According to the Financial Times, online dating software is increasingly looking to Asian markets, mainly because of the slow growth of users in North America and Europe, the emergence of “sliding fatigue” and reduced client participation. Industry executives have indicated that Western markets have become difficult to break, while adoption rates are rising in the Asian region. As social stigma fades, more and more women start using dating applications.
Malgosia Green, Asian CEO of Match Group, the parent companies of Tinder, Hinge and OkCupid, states: “Talking and dating in the workplace become more sensitive, and it becomes more difficult to reach others when people spend all their time at work. Unlike the West, most Asian dating people are highly motivated and oriented towards marriage.” This strategic adjustment comes at a time when the largest dating platform in the world struggles to maintain the retention of mature market users. According to Sensor Tower data, during the first half of 2025, the number of active users of Tinder dropped by 10 to 51 million over the same period, while that of Bumble fell by 5 to 20.8 million over the same period.
In different Western markets, Asia has become a rare growth highlight. Despite slower growth in income and profits, the number of users in several countries is expanding rapidly. Asia occupied three seats in the top five markets for global dating applications in 2025. India is leading with 205 million downloads, followed by China and Indonesia. In terms of income, however, only Japan ranks second in the top five, with $2.3 billion in income in the first 11 months of 2025. In 2025, the French dating software Hello Group was acquired by applying the home company of the “untouched” national dating company Hello Group to expand its markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Happn, a dating matching application based on the real address of the user, with 170 million registered users, has considerable influence in France, Europe, Latin America and India. The Officer-in-Charge said that the industry needed “self-reform” to remain attractive. Coffee Meets Bagel (CMB) Global CEO Shn Juay of the United States stated that the growth in the use of dating applications in Asia reflected a change in female attitudes. The CMB is positioned as a “anti-slide” dating application focused on high-quality matching, with a limited number of high-quality “bagel” (matching objects) daily to users, emphasizing serious social relationships rather than random dating, with the main user groups as young elites seeking long-term partnerships. Global users exceeded 10 million and ranked high on the South-East Asian market.
Shn Juay, who worked in dating software for more than a decade, said: “Women no longer rely on family and friends to find a partner, they do not wish to put the matter to chance and wish to take control of the initiative through digital dating platforms.” She stressed the need for dating companies in Asia to conduct an early East-West cultural disparity survey and adapt their services to local customs. “Asian users tend to be well targeted and usually focus on finding long-term partners rather than on random dates”. In Singapore and Hong Kong, China, the CMB interface gives priority to personal information such as educational background and occupation, as opposed to more user-oriented photo presentations in Australia. Shn Juay indicates that Asian users prefer to interact with a fully documented account. “In assessing each other, single persons take into account each other’s energy invested in dating data. If the information leaves blank, it is considered disrespectful.” In Japan, the most popular dating application is the indigenous platform Pairs (a decade ago acquired by Match). As part of measures to increase fertility, the Government encouraged the use of dating software, and official government applications had even been introduced in Tokyo in 2024. “They almost created the social infrastructure,” Margosia Green commented.
In Korea, Pairs requires that male users certify their employers, while women are optional. The decline of arranged marriages in India has become one of the fastest growing markets in Asia. The Match Group recently launched a restricted application of The League in Mumbai and Delhi, targeting high-income professionals. Although local applications dominate downloads, Western platforms such as Bumble, Tinder, Hinge, Pure and Grindr generate the most revenue. Shn Juay revealed that the CMB had led to a decline in the number of users in Korea during the initial phase of the roll-out, but has now begun to pick up, eventually creating a safer platform. “When people know that we have our ID number and can hand it over to the police, they often show greater respect and goodwill.” As ethical screening replaces rich content, dating software is no longer a place for entertainment, but more like a closed space where life-critical decisions need to be carefully considered. Once this expectation is developed, those platforms that fail to protect users will no longer be considered obsolete but rather unsafe risk applications.
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