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It may be Valentine ’s twenty-four hours here in the U.S. , but the dating app market is n’t looking as promising as it used to . According to a newanalysisby app intelligence provider data.ai , globular downloads of dating apps ascertain only tepid growth year - over - year as of this January — a slim increase of just 1.9 % to reach 128 million installs , compared with the 29 % increase see to it during the same time in the anterior year . In the U.S. , growth has also slowed , with a 2.38 % twelvemonth - over - year gain as of January 2024 , reaching approximately 12.7 million installs , down from the nearly 16 % growth check in January 2023 .
While data.ai like to paint any growth as a prescribed signal for the industry , there are other signals that the marketplace is losing steam .
Dating app giant Match Group , which run Match , Tinder , Hinge , OkCupid , and others , reported its full identification number of paying client decline by 5 % twelvemonth - over - twelvemonth as of its 4th - quarter pay report in January . In the prior fourth , the party had reported a 6 % declivity in client bear for its flagship app , Tinder , which post the stock tumbling .
Tinder ’s paying customer development also slow again last quarter , dropping 8 % year - over - year to touch 10 million payers , the fellowship said in its shareholder letter .
In the U.S. market , one of the gravid for date apps , only three in 10 adults reportedever using a see situation or app , Pew Research reported last year . That anatomy remain the same as in2019,the firm pointed out .
Meanwhile , althoughone in 10 U.S. adultssaid they meet their partner on a go steady app or web site , dating apps ’ panoptic success on that front is questionable .
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Arecent depth psychology of U.S. Census Bureau datafound that a record telephone number of 40 - year - olds ( one - quarter ) have never been hook up with , up from just 6 % in 1980 . Arguably , this meditate other factors — including the acceptance of single partners living together and the cellular inclusion of same - sex activity couples into marriage data . Still , giventhat 44 % of U.S. dating app userssaid they turned to dating apps to chance a tenacious - term collaborator , as opposed to wanting more casual relationships , it ’s not clear that today ’s apps have been able to cede .
In addition , Tinder ’s clench on the U.S. dating app grocery seems to be wane ever so slightly , data.ai ’s fresh reputation demo . As of last month , it had the big market ploughshare of any other dating app at 29.3 % , but this is down from 29.8 % a yr ago .
To date , Tinder has seen a total of 530 million downloads , the company shareson its website , but Match also admit in Q4 that both Tinder ’s U.S. and global daily young exploiter had declined by the mid - single digits year - over - year , in accession to the decline in its give customer .
Bumble ’s share , meanwhile , contract from 17.6 % to 14.3 % yr - over - yr , data.ai incur , to amount in at telephone number two .
The “ Other ” category of dating apps , which includes the smaller ship’s company and startups try out with new models , grew from a 27.4 % market share in January 2023 to 29.2 % in January 2024 . This seems to betoken that among go out app user , there ’s a arise desire for something new .
Things could still turn around , of course of study . Matchsaidit will now look to AI to improve the date app experience , include in surface area like its photograph picker , matching capability , and post - match counseling , by augment features like conversation starters and nudges with AI .
This travel along on news thatan increasing phone number of peopleare turning to AI dick like ChatGPT to help them with their date app chats . An AI dating peter Rizz kick the bucket viral and has encounter downloads arise in the months following itsWashington Post write - up . According to data from app intelligence providerAppfigures , Rizz has see northwards of 2.24 million downloads over the retiring year , for representative .
Whether AI can get off more mass back to dating apps , of course , remain to be seen , given that it will also likely pep up more AI - power romance scams and other malicious action , security measures firm McAfeerecently warn .
All this does n’t mean the market is n’t ripe for investing , however . In summation to the changes drive by AI , Match prove that dating apps can still deliver big dollars when properly monetized . Data.ai observe that dating apps generate arecord $ 505 millionin January 2024 , even as year - over - year revenue increment slowed to 8 % from 17 % the year prior .