QuackQuack says Gen Z was its most active group before Valentine's Day in a survey of 13,400 Indian users, with activity falling on February 14th.
Mattr, a London dating app for neurodivergent users, has raised £177,000 via crowdfunding, 78% of its £225,000 target, from 247 investors.
Match Group's Tinder lost more than 500,000 users between 2023 and 2024, and usage across the top ten dating platforms fell 16% year on year.
Match Group is rolling out AI message screening on Tinder and Hinge, with 20% of warned users revising messages, according to safety chief Yoel Roth.
Global Dating Insights' 2025 Power Book names 16 leaders, and more than half build or oversee AI-driven products. Four are based in the UK.
Match Group's Chispa staged a one-night off-Broadway Romeo and Juliet through a Latino lens, but Match no longer reports app-level metrics.
Harmonizer launches a U.S. dating app claiming AI compatibility matching from 20,000 couples' data, with no peer-reviewed research apparently backing it.
Priceline says 40% of Gen Z singles have travelled to meet romantic prospects, versus 27% of millennials, pointing to a spending threat for dating apps.
Match Group has translated Tinder's Dating Safety Guide into Bengali, Hindi, Kannada and Marathi for India, ahead of Safer Internet Day on 11 February.
ARCHER has launched a 'Sober Curious' community feature with Ritual Zero Proof, as 'sober' appears 62% more frequently than 'drinks' in profiles.
Hily markets itself as a personality-first alternative to photo swiping, but Hinge, Bumble and Tinder make similar claims, the analysis says.
Breeze pairs nine couples for first dates in IKEA showrooms this Valentine's Day, matched on sleep compatibility using IKEA's six sleep essentials.
Tinder says TikTok influencers are reversing negative sentiment among young users, but Match has not disclosed the study's methodology.
Tinder's monthly active users fell 8% year-on-year in January 2025, and Match Group is speeding up AI matching under new CEO Spencer Rascoff.
Social League launches in Dubai this month with invitation-only events for professionals aged 30-60, offering an offline alternative to dating apps.
QuackQuack's survey of 12,000 Indian app users found 60% prepare for Valentine's Day and 40% of men feel pressured, versus 13% of women embracing it.
ParshipMeet Group has named Matthew Gain, Audible's Head of Europe for ten years, as chief executive, replacing Marc Schachtel on 1 March.
Koji founder Roxy Lin is launching Le Club later this year, a women-focused dating platform promising "sincere connections" over endless swiping.
Grindr is rolling out AI image verification to catch fake or manipulated profile photos, alongside AI-based photo enhancement suggestions for users.
Instagram makes up 22% of dating conversations uploaded to AI assistant Rizz, more than double Tinder's 11% and Hinge's 10%, according to Rizz figures.
Whitney Wolfe Herd is returning as Bumble CEO 15 months after Lidiane Jones took the role, with the share price down roughly 35% in that time.
Hinge is rolling out an AI profile coach built on GPT-4o mini. The company says early testers saw a 9% increase in likes received.
Dates of Distinction launches on Valentine's Day, charging £49.99 monthly for app access plus human matchmakers and in-person events.
First Round's On Me (FROME) hired Gersh Agency's consulting arm to expand into drinks, cafés and podcasts, with no capital figures disclosed.
79% of Gen Z and Millennial dating app users report burnout from swiping, according to a Couple survey of 2,000 UK users.
Feeld's report of over 9,000 users finds 71% of trans and gender-nonconforming respondents feel safer on dating apps than meeting offline.
Chapter 2 research of nearly 15,000 widowed people finds 63% say dating platforms lack adequate support, pointing to a gap Match Group and Bumble overlook.
A UC Davis study of 4,500 blind dates found both men and women were more attracted to younger partners in person, challenging stated-preference matching.
Pew data shows the share of single US adults fell from 44% in 2019 to 42% in 2023, a possible headwind for dating apps including Match Group.
Tinder used six influencers from September to December 2024 as Match Group payers fell for eight consecutive quarters. Q4 results are due 5 February.
Bumble has extended its Amelia Dimoldenberg partnership through 2025, shifting to co-created content on her channels as paying users fell to 4 million.
Chapter 2 founder Nicky Wake is launching Sober Dating on Valentine's Day, entering a category that already includes Loosid and Single & Sober.
A 26-year-old burned-out professional used Japan's Tapple for emotional support, not romance, and operators have not said if it is a wider trend.
Bookmark, an Indian dating app, hides profile photos until users exchange 10 messages, and has 15,000 downloads and 5,000 monthly active users.
Tinder says LGBTQIA+ matches are 30% of all its connections globally, up 66% year on year, released as Thailand legalised same-sex marriage.
Oscar Mayer's Sizzl dating app, launched in 2015, has no disclosed user metrics, so a retrospective fails B2B trade standards, the piece argues.
Dating apps now lead how couples meet: 39% of heterosexual and 65% of same-sex couples met online by 2017, per Stanford University.
Ofcom has ordered dating platforms to introduce robust age verification by July 2025, with fines of up to 10% of global turnover for non-compliance.
QuackQuack says 30% of users aged 28-35 connect with matches outside their home cities, and 39% of survey respondents rank safety features first.
UK dating startups are chasing Tinder fatigue, but break-even is put at £80-120M in acquisition costs against seed rounds of £500K-2M.
Hinge has launched an AI Prompt Feedback tool that coaches users on profile answers. The company says 63% of users struggle with prompts.
25.4% of Japanese couples under 40 who married in 2023 met on dating apps, up from 10.8% five years earlier, per a government survey.
Gleeden has reached 3 million users in India with 270% annual growth, and female sign-ups rose 128% year-on-year, outpacing the platform overall.
Australia's voluntary dating app code carries no fines, but an eSafety Commissioner review due early 2026 will decide if penalties follow.
Therapists warn AI dating tools may erode users' relationship skills, though no longitudinal studies yet show worse outcomes for AI-assisted users.
Mozilla found 22 of 25 dating apps failed its privacy standards, including nine run by Match Group and three by Bumble. Only Lex passed.
Tinder's survey of 8,000 young singles found 42% of Gen Z experienced 'nanoships', brief intense connections with no expectation of progression.
Match Group and Bumble are testing AI assistants that message and screen matches for users, while no major jurisdiction has specific rules on AI impersonation.
Thursday, the one-day-a-week swiping app, will shut on 23 January after three years and move to in-person events only.
Feeld, the London-based dating app, is using a print magazine and members-only events to keep users engaged, after reporting 107% user growth.