company Twitter (now known as X) into a new dating site in 2024.

Musk has pushed to turn the social platform into more of an "everything" app, with potential to allow users to search for dating partners or even jobs and banking services on the site.

The dating app capabilities on X have not been detailed, and no specific timeline has been announced besides that users could expect the service as early as next year. X has also been struggling to retain its once booming market value after Musk purchased the company for $44 billion.

Today, the platform is valued at $19 billion, according to new stock options employees shared with Fortune.

Despite the growing dissatisfaction with dating apps, it's unlikely they will ever fully go away now that the world has gotten used to this way of dating, experts say.

"Approaching someone in person can feel like decoding hieroglyphics without Rosetta Stone after years of app-guided communication," Black said. "So, while we might see a shift towards more traditional ways of meeting potential partners, I think it's safe to say dating apps won't be swiped left entirely."