Three New Dating Trends that Will Takeover the 2022 Dating App Scene

January 13 2022 | Written by Rhea Kumar (She/Her)

It’s 2022 and our social media is inundated with non-stop resolutions for the new year. Getting active, changing our diet, trying meditation, or even…finding love.

If your goal is to find love (or sex) through the use of a dating app, there might not be a better opportunity than in 2022. Just when we thought that finding someone, anyone would be hindered because of a global pandemic, the statistics tell a much different story.

In March 2020, Tinder recorded its highest number of swipes on a single day…3 billion. I see we were all getting a little busy! From March to May 2020, OkCupid saw a 700% increase in dates, and Bumble saw its video calls increase by 70%. 

So hold up. These numbers don’t mean that we’re all just swiping through faces and bios on Tinder & Bumble without placing any real meaning to it. It seems that the tides are shifting. The stigma around dating apps is beginning to decrease and it seems that users are tailoring their dating app experiences to fit the growing social awareness about what it means to be a dating app user in 2022. So here’s what you need to know. 

1) Explori-Dating 

The verdict is in, and many are not feeling the pressure to find “the one”- why? Because this notion requires one to have a definite idea of what they want. Bumble predicts that many are going to swipe their slates clean and reconsider what their “type” actually is. Venturing out of one’s comfort zone, trying new hobbies, or seeking those who engage in hobbies that are out of the normal criteria are just some of the ways that explori-dating is going to change the game. 

“For some people, they have broadened their definition of what they are looking for,” Lucille McCart, APAC Communications Director at Bumble, told ELLE.

2) Power PDA

I was toying with the best way to articulate this term to you…let’s just say power PDA is almost like the brainchild of Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly’s relationship. Fine, let’s throw Kourtney and Travis in too. Still unsure what I’m talking about?

Source: Buzzfeed

70% of Bumble users say that they’re more open to public displays of affection post-pandemic. If 2020 was the year of dating skepticism, then 2021 was the year of reflection. And I guess that makes 2022 the year of dating…declarations?

Whatever you decide to do, it’s all good. Just keep spreading the love. 

3) Consciously Single 

I guess this isn’t necessarily a “dating” trend, but it surely will change the game. During the pandemic, approximately 53% of dating app users said it’s OK to be single for a while. This doesn’t mean that the dating pool has dramatically dried up, it just means that users are being more conscious about when and how they date. 

Naomi Walkland, head of Bumble UK and Ireland says that:

“We’ve seen a trend of ‘slow dating’ with two in five people really taking their time to get to know people before moving to the next step. People have applied this approach to other stages too in the relationship lifecycle, through ‘soft-launching’ their relationship on social media for example”.

Wrap-Up

If you’ve gathered anything from these dating app trends, it seems that many are finally navigating these apps with more gravitas, per se. They recognize that you are the one who controls the app, not the other way around, and the trends seem to reflect the ongoing social awareness of self-love and patience for our own personal relationship journeys. So whether you’re going to try out Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, or anything in between, 2022 might just be your year!