5 Dating Trends That Will Be Huge in 2025, from Freak Matching to Collabor-Dating

With each new year comes a slew of new trends: fashion trends, food trends, sleep trends and, yes, even dating trends. Whether you’re sick and tired of endless and unsuccessful app scrolling or you’re starting to think about getting back out there after the end of a relationship, here are five dating trends, from AI dating to grim keeping (?), that will govern the way we find love in 2025.

I’ve seen this phenomenon called out in a number of places, including on Plenty of Fish’s eighth annual dating trends report. Inspired by Tinashe’s hit song “Nasty”—you know, “Is somebody gonna match my freak?”—freak matching is all about connecting with someone over shared quirks, unique interests or general “weirdness.” Basically, it means dating with the goal of meeting someone who’ll keep up with all of your eccentricities.

According to BLK, the world’s largest social and dating app for the Black community, Gen Z daters in particular are going to be more and more interested in combining dating and content creation go hand in hand. According to the app’s 2025 trend forecast, “Collabor-dates are all about teaming up to make TikToks, build photo dumps or design joint playlists. It’s the ultimate vibe for anyone who loves capturing moments and sharing their story online. These dates turn every outing into a chance to co-create and connect, making dating a collaborative experience worth posting about.”

Per eharmony’s 2024 Rule Breaker report, which uncovers the trends that will define how we date in 2025, Gen Z, Millennials and Gen X are giving new perspectives to old dating beliefs and shifting mindsets for a fresh approach to dating. According to the report, while dating, 75 percent of U.S. singles don’t believe you have to avoid taboo topics like politics, money and your ex—which means filter-free dating is in for 2025. Let go of old “rules” that state what you can and can’t talk about in early dating situations and lean into presenting your most authentic, unfiltered self.

A recent study by AIPRM, a prompt management tool and community-driven prompt library, found that around 6 million people admitted to using AI content in their profiles on dating apps. If you’re skeptical about this one, you’re not alone (I was too). My worries were slightly assuaged, however, when I tapped Dr. Pepper Schwartz, PhD, a relationship expert and sexologist, for her thoughts. To my surprise, Schwartz is not entirely against using AI in dating apps. She told me, “AI is a powerful tool, and I think if you use it as an editor or architect of how to say what you want to say, it's fine in dating.” But—and this is a big but—she adds that if you use AI as a complete representative of yourself, it can be deceptive to the novice person who is meeting you for the first time. “You want to be loved for who you are, so if you use AI too much or too often, you may be misrepresenting yourself—and that's not fair.” Read up on how to try out this trend without misrepresenting yourself to potential partners here.

It’s been said you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, but when it comes to dating in the new year, some folks are eschewing the sunshine and roses approach. Coined by Plenty of Fish, grim keeping means bonding with someone over your “darker side,” or shared dislikes. “It's essentially coming together over the things that rub you the wrong way, to deepen the connection,” per folks at the app, who found in a study that 28 percent of daters have bonded over being, well, grim.