Quick Answer
How many people use dating apps in 2025?
270 million people use dating apps worldwide.
Dating, wooing, courting, and other terms related to the idea of dating all come down to one thing. That one thing is finding love.
Today, people are using dating apps on their phones to find love.
Before mobile dating apps there were, and still are, dating websites like Match.com. eHarmony, and Plenty of Fish (owned by Match.com).
A fast fact about PoF is that it was also used by marketers because advertising on this dating site attracted targeted consumers and people who buy what you are offering.
Plenty of Fish may still be used for marketing and advertising, but today, mobile apps are taking over the dating scene.
In 2012, Tinder was introduced as a dating app for mobile use.
How Many People Use Dating Apps in 2025?
Data reveals that about 270 million people across the world use dating apps.
That figure alone is double that of just five years ago.
In America alone, about 39% of couples claim they met online (2019 data).
As the new generations enter the dating app realm, this industry expects to see massive growth from those between 18 to 29 year olds.
The worldwide dating app sector is estimated to exceed $8.4 billion by 2024.
Here is a list of people using dating apps by age group:
- 18-24: 15%
- 30-44: 19%
- 45-54: 8%
- 55-65: 6%
This data is gathered from dating apps statistics.
The data for those between 25-29 and those over 65 is too small to include. The figures simply aren’t there to count.
You might also find it interesting that the subscription on dating apps and online dating services went up by 2% during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since we are in Q1 of 2022, the most recent data will be from 2018 to 2021.
What’s an App?
Apps are forms of applications that can be installed and used on smartphones, tablets,desktops, laptops, and some other devices.
Today, apps are mostly referred to as mobile applications.
What Is a Dating App?
A dating app is an application, mostly used on mobile devices like smartphones or tablets, where you can create a profile of yourself and browse through the profiles that best fit your preference in partners.
What Can You Do via Dating Apps?
Things you can do through a dating app include chat, flirt, or even meet in person after a period of getting to know one another in the online realm.
While most people are looking for love and romance via dating apps, others may be only seeking companionship.
Today, there are over 1500 dating websites or apps that want your attention if you’re looking for love, romance, friendship, or companionship.
Who Uses Dating Apps?
Now we will discuss who is using dating apps.
You can see from the figures above, that the largest target segment for dating apps usage falls between 30 and 44 years old.
Statistics from 2020 revealed that one in three adults claim to have used an online dating service at least once.
More data from 2021 shows that 40% of Americans partake in online dating via mobile apps and websites.
Surveyed heterosexual couples report that almost 40% of them met online.
Generation Z is choosing more video-centric apps over the traditional dating apps such as Bumble or Tinder.
Video-centric apps like TikTok-insprired Snack allow users to scroll through videos instead of swiping like you do on Tinder.
For those with a seriously great sense of humor (no pun intended), Schmooze seems to be a popular choice.
On Schmooze you swipe, but you swipe through batches of funny memes not profiles.
The app is learning your style of humor so it can match you with those with similar humor preferences.
Men are using online dating sites and apps more than women. Men account for 52.4% of the online dating market, while women make up 47.6% of this market.
Some interesting facts about women and dating online include how age impacts matching.
Women tend to peak in desirability by 21, but women who are 26 get more active pursuers than men of the same age.
At 48, men receive more active pursuers as women by double.
What Impact Did the COVID-19 Pandemic Have on Dating Apps?
Since we are pretty much entering post-pandemic time, we can’t discuss dating apps without including the data from 2019 to 2021.
During the pandemic, not only were dating apps and sites on the rise, apps offered video chatting that was a big hit across apps.
Nearly 50% of Tinder users video chatted with matches during the pandemic. About 40% of them said they planned to continue relationships post-pandemic.
As we already mentioned, the dating apps market increased by 2% during the pandemic.
This percentage included online dating sites. Tinder experienced more than 3 billion swipes in a single day in March 2020, during the pandemic.
We can safely learn from this data that people were seeking companionship and love even while in lockdown.
Many people seeking love claim to be looking for marriage.
What Are Some Factors that Impact Online Dating and Dating Apps?
We mentioned that age impacts online dating, but what else impacts your success on dating apps?
It seems that location matters and can have an impact on your experience with online dating apps.
For instance, eHarmony reveals that 50% of New Yorkers (the state) are single and make up the largest segment of users on the dating platform.
On the other hand, there are fewer users from Idaho where about 60% of the state’s population is married.
The fact that women are not looking just to hook up impacts the dating apps experience.
Only about 33% of women use dating apps and sites for casual sex purposes.
Around 60% of female Tinder users claim to be looking for a real relationship, not just a hookup.
Looks and common interests are the two most important elements on dating apps and sites.
It seems that 64% of people using dating apps and sites are seeking people they have something in common with.
Another 49% are looking for physcial traits they think are attractive.
All this data implies that what you put on your profile, your picture, video, interests, hobbies, religion, political affiliations, and other profile information has an impact on your success in matching.
Which Dating Apps Are the Most Popular?
It wouldn’t be an article dating apps without talking about which dating apps are popular or the most used, so we’ll do that before we conclude this writing.
As of April 2021, Tinder was the most downloaded dating app in America.
At that time, Tinder was downloaded more than one million times per month.
Bumble took the second spot for the most downloads at 560,000 downloads a month.
Hinge came in third with around 394,000 downloads in 2021.
Tinder has 9.6 million paid subscribers , Bumble has 1.2 million subscribers, and Hinge has 1.2 million subscribers.
Zoosk and MeetMe each have 0.91 million subscribers, and Ashley Madison has 0.85 million subscribers.
Tinder is most popular among the 18 to 24 year old crowd, Hinge is more popular among people 30 and older, and Bumble seems to have more users under 30 and then over 50.
So, if you’re over 50, Bumble would be the best data app to start with.
That covers some pertinent data about the top five most popular dating apps.
Conclusion
Now that you know how many people use dating apps, you can decide if this is something you might want to try.
You should also know that the most popular purpose of dating apps is to find an exclusive relationship with a romantic partner.
This article represents how things are going these days in the dating world. The use of online dating sites and apps are both on the rise.
A rise of 2% during the pandemic along with the rise in more video chatting is no surprise. People don’t just stop looking for love in lockdown.
Some of these dating apps or sites offer features you can use for free, on a trial basis with limited features, or with various levels of paid subscriptions to fit your budget and personal goals for using a dating app.
A few years ago, people wouldn’t talk about using dating sites, forums, chats, or apps at all. It has now become an acceptable way to meet your love match, and that’s okay.
Today, the stigma surrounding online dating sites and now dating apps is nearly gone.
There are more people looking for companionship, friendship, romance, and love online and via dating apps.
Are you interested in finding your love match through an app?
If you were to subscribe to a dating app, which one would you choose?
Do you think age, location, interests, and looks are important to success on dating apps?
