2024 Dating App Trends: Users in Control

“A Tale as Old as Time” – a line from a popular Disney movie and a reference to how people meet and fall in love. Today much of that happens via online dating apps, and they keep expanding and enhancing their user experiences. Looking at these newest dating app trends is the focus of this article.

5 Key Dating App Statistics

There’s just a huge body of research that regurgitates online dating statistics, and it’s a good idea to have a look at them to see how daters are using online dating platforms and how those platforms are responding to what they perceive to be the needs and demands of their online dating users. After all, the online dating industry has become hugely competitive.

So, let’s first look at online dating statistics that have been gathered from a variety of sources.

1. 8,000 Online Dating Sites Globally

The days when Match Group was a monopolist dating site have long gone. In the US alone, it is estimated that there are currently about 2,500 online dating apps, but it is hard to keep track because about 1,000 new online dating services are launched each year. Globally, there are about 8,000 online dating platforms.
Some of these online dating apps are all-inclusive appealing to all demographics, from young Gen Z singles, to seniors, to the LGBTQ+ communities and everything in between. Further, they focus their appeal on dating app users who are looking for anything from hookups to serious relationships that are long-term.

Others are niche sites for everything from farmers to age groups, to queer or straight users, to men with beards, which attempt to peel off online daters from the larger sites.

2. Almost 50 Million Americans Have Attempted Online Dating

Among 49.7 million users of dating app platforms, the breakdown for the purposes is as follows:

• 24% want to find hookups
• 43% want to find friends
• 84% are looking for serious relationships
• 30% of those using an online dating site are between the ages of 18 and 29.

Related reading: 9 Elements and 6 Tips to Take Best Dating Profile Pictures

3. 64% Value Shared Interests Over Physical Attractiveness

In a survey of online daters, the majority (64%) of respondents stated that sharing common interests was more important than physical appearance (49%) in a potential partner. This flies in the face of a common belief that online dating app users are only out to meet people who are good-looking.

4. Up to 49% of Online Dating Users Admit Lying in Their Profile

In the recent Hily Gen Z and Authenticity Study, about half of respondents (both men and women) admitted that they have changed their profiles at least once or twice.

This does not mean they are creating fake profiles. It means that they are exaggerating their career position, their income, or other things in their backgrounds, hobbies, and such. Almost every dating app has some method of identity verification but does not dig deep enough into their information to learn these types of details.

Related reading: 60 Memorable Dating Profile Bio Examples (Female)

5. Over 90% of Daters Want Authenticity

In the same Hily research on Gen Z, authenticity is a central topic. Based on a survey conducted, the tremendous majority of respondents admitted they come to the dating apps looking for a real thing and expecting to find a relationship they want as they are.
This data opens the doors to authenticity as the number #1 dating app trend in 2024.

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6 Online Dating App Trends in 2024 and Beyond

So, what are these trends that dating sites are incorporating to attract and retain online dating users? Here are six of them.

1. Efficiency, Accuracy, and Speed

Online dating users are consumers. And, more than anything else, dating sites have come to realize that today’s consumer has demands stemming from their other consumer experiences. They purchase products and services all over the Internet, and they have little tolerance for consumer-based companies that cannot “deliver.” An online dating platform must load quickly, be user-friendly in terms of navigation, have an excellent interface, and, of course, plenty of potential matches. An app that doesn’t meet these demands will find a declining membership.

2. Enhanced Methods for Making Connections and Communicating

Given today’s technology, there is no excuse for a dating app not having incorporated these advances into how its users connect and communicate with one another.

At a bare minimum, users should be able to connect via live video chats and live streaming. Beyond this ability to have face-to-face interactions (something that also prevents such things as catfishing), an app must also consider using technology to allow users to have virtual dates. Some have even introduced avatars for this purpose. The more innovative an app can be, the greater its popularity will be. Of course, this will require skilled IT pros, so an app must be prepared to go the cost of such pros.

The online dating platform that incorporates augmented and virtual reality into how members of the online dating scene can connect will have members who keep coming back.

Related reading: 31 Great Questions to Ask on a Dating App

3. The Addition of Social Elements

Plenty of users of dating apps are there for social reasons. This was sparked by the isolation of the pandemic but has carried over ever since. They may or may not be interested in online dating, but they are interested in connecting with others with whom they share commonalities.

And the dating site that offers virtual events and games that lets users socialize and build connections will retain its users. Clearly, lots of queer and straight adults are seek platonic friendships as a type of “online dating.”

Related reading How to Identify Your Platonic Soulmate?

4. Large Increase in Niche Sites

Niche sites are becoming quite popular within the online dating industry. The primary reason these have become one of the biggest dating trends is that many daters are so specific in their potential matches that they only want those who meet their criteria. This has resulted in an explosion of niche online dating apps catering to these groups – single parents, professionals, certain religions, specific occupations, seniors, farmers and other rural dwellers, the LGBTQ+ community, and even zodiac signs.

