# The UK dating app market in 2026: apps, owners, rules and payments

Published 2026-10-16. Updated 2026-10-16. https://www.datingapi.io/insights/dating-app-market-uk

**In short:** About 11% of UK online adults visited a dating service in May 2025, a share that has barely moved in four years. Hinge has caught Tinder, both reaching 3.1%. Match Group and Bumble Inc own most of the top ten. The Online Safety Act now sets risk, reporting and age check duties, with fines up to 10% of worldwide revenue.

The UK dating app market is large, stable in size and changing underneath. Ofcom found that 11% of UK online adults visited a dating site or app in May 2025, about the same share as in each of the three years before [1]. Within that, Hinge has caught up with Tinder: both reached 3.1% of UK online adults, around 1.5 million people each [1]. Match Group owns both, and with Bumble Inc it owns most of the ten most visited services [1][7][13]. The rules have changed too: the Online Safety Act now requires every dating service to assess and reduce the risk of illegal content and harm to children, and some must check ages [3][4].

This guide pulls together Ofcom's audience data, the owners behind each app, and the regulation and payment rules that apply in 2026.

## The top ten dating services in the UK

| Rank | Service | Owner | Audience, May 2025 | Change on a year | Reach of UK online adults | Time per visitor in the month |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Tinder | Match Group | 1.5m | down 0.4m | 3.1% | 1h 30m |
| 2 | Hinge | Match Group | 1.5m | up 0.2m | 3.1% | 2h 10m |
| 3 | Bumble | Bumble Inc | 1.1m | no change | 2.3% | 1h 51m |
| 4 | Grindr | Grindr Inc | 0.9m | no change | 1.9% | 6h 27m |
| 5 | Squirt | Not covered here | 0.5m | up 0.1m | 1.1% | 0h 05m |
| 6 | Badoo | Bumble Inc | 0.5m | down 0.1m | 1.0% | 1h 30m |
| 7 | PURE | Not covered here | 0.4m | up 0.3m | 0.9% | 0h 06m |
| 8 | Plenty of Fish | Match Group | 0.4m | no change | 0.8% | 1h 49m |
| 9 | Ourtime | Not covered here | 0.3m | up 0.2m | 0.5% | 0h 03m |
| 10 | Match | Match Group | 0.2m | no change | 0.5% | 0h 22m |

Source: Ofcom Online Nation 2025, using Ipsos iris audience measurement for UK adults online aged 18 and over, May 2025 [1]. Owners from Match Group [7] and Bumble Inc [13] filings. Ofcom rounds audiences, so some changes do not match the rounded figures.

Three groups stand out. Match Group owns four of the top ten: Tinder, Hinge, Plenty of Fish and Match [1][7]. Bumble Inc owns two, Bumble and Badoo, and runs one of its offices in London [8][13]. Grindr has a smaller audience than the leaders but much deeper use: its visitors spent 6 hours 27 minutes on it in May 2025, against 1 hour 30 minutes for Tinder [1].

## What changed: Tinder down, Hinge up, more men

Three trends in Ofcom's data matter for anyone running an app in the UK.

- **Tinder is shrinking.** Its UK audience fell from 2.5 million in May 2023 to 1.5 million in May 2025 [1]. That is a fall of about 40% in two years (our calculation from Ofcom's figures).
- **Women have moved to Hinge and Bumble.** Tinder's female audience fell from 735,000 to 384,000 between May 2023 and May 2025, and men now outnumber women on it by about three to one [1]. Among women, Hinge reached 2.7% and Bumble 1.6%, both ahead of Tinder at 1.5% [1].
- **The audience is getting more male.** Men made up 68% of visitors to dating services in May 2025, about 3.6 million people, up from 65% a year earlier [1]. Average time spent on dating services fell from 3 hours 57 minutes in May 2023 to 3 hours in May 2025 [1].

A market where the overall reach is flat but the gender balance tilts towards men is harder to run. The members every app most needs to keep, women looking for relationships, are concentrating on fewer apps. See [dating app liquidity](/insights/dating-app-liquidity) for why that balance decides whether an app works.

## Regulation: the Online Safety Act

The Online Safety Act 2023 applies to services that let people share content and message each other, which includes dating apps, and sets duties on illegal content, protecting children and age checks [6]. Ofcom is the regulator. Its key dates so far [2]:

| Date | What came into force or was due |
| --- | --- |
| 16 Mar 2025 | Illegal content risk assessments due |
| 17 Mar 2025 | Illegal content codes of practice in force |
| 16 Apr 2025 | Children's access assessments due |
| 24 Jul 2025 | Children's risk assessments due |
| 25 Jul 2025 | Protection of Children Codes in force for services likely to be used by children |
| 7 Apr 2026 | Duty to report child sexual abuse content to the National Crime Agency |
| 11 Apr 2026 | Deadline for revenue returns used to set Ofcom's fees for 2026/27 |
| Sep 2026 | Invoices issued for the 2026/27 charging year, payable by March 2027 |

Source: Ofcom [2]. Ofcom says these dates can change.

In May 2026 Ofcom published guidance written for dating and social discovery services [3]. It names romance fraud, intimate image abuse and sextortion, and harassment and stalking as the main risks [3]. It cites research that 6% of people had encountered fraud on a dating site or app, and a survey in which 11% of sextortion cases began with contact through a dating service [3].

