2025 dating trends, including romance and evolving masculinity

Bumble has dropped its annual dating trends for 2025. Last year, the dating app predicted that singles would date based on values, emotional intimacy would be key, and daters would want to get off the self-improvement hamster wheel. According to Bumble's chief marketing officer Selby Drummond, "2025 is going to be a transitional year for dating and we can see this in how single people, especially women, are getting very clear about what they want and need, and what they are no longer willing to tolerate when it comes to dating and relationships."

Here's what could be in store for next year, according to more than 40,000 millennial and Gen Z Bumble users polled in September:

The return of romance

Earlier this year, Bumble identified the "Lover Girl" trend, where the majority of UK women surveyed by Bumble embrace romance and lovey-dovey gestures. This trend will continue into 2025, Bumble predicts, with 55 percent of women in the U.S. proclaiming themselves as romantics.

A majority (88 percent) agree that how we show love and affection has changed and now includes "micro-mance" behaviors like sending memes, a playlist, sharing inside jokes, or taking a morning coffee walk. Nearly half (49 percent) of Gen Z singles say that geeking out on something together is a form of intimacy. Who says romance is dead?

Half of U.S. women said a lack of romance has had a negative impact on their dating lives — but 87 percent of people on Bumble experienced many positives of dating this year, including the excitement of meeting someone new, building their confidence, and exploring new attitudes about what they want.

Stability is in

With so many unknowns about what's to come, nearly all (95 percent) of singles say their worries about the future are impacting who and how they date.

Fifty-nine percent of women value stability more now, looking for a partner who is emotionally consistent, reliable, and who has clear life goals. One in three women (34 percent) are discussing topics like budgeting, housing, climate change, and job ambitions earlier than before.

Nearly three in four (72 percent) of Bumble users are looking for a long-term partner in the next year — perhaps someone to ride out all the uncertainties.

Love in the age of the internet

If your FYP is full of dating content, you're not alone. From courting dance trends to endless "theories," there are so many videos about how to find and keep a mate.

Bumble found that half of women in the U.S. are noticing more authentic dating and relationship content showing not only the highs but also the lows of dating like post-date debriefs. How authentic a TikTok can be is debatable, but at least we're past the Instagram aesthetic version of showing our lives online. And it's helping 46 percent of women who feel less self-conscious and lonely due to this content. Around the same amount of women (45 percent) say that realistic, positive dating content leads to optimism about their own love lives.

Evolving masculinity

From looking for a man in finance to a Timothée Chalamet lookalike, 34 percent of Bumble users agree that there have been more conversations than ever on male stereotypes in 2024. Thirty-one percent of U.S. men say these tropes make them uncomfortable because people make assumptions about their character and intentions.

Over half of women (53 percent) say that the conversation on masculinity needs to evolve to allow men to define what positive masculinity looks like for them.

At the same time, 2024 has led to the rise of the guy best friend. Thirty-one percent of single women say they're more open with their men friends than they used to be about their dating lives, and 22 percent ask them to filter potential dates. More than half, 57 percent, of women in the U.S. rely on the men in their lives to help explain men's dating behavior.

"These trends embody exactly what we are hearing and seeing from people on Bumble as they pertain to focusing on self-expression, being vocal about their future and expectations, and overall, carving their own path when it comes to dating," said Bumble sex and relationship expert Shan Boodram in the announcement.