Related reading: The Most Attractive Zodiac Signs to Date

5. Security and Safety

No matter how much intellectual and emotional maturity dating app members have, there are clever dating app users who have the skills to create a fake dating profile and get through the verification processes of dating apps. They can use their presence to take advantage of other users, usually women, to harass certain groups of users, and, worse, to extract personal and financial information. Most apps have recommended safety protocols for their users, and these should be taken seriously. And anytime users feel insecure about online conversations with someone, it must be reported.

All apps have increased their protocols too, including more sophisticated technology such as end-to-end encryption and the latest SSL tech to protect the personal and financial information and create a strong protective wall. Still, if the “big boys” in consumer industries can be hacked, so can online dating platforms.

6. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

For dating app use, AI and ML are inevitable components of a matching algorithm. It is everywhere – facial recognition, Google searches, Alexa and Siri, video chatting, livestreaming, and connecting potential partners based on their sexual orientation, dating profile content and looking for expectations (commonly ranging from a serious relationship to casual sex).

Here is how AI and ML technology facilitates online dating:

• Sift through all members’ data, finding commonalities among those members and presenting much closer matches
• Analyzing and remembering user behavior on the app over time, and this can further narrow matching options.
• AI “assistants” help members as they are creating their profiles. It picks up interests, values, and more from similar people’s profiles and makes suggestions on what to feature and downplay. It also helps with the use of engaging and creative writing.
• Analyzing the photos a user uploads, suggest filters, and choose those that will be most engaging.
• Looking at the user profiles of users who are matched and suggests icebreaker questions that will be most engaging, helping not great conversationalists to contact the other person.
• Automatically translating to let online daters who speak different languages communicate with ease
• When it’s time for an in-person date, suggesting first date ideas based on both online daters’ past behaviors
• Vastly improving security and safety through detecting scammers, spammers, and other bummers

Predictive Analysis Ambiguity

A number of industries uses to supplement research while making predictions (e.g., the potential for someone to have a heart attack or a stock to rise or fall). In the dating apps industry, it predicts the success of a committed relationship. The idea that this may influence daters and invade their privacy is a trend that probably takes AI tech too far.

Compared to dating app matching processes in the past, AI has upended the industry. It has replaced traditional research techniques and stands to continue to do just that. Human are not banks, so dating sites shouldn’t act like setting contracts.

5 Online Dating App Trends That Always Make Sense to Daters

What about the evergreen dating trends of actual humans who use dating sites? Check out these top five picks.

1. Slow Dating

Those who are dating do not feel pressure to find “the one” in a hurry. Compared to years past, they prefer to take their time and just enjoy the idea of exploring who is out there and the dating experience itself. They are not focused on the end goal of a permanent partner but more on a timeline that makes sense to them individually.

2. Shared Opinions and Viewpoints

People want to know where their dates stand on big issues – climate crisis, gender inequality, global hunger and housing, threats to marginalized groups, the economy, and, of course, this year, their political viewpoints. People want to date others who are aligned with their positions on these big issues.

3. Therapy In, Diagnosing Out

People have a desire to become more self-aware. And now that the stigma is long gone, they focus on gaining that awareness through therapy. In fact, having a therapist is a good thing.

Diagnosing those that one is dating is not a good thing, however. People resent “diagnoses” from those they are dating. And, in seeking some type of “revenge” for a bad dating experience by labeling someone with negative psychological terminology is a lousy thing to do.

4. Face-to-Face Time Online

Both women and men want to see the person they are dating online before they ever set up a real-life date. They insist that any dating site they use provide this feature. Even if they are not using a dating site, they will use any of the other platforms for this meet-up (Facetime, Zoom, Skype, etc.).

5. Location Is No Longer a Factor

People are connecting who are much farther apart geographically than ever before. Part of the reason is they are looking at desirable places they would think about relocating to. Another reason is that working remotely is becoming more and more common. Distance is just not the dealbreaker that it used to be.

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So Where Are We in 2024?

The answer is we’re everywhere and anywhere. There are no longer established “rules” for relationships. Dating apps of all sorts are catering to those who want to date online, high tech has hit the dating game and safety and security remain a concern. There seems to be a bit of a disconnect between the desire for speed and efficiency and the desire to be more laid back and take things slower. In the end, a relationship is an individual matter. Dating will always be with us, and that’s a good thing.

What the new trends have in common is this? One-size-fits-all relationships are a thing of the past, as daters are more in tune with themselves than ever. People want to have a good time and meet their unique needs, beliefs, and curiosities. So have fun out there and, as 2024 kicks off, here’s to a year of right swipes!