SECURITYBRIEF – Nearly half of New Zealand online daters would consider dating an AI, according to Norton, with 48% open to AI relationships and 25% believing romantic feelings toward AI are possible. Many daters already use AI for emotional support, profile writing, flirting practice, and dating advice, sometimes trusting AI more than friends or family, even as most say they are uncomfortable when others use AI to alter photos or messages.
We’ve updated the rankings using the latest January 2026 U.S. data from Data.ai. Tinder remains the top-grossing dating app across both the App Store and Google Play. Bumble has slid to #3, with Hinge now ranking #2. Other leading apps, including Grindr, Yubo, Taimi, Raya, and Feeld, continue to place across the dating and social networking categories.
BUSINESS INSIDER – Gen Z dating is increasingly driven by financial stability and long-term planning, according to Quincy Yang, CEO of Coffee Meets Bagel. Yang says rising housing and living costs have made the traditional American dream unaffordable without dual incomes, pushing young adults to seek committed, financially stable partners rather than casual hookups. Data from Coffee Meets Bagel’s survey of US users aged 21–35 shows 54% prioritize financial stability and nearly 60% value ambition, reflecting a pragmatic shift toward relationships that support economic security and shared life goals.
CHOZUN BIZ – Tinder released data on Jan. 2 showing that early January is consistently the busiest period for dating apps, based on user activity from Jan. 1 to Feb. 14 last year. On “Dating Sunday” (Jan. 5), swipes increased ~13% above the annual average, messages and likes rose by ~10%, and matches reached 380 per second, ~10% higher than normal, while response times sped up by over two hours. Across the full peak season, daily messages averaged 10M more than usual and likes increased by 40M, reflecting heightened demand for new relationships at the start of the year.
THE ECONOMIST – Across America, 41% of women and 50% of men age 25-34 were single in 2023, double over the past 5 decades. From 2010-2022 people living alone rose in 26 of 30 OECD countries. In Europe, each new generation is less likely to be married. The relationship recession is also hitting those looking for a date or casual sex. Younger people are socializing less, dating less, and starting to have sex later in life and having less sex in general (as are most of us). More people feel able to choose to be single now than in the past, when there was far greater social and economic pressure to marry, a great emancipation of the past half-century. In a Pew survey, 62% of single women did not want to date, whereas only 37% of single men felt the same way. A high proportion of unmarried young men is strongly associated with elevated levels of violence and crime. There is some sort of dating-market failure, and society is changing in ways that are making large numbers of singles incompatible.
In Asia, singlehood is growing fastest, especially poor men and highly educated women. New technology fosters pickiness and absorbs time, leaving less for socializing. Time spent streaming, surfing, or gaming even seems to be displacing sex. Brits aged 18-44, have gone from copulating 5x per month in 1990 to 2x a month in 2021.
See full article at The Economist
Mark Brooks: The Economist tells it like it is. Where do we go from here? The mind always drifts to what is more interesting, and nothing is more interesting than your mobile phone, social media, Netflix, etc. Next up: by 2030, your best friend will be an AI. Then, what need will we really have for each other? (rhetorical / sarcastic / worried ! ). Unless we solve ‘the continuity problem’ in online dating in the more distant future (i.e. 2050), governments will step in and make dating/matchmaking an essential public utility. Sounds crazy, but it is a logical solution if private dating/matchmaking companies don’t evolve. People need us, but our incentive base is broken. Justin at Hinge is doing the right thing by developing Overtone. Also, Sync appears to be doing similar to solve the continuity problem, which will then allow is to move into the BIG phase of growth for online dating.
OPW – Ofcom’s new Online Nation report shows UK adults now spend an average of 4 hours 30 minutes online daily, rising to 6 hours 20 minutes for 18–24-year-olds. Women use slightly more apps than men, and nearly half of adult internet users want stronger online safety measures. In dating, 11% of adults, about 5M people, visited a dating site in 2025, with male users increasing by 400K while female usage dipped slightly; time spent per visit also declined. Age-assurance rules had a major impact: VPN use spiked from 650K to 1.4M in August before stabilising, and the top five age-assurance providers saw 7.5M visits in the first four weeks after the Children’s Codes were introduced.
STATISTA – Bumble and Tinder are the most popular dating apps in the U.S., according to Statista Consumer Insights. 35% of U.S. dating app users said they had used Bumble in the past 12 months, compared to 37% for Tinder. In the following ranks were Badoo, Plenty of Fish and Hinge.
FAST COMPANY – AppsFlyer reports that 69% of dating apps downloaded in 2025 were deleted within a month, up from 65% in 2024. Pew Research finds that 53% of adults under 30 have used a dating site or app, making them the age group most engaged with online dating. Hinge continues to outperform its competitors, with Gen Z making up 56% of its users and paying subscribers rising by 17%. Tinder’s new features are gaining traction with younger users, with Double Date used mainly by people under 30 and College Mode active among one in four eligible students. Kinsey Institute data shows that Gen Z prefers to meet people offline, and Bloomberg reports that they are uncomfortable with AI-generated bios or messages, although they accept AI tools that quietly support safety, photo selection, and profile quality.
See full article at Fast Company
FREEDOM FOR ALL AMERICANS – ~27% of couples who married in 2025 met through online dating, according to The Knot’s large Real Weddings Study of ~17,000 U.S. couples. This reflects a major shift in how relationships form, with dating apps becoming a mainstream gateway into long-term partnerships. The figure comes from newlyweds and is higher than older, broader national surveys because it focuses on recent relationships in the app era. Other research from Pew, Stanford, and PNAS-linked studies shows the same pattern: online channels are now the dominant way modern couples meet, especially for younger adults and LGBTQ users.
See full article at Freedom for All Americans
BUSINESS NEWS THIS WEEK – Aisle’s 2025 study, The Commitment Decade, surveyed 3,400 urban Indian singles and found that commitment has made a strong comeback. 97% of women and 80% of men now prioritize serious relationships over casual dating, with 1 in 3 women planning to marry within a year of dating. Mental health has become central to relationships. 67% of Gen Z women would end a relationship over mental health issues, and a third of all respondents have done so. Equality is rising, as 53% of women prefer splitting the bill on dates. In matchmaking, most Indians want AI to assist, not replace humans, with 69% of Gen Z women rejecting AI-only matching. Compatibility now outweighs astrology, though 30% of millennial women still consider it.