Britons are falling out of love with dating apps, a new report from Ofcom has found. Tinder, Hinge, Bumbe and Grindr have all seen a drop in users with the first seeing a loss of 600,000 users, the equivalent of five per cent.
Meanwhile, Hinge dropped 131,000 users (three per cent), Bumbe lost 368,000 (2.3 per cent), while Grindr was down 1,000 (1.9 per cent).
The figures were published in the Online Nation annual report by the communications regulator which provides insights into internet usage in the UK. It provides an overview of online behaviours including data on how they use it, their attitudes to platforms and potential concerns related to their online experience.
"While this decline in UK online adult visitors since last year is only slight, some analysts speculate that for younger people, particularly Gen Z, the novelty of dating apps is wearing off."
Splitting different age groups for dating app Hinge: 31 per cent were aged 18-24 and 41 per cent were aged 25-34 while only 15 per cent were aged 34-44. For Tinder: only 29 per cent were aged 18-24; 37 per cent for ages 25-34; and 18 per cent for ages 35-44.
"What this shows is that across the board Gen Z seems to have given up on dating apps," Ofcom says.
Match Group owns Tinder, Hinge, Plenty of Fish and OkCupid and has reported declines in Tinder subscribers for several consecutive quarters. It also says that Tinder will be 'shaping an in-app experience that resonates better with today's younger users', having found Gen Z users seeking 'a lower pressure, more authentic way to find connections'.
LGBTQ+ apps like SCRUFF, Grindr, Sniffles and Squirt have seen even lower engagement from the age group of 18-24 years old. Badoo has just three percent; Sniffles five percent; Grindr seven percent; Squirt eleven percent; SCRUFF performed worst with no users in this category at all.
"Everyone that rings me up or speaks to me hates the dating apps," said James Preece, a dating coach. "It's a necessary evil. They feel they have to do them to meet people but they're not getting the success that they should be."
The report shows men still outnumber women on these platforms overall.
"Reach on Valentine's Day was not markedly higher than usual," according to data from Valentine's Day where nearly two million people visited an online dating service.
Data also shows men remained far more likely than women visit pornographic websites making up seventy-two percent audience May spending average one hour forty-four minutes compared women's hour Pornhub continued most visited site adults averaging fifty minutes month twenty-five thirty-four-year-olds largest share website's audience.