The Return of the Meet-Cute: Why Young Adults Are Over Tinder, Hinge and Bumble
Gen Z is increasingly turning away from swipe-based dating apps and seeking out in-person ways to meet romantic partners, reviving the cinematic “meet-cute” through run clubs, book clubs and other group activities. Here’s what’s driving the shift — and why even dating app executives are paying attention.
Why Is Gen Z Leaving Dating Apps?
Gen Z users are walking away from dating apps because they feel burnt out and struggle to find genuine connections despite the time they spend swiping. A 2024 survey by Forbes found that more than 75% of Gen Z users feel burnt out by dating apps like Tinder, Hinge and Bumble.
Ilana Dunn, host of the Seeing Other People podcast and former content lead at Hinge, told Fortune in 2025 that many users have become passive on the platforms. “I do think [dating apps have] come a long way in helping curate healthy dating behaviors,” Dunn said. “But I also think there are just so many people who are using them so passively.”
Even Spencer Rascoff, CEO of Match Group, acknowledged the issue earlier in 2025 in a letter posted to LinkedIn, conceding that dating apps can feel like a numbers game that leaves “people with the false impression that we prioritize metrics over experience.”
Younger adults say the repetitive, transactional nature of swiping has drained the chemistry out of early dating, prompting them to seek encounters that feel more spontaneous. Dunn told Fortune she expects the shift toward in-person meeting to accelerate among Gen Z and millennials, with more master classes, singles events and social gatherings designed specifically for meeting potential partners.
That feedback is steering an entire generation toward formats that prioritize real-world chemistry over algorithmic matching — and the apps themselves are scrambling to keep up.
What Is a Meet-Cute and Where Is Gen Z Finding Them?
A meet-cute, according to Merriam-Webster, is “a cute, charming, or amusing first encounter between romantic partners (as in a movie).” For Gen Z, the concept has jumped from rom-coms into real life through organized group activities.
Run clubs, cycling groups, bird-watching meetups, intramural sports and book clubs have all become unexpected romantic hubs. A 2025 survey of 2,000 Americans conducted by Talker Research and commissioned by ThriftBooks found that 23% of book club members had met someone they were romantically interested in through their reading group.
Across generations, Gen X (45%) and Gen Z (47%) were the most likely to prefer a book club meet-cute over app-based dating, the survey found. The appeal is straightforward: shared activities give participants something to talk about, a built-in reason to return week after week and a chance to assess chemistry without the pressure of a formal date.
Dunn told Fortune she expects the trend to expand into more in-person events designed specifically for connection. The common thread is that Gen Z wants to evaluate chemistry in person — through how someone laughs, listens or runs alongside them — rather than through a profile photo and a few lines of text. It’s a return to a more analog way of dating, one that puts the awkward, unpredictable, very-human first encounter back at the center of romance.
How Are Dating Apps Responding to Gen Z’s Shift?
Major dating platforms — including Hinge, Bumble and Tinder — have rolled out new features aimed at winning back Gen Z users who crave real-life connection. Tinder, for example, introduced a feature that lets users pair with friends for double dates, an attempt to mirror the social, group-based way younger adults already prefer to meet.
“This is the way Gen Z wants to connect,” Rascoff said. “They want to vibe their way through meeting people.” The Match Group CEO has framed the updates as a response to criticism that the apps have leaned too heavily on metrics like swipes and matches rather than meaningful interaction.
Dunn, however, is skeptical that product tweaks alone can reverse the trend. She told Fortune that unless dating apps push users into face-to-face settings, they may not regain the cultural dominance they once held.
“They can try to come up with more ways to [allow] people to assess chemistry, but unless they are really pushing people to meet in real life by maybe creating more in-person activations and events where people can assess, ‘Oh, is there a vibe here?’ I don’t know that they will make the comeback to being as big as they once were,” Dunn said.
For now, the takeaway for Gen Z singles is mixed. The apps are adapting and offering more group-friendly tools, but the meet-cute — once a rom-com cliché — is shaping up to be the defining dating story of this generation, with run clubs and reading groups outpacing the swipe.
This article was created by content specialists using various tools, including AI.
