If you’ve chatted with literally any single friend lately — or scrolled through Reddit for five minutes — you know the general consensus on dating apps in 2025. People are…tired.
There’s a definite sense of burnout thanks to endless swiping, cookie-cutter profiles, and the sinking reality that our love lives have been gamified. Whether you like it or not, we’re all competing in an oversaturated market for a first date that might go nowhere. The love/hate relationship is real, and the urge to just delete the hookup apps and try your luck IRL is strong. We get it.
But for all the valid critiques, the best dating apps are still massively popular and one of the main ways people connect in 2025. So, we figured, if we’re all going to be on them anyway, we should at least know which apps are worth the potential headache. In our experience, success on the apps depends on knowing what you want and selecting the right app for the job. You’ll need completely different apps if you’re looking for a serious relationship over a friendly fling. (And if you’re serious about dating, it may be time to graduate from free dating apps altogether.)
Which dating apps actually work?
To help you out, we took one for the team and dove headfirst into the digital dating pool, subjecting ourselves to potential rejection and questionable opening lines to find out which apps are truly worth your time. We created profiles, paid for the premium features to see what’s behind the paywalls, and spent weeks getting a real feel for each one — who you’ll find, what it’s going to cost you, and an honest look at the good, the bad, and the just plain weird.
Think of this as your very prepared friend’s brutally honest notes. Here are the top dating apps that are worth your time in 2025.