Why Tinder no longer wants to be a one-night stand app

A swipe to the right and with a bit of luck it's a match! In most cases, however, singles on Tinder have to swipe quite a bit before they really start looking for real “relationship material”. Over 75 billion matches and more than 1.5 million dates per week – according to Tinder, the impressive balance sheet. When the app landed on the smartphones of love-seeking singles a good ten years ago, it revolutionized the dating world.

Tinder practically invented the swipe-and-match principle. Since then, there have been numerous competitors among dating apps that are based on similar principles - and are rapidly catching up. According to a report in the Austrian daily newspaper "Die Presse", the Hinge app, for example, was able to record user growth of 344 percent in 2022, and Bumble 96 percent. Far higher than Tinder, which was still downloaded 65 million times last year. However, user numbers stagnated.

The fact that 18 to 25-year-olds are no longer quite as keen on Tinder could also be due to the image of the dating app. For many singles it is the epitome of the so-called hook-up culture. This is a dating behavior that aims to find a partner for a one-night stand as quickly and easily as possible. But this image doesn't match what users want at all, as a survey of Tinder users shows. Only 14 percent of members are not looking for anything solid. The much larger part, namely 31 percent, is interested in serious relationships. In addition, the priorities of dating itself have changed: Self-love and self-fulfillment are playing an increasingly important role for singles on Tinder between the ages of 18 and 25.

80 percent say self-care is their top priority when dating, and 79 percent want their partner to feel the same way. Views that don't quite fit an app that still gives many users the impression that it's all about fast sex. There are a number of studies "in which people describe that they see Tinder as a catalog to leaf through or even as a meat counter where you look and choose," confirms the sociologist Thorsten Peetz from the University of Bamberg to the Swiss news portal "nau.ch". However, this has little to do with reality, adds the sociologist.

In comparison, apps like Hinge or Bumble are perceived as more progressive by many singles. This also has to do with their external communication. Hinge, for example, has committed himself to the credo “Designed to be deleted”. The promise: if you look for something, you will find something long-term. Bumble, on the other hand, scores particularly well because female users take the first step here. In straight matches, women can start a conversation with the other person within 24 hours - otherwise the match will be dissolved.

Tinder, the mother of all dating apps, now wants to straighten out its image with the younger generation. At the end of February, the app launched the global campaign "It starts with a swipe", which focuses on the relationship goals of Tinder users. Tinder says it wants to redefine dating, as Melissa Hobley, global chief marketing officer at Tinder, explains: “Tinder members have changed the status quo of dating by jettisoning traditional beliefs and focusing on experiences about theirs agree to their own terms.”

To this end, Tinder introduced some functions in the app even before the new image campaign, which are more geared towards the needs of the users. Since December 2022, singles have been able to use the "Relationship Goals" to make it clear at first glance what they are looking for. A quick number or affair can thus be ruled out. "And with that, we hit a nerve with the generation of young daters. 'Relationship goals' are the second most popular piece of information on Tinder profiles after zodiac sign," said Juliane Leupold, a spokeswoman for Tinder.

According to her, another argument against Tinder's hook-up image is that half of young singles have already had a serious relationship with someone they met on Tinder.

However, a recent study by the University of Boston shows that the majority of singles do not believe in finding a sincere partner through a dating app. 60 percent are therefore convinced that dating apps only lie. Nevertheless, the apps are not deleted – because almost 41 percent still think it is possible to find their soulmate in this way. Most of the surveyed dating app users, namely 59 percent, were from Generation Z.

In the US market, Tinder is actually still the most used dating app for Gen Z with a share of 79 percent. This was the result of a survey by the opinion research institute "PewResaerch" in 2022. Bumble follows in second place with 51 percent, Hinge on the third with 39 percent users in the age group. Tinder is by far the number one among queer users. A spokeswoman for Tinder also says: "We are the most downloaded app in the world and no other dating company comes close to our business on the basis of sales or profits." However, the pure user statistics do not provide any information as to whether the young singles on Tinder actually find what they are looking for or how active, let alone how satisfied they are with the app.

Meanwhile, a completely different app seems to be gaining momentum in young adult dating lives: Instagram. A survey by "YPulse" confirms that around 40 percent of those surveyed met their partner through social media, above all via Instagram. In any case, many singles move the conversation to other platforms after a match on a dating app - also because they can check out their potential partner a little more closely there. So it's no wonder that, according to media reports, the meta company plans to officially enter the dating business this year.

Whether it's Tinder, Bumble or Hinge - if you haven't given up online dating completely yet, here are a few useful tips: