Dating app uninstalls are through the roof: Report

Finally, my first-ever match! I was convinced she was the one, that is, until she leaned in, grabbed my hand, and whispered, “Have you ever thought about being your own boss?”

Next thing I know, I’m staring at her laptop with a PowerPoint presentation, nodding in feigned interest while trying to politely extricate myself from the situation. I thought she was into me, but it turns out she just wanted me in her downline.

My second match didn’t fare any better. She asked if I wanted to grab dinner. I thought, “Wow, someone who actually wants to meet up? Say less.” I pick her up, and she casually mentions, “Oh, by the way, my friend is coming too!” We arrive at the restaurant; they order the most expensive items on the menu. I quickly realized I’m less of a date and more of a glorified Uber driver. Except this time, I’m also footing the bill.

Maybe I was just unlucky, but it did sour my experience on dating apps considerably. Turns out I’m not alone in feeling this way.

A shift in trends

It turns out that even Gen Z, the generation that grew up with their hands and eyeballs practically glued to their smartphones, is over dating apps. Remember, this is the same generation of people who are more than willing to document every single tiny facet of their lives on TikTok. But yet, when it comes to dating apps, it’s a hard pass.

A recent Axios/Generation Lab survey found that 79% of college and grad students don’t even use dating apps. Instead, they’re opting for the old-fashioned approach, such as meeting someone in real life, becoming friends, and then dating them. Talk about old school. What’s next? Writing love letters? Calling each other on landlines?

A 2023 Statista survey found that millennials (ages 30-49) make up the majority of dating app users. On the flip side, only 26% of Gen Z are swiping away. Maybe that’s because Gen Z, the generation that can track down anyone’s Instagram from a first name, realized that if they can find love the same way they’re rediscovering songs from the 80s and 90s and making them cool again, they don’t really need dating apps.

Meanwhile, millennials, who grew up with the promise of flying cars and teleportation machines but got another questionable message on Tinder, still carry the weight of these apps on their backs.

So, if the younger generation is going back to real-life dating, maybe it’s time for the rest of us to start awkwardly making our move in real life again. It was how our parents did it, and their parents, and their parents’ parents. If they can do it, so can we!

Modern-day solution to an ancient problem

Once upon a time, dating apps were once thought to be the magical, hi-tech panacea to all our romantic woes. With a simple swipe here, a message there, and ta-dah! You just got yourself a date for the weekend with a simple flick of your thumb. You could be swiping while standing in line for coffee. Or you could also be swiping during that boring work meeting, pretending you’re attending to email. Or even during those awkward family gatherings where distant relatives are rudely asking you where your partner is and when you plan to get married.

But now? Our love affair with dating apps has cooled considerably. More and more of us are hitting that uninstall button and ghosting them for a change. How liberating!

According to data from AppsFlyer, online dating apps suffer from the highest uninstall rates out of any category (gaming, surprisingly, comes in second). From August to September 2024, the platform saw the uninstall rates of dating apps climb to a staggering 59.08%. It also saw a 30% drop in installs for the entire 2024, declining by an additional 19% in January 2025. But can we really say we’re surprised?

Swipe. Match. Chat. Get Ghosted. Repeat

Sometimes, you don’t even get to the chatting phase, as matches can mysteriously vanish, leaving you questioning your sanity and reality. If you’ve ever wanted a quick and easy way to feel bad about yourself, dating apps are the way to go. Instead, match after match, we find ourselves stuck in an endless loop of feigning interest with opening lines such as, “Hey, what did you get up to this weekend?”

If you’re tired of having the same conversation over and over again, you’re not alone. Remember when there used to be countless articles on topics such as “How to craft the perfect bio”? It would advise you on how to carefully select photos for your profile. These photos would somehow convey the message of being “effortlessly cool” but not too desperate while looking like you’re leading an exciting, adventure-filled life but still finding the time to volunteer at your local animal shelter.

There’s still hope!

However, don’t swipe left on dating apps just yet. Based on the numbers, plenty of hopeful romantics are still out there. No one wants to spend Valentine’s Day alone on the couch in their PJs, drowning their sorrows in a family-sized tub of ice cream while watching Love Island reruns.

According to AppsFlyer, in-app purchases for dating apps shot up by 14% during Valentine’s week in 2024. That’s a lot of people who are willing to pay for unlimited swipes and reveal their secret crushes. Or hope their profiles get more noticed. After all, these dating apps are approaching in-app purchases like video games; we might as well pay to win.

These figures are backed up by a report from Start.io, which found that 9% of Americans have at least one dating app installed on their phones during Valentine’s Day. Another report had similar findings, where the installation rate of dating apps saw a surge leading up to Valentine’s Day.

Interestingly enough, food and beauty apps actually saw a spike in installs during this period. Food delivery sessions in the US shot up by 53% on February 14. Perhaps people are over flashy, expensive dinner dates with overpriced roses, and a cozy, intimate night in sounds much more appealing.

That being said, dating apps aren’t all bad. Sure, they can sometimes feel like a digital jungle where you swipe past more red flags than the National Weather Service issues. But plenty of people have actually found their happily-ever-after (or at least a happily-for-now). And let’s be real—not everyone is here hunting for their soulmate. Some folks just want a quick fling or a fun date.

Adapt or uninstall?

Online dating apps aren’t going away anytime soon, despite the increase in uninstalls. However, these apps also need to recognize that the way we use them is changing. And so is the dating landscape for the younger generation. But if they don’t want to end up in the tech graveyard alongside Friendster and MySpace (RIP), they need to keep up with modern dating trends.

Some platforms are already adapting to this. Tinder and Bumble, for example, have hosted real-life events to encourage face-to-face meetups. Because let’s be honest, telling your future grandkids you met at a cool singles mingle is a way better meet-cute story than admitting, “Well, your grandpa sent me a message asking if I wanted to ‘Netflix and chill,’ and the rest is history.”

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