What dating apps must do, in short:

- **Assess risks** of illegal content using Ofcom's list of 17 kinds, and of content harmful to children [3].
- **Run the basics:** clear terms, a complaints tool and a way to review and remove illegal content quickly [3].
- **Assess whether children are likely to use the service**, and if so carry out a children's risk assessment and apply the children's safety duties [3].
- **Check ages where pornographic content is allowed.** A service that allows pornographic content, including in private messages, must use highly effective [age assurance](/glossary/age-assurance) to stop under-18s seeing it [3].

Ofcom lists the methods it considers capable of being highly effective: photo ID matching, facial age estimation, open banking, credit card checks, mobile network operator checks, digital identity services and email-based age estimation [4]. Ticking a box to say you are over 18 does not count, and nor do debit cards or terms that simply ban children [4]. The penalty for breaching the Act is up to 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue or £18 million, whichever is greater [5]. Our [Online Safety Act guide](/insights/online-safety-act-dating-apps) covers the duties in detail.

The industry is also organising. The Online Dating and Discovery Association set up a consumer safety panel of 12 to 16 people, including fraud survivors, at its London conference in October 2026 [12].

## Payments and app store fees

UK dating apps pay app store commission on in-app subscriptions. Apple charges 15% to developers with up to $1 million of proceeds a year under its small business scheme, and the standard rate above that [10]. Outside the US, Apple's guidelines still bar apps from including buttons or links that send members to other ways to pay [11].

That rule is being tested in court. The Competition Appeal Tribunal found in 2025 that Apple abused its dominant position by charging commission of around 30% [9]. A separate claim against Google, seeking more than £1 billion for about 20 million UK consumers and businesses, reached the tribunal in October 2026 [9]. Google had already agreed to pay £260 million to settle a claim brought for UK app developers [9].

The upside of cheaper payments is visible in the US, where linking out is allowed: Match Group's cost of revenue fell 16% in the second quarter of 2026, mainly from savings on alternative payments [7]. UK operators do not yet have the same option inside Apple's store.

## What it means for dating app operators

- **The UK is a mature, flat market.** Overall reach has sat at 10% to 11% of online adults for four years [1]. Growth comes from taking share or serving a niche, not from new people arriving.
- **Win women and you win the market.** Hinge's rise and Tinder's fall among women are the clearest shifts in Ofcom's data [1]. Safety, verification and product design aimed at women are commercial priorities, not just compliance.
- **Budget for Online Safety Act compliance as a running cost.** Risk assessments, records, complaints handling and, for some apps, age checks are permanent duties, and Ofcom now charges fees to providers that meet its thresholds [2][3]. A platform that builds these in, as described on our [platform page](/platform), costs less than adding them app by app.
- **Watch the payment cases.** If the tribunal cases or regulation open up linking out in the UK, apps that are ready to offer web payments will keep more of each subscription [7][9].

## Questions

**What is the most popular dating app in the UK?**

Tinder and Hinge are level. Each reached 3.1% of UK online adults, about 1.5 million people, in May 2025, according to Ofcom's Online Nation report [1].

**How many people in the UK use dating apps?**

Ofcom found that 11% of UK online adults visited a dating site or app in May 2025, roughly the same share as in each of the three previous years [1].

**Do UK dating apps have to check ages?**

Every dating service has to assess whether children are likely to use it. Services that allow pornographic content, including in private messages, must use highly effective age assurance, and Ofcom's children's codes have applied since 25 July 2025 [2][3].

**What are the fines under the Online Safety Act?**

Up to 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue or £18 million, whichever is greater [5].

## Sources

1. Online Nation 2025 report, Ofcom, 2025-12-10. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/research-and-data/online-research/online-nation/2025/online-nations-report-2025.pdf
2. Important dates for online safety compliance, Ofcom, 2026-10-16. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safety/illegal-and-harmful-content/important-dates-for-online-safety-compliance
3. Dating and social discovery: know the online safety risks, rules and how to comply, Ofcom, 2026-05-18. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safety/illegal-and-harmful-content/dating-and-social-discovery-know-the-online-safety-risks-rules-and-how-to-comply
4. Age assurance, Ofcom, 2026-10-16. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safety/protecting-children/age-assurance
5. Guide for services: complying with the Online Safety Act, Ofcom, 2026-10-16. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safety/illegal-and-harmful-content/guide-for-services
6. Online Safety Act 2023, legislation.gov.uk, 2023-10-26. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/contents
7. Match Group Q2 2026 shareholder letter, Match Group (SEC filing), 2026-08-04. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000891103/000089110326000128/mtch8-k20260804ex992.htm
8. Bumble to be acquired by Ithaca Holdings, Bumble Inc (SEC filing), 2026-10-13. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001830043/000095010326015480/dp254907_ex9901.htm
9. Google to fight hidden app charges claim seeking £1bn damages, The Irish News (PA), 2026-10-05. https://www.irishnews.com/news/uk/google-to-fight-hidden-app-charges-claim-seeking-1bn-damages-QG6IDDXAWBMGDHMS3JTFRXSN7E/
10. App Store Small Business Program, Apple Developer, 2026-10-16. https://developer.apple.com/app-store/small-business-program/
11. App Review Guidelines, Apple Developer, 2026-10-16. https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/
12. ODDA launches consumer safety panel to shape dating app standards, Global Dating Insights, 2026-10-09. https://www.globaldatinginsights.com/featured/odda-consumer-safety-panel-dating-apps/
13. Bumble Inc. second quarter 2026 results, Bumble Inc (SEC filing), 2026-08-05. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001830043/000183004326000099/bmbl-ex991prxq22026.htm