The dating world is changing, again. More young people are souring on swiping, even as dating apps maintain a stranglehold on hookup and dating culture. You can use them reluctantly or enthusiastically, but for single folks, it’s hard to resist the gravitational pull of the best dating apps.
Once upon a time, finding love required going forth into the world and “putting yourself out there.” You could ask a friend to set you up, look for other single people at bars, or rely on good old-fashioned luck to find true love (or a quick fling). But nowadays, dating apps let you find a match without leaving your couch.
No matter how you feel about dating apps, you can’t deny that many couples now owe their relationship to online dating. A 2022 survey from the Pew Research Center found that out of nearly 6,000 respondents, one in 10 partnered adults (those who were married, in a long-term relationship, or living together) met through a dating app. For adults under 30 and members of the LGBTQ+ community, 20 to 24 percent found their partner on the apps.
A dating app for every desire
With so many dating apps, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. While Match Group (Tinder, Match, Archer, OkCupid, Hinge, Plenty of Fish, and The League, among others) continues to dominate the market, you don’t have to limit yourself to just one brand when looking for the best dating app. We encourage you to download a few different apps to figure out what you like and don’t like (kind of like dating, we guess?).
For example, First Round’s On Me (FROME) is a newer app that’s gained popularity for its date invitation feature. Choose a drink, date, time, and venue, and the app will send a personalized invitation to your potential match. Once a date is confirmed, it’s locked into both users’ calendars, and the in-app chat feature is activated 12 hours before the date.
Other apps like Pure cater to people open to ethical, non-monogamous relationships or threesomes. There really is something for everyone, including more traditional dating apps like eharmony, Facebook Dating (think Tinder Lite, for your grandma), and Christian Mingle, which swap endless scrolling for compatibility quizzes and faith-based connections.
The best dating apps of 2024
To find the best dating app for men, women, LGBTQ users, and folks looking for serious relationships, we swiped, and swiped, and swiped. We put free dating apps through their paces, but also signed up for premium features. We filled out dating profiles and asked our own writers and editors to try these apps in their personal lives. Through hands-on testing, customer reviews, availability (all are available on the App Store or Google Play), privacy checks, and overall user-friendliness, we feel confident we’ve found the most reliable dating apps.
Good luck, babe.