Young Australians are ditching dating apps – and returning to an age-old dating trend instead

After years of fatigue and disillusion with online romance, young people across Australia are finding success with a nostalgic style of dating from the ’90s.

Young Australians are giving up the apps and turning to more traditional forms of dating.

It’s no secret that dating apps are the primary way young people enter the modern dating market. Ask enough coupled-up twenty and thirty-something-year-olds, and you’ll likely find that an app is how they met their partner. For young single people all over Australia, it’s been this way for over a decade, ever since the advent of the first popular dating app launched across the country.

Tinder, the original mobile dating app to gain worldwide popularity, launched in Australia in 2012. While online dating sites before it found their primary users within an older demographic – from Match.com to eHarmony – Tinder was the first mobile application to introduce the “swipe right” format, and find its target audience in young people thanks to its speedy matches, curated profiles, and smart phone-friendly interface. Then, there was Hinge, which launched in 2015. As an app with an even friendlier design, it’s proved an increasingly popular alternative to Tinder in recent years. While Tinder has earned a reputation for promoting ‘hook-up culture’, Hinge largely markets itself as an avenue for long-term relationships. Bumble followed soon after in 2016, positioning itself as a dating app where only women could make the first move. As of last year, these three apps remain the most popular among young Australians, and anecdotally, this still rings true in 2025.

In the increasingly all-encompassing internet era, it’s hardly a surprise that relationships have gone digital. But with everything that people gain from the online dating experience – fast connections, and algorithmically determined compatibility delivered in a swift “yes or no” swipe of the finger – there are downsides too. From being able to read physical chemistry, to the joy of finding out about a person via conversation as opposed to a list of traits on a screen, the typically enjoyable components of a first date are often replaced with weeks of apathetic texting, or unsuccessful first meetings as a result of predetermined expectations of a match. Because of this, a growing number of young people are ditching the apps and seeking out in-person dating experiences that cut straight to the point: specifically, the speed dating events we all remember from the late 90s and 2000s.

Izzy Burns, founder of Melbourne-based speed dating events group Crush Club, first had the idea to start the enterprise while out for a drink with friends, lamenting about the state of online dating.

“I noticed a bunch of people in my circles were just feeling fed up, and a bit despondent with dating in general. And I just thought, ‘Okay, I think it’s necessary to bring it back to the basics,’” says Burns. “There’s a general kind of fatigue that’s happening with people using the apps.”

She believes the general fatigue around online dating is why there has been an increased demand for her event, and in-person events like it. “I think it comes from not only sheer necessity, because the apps aren’t working for people, but also people wanting to switch things up. They’re a bit bored of how we’ve been dating.”

While Crush Club began using a traditional speed dating and match card system, the group has since evolved into other events to meet the rising demand. Burns and her team now also host dating dinner parties – which operate under a more casual run-of-events in a group setting, where attendees must take the initiative of asking fellow guests for their contact details – and are looking to expand into more events of its kind.

When asked about what she has seen to be the benefits of organised, in-person dating experiences, Burns points to the efficiency. “For the average time-poor person, to go on an online date with a stranger, you’re committing to two to three hours for someone, and it might not be fulfilling or positive. Most of the time, it’s not going to be. But when you come to [Crush Club], you get to meet a bunch of people all at once. You also don’t have all the admin involved to get all the apps, and message people back and forth. You just purchase a ticket, you rock up, and you get to be presented with a bunch of people.”

A photo from a Crush Club event. Picture credit: Instagram/crushclub6

But it’s not just about the practicality of the speed dating set-up that has proven beneficial. For the participants in Burns’ events, removing the overly curated selection process of a dating app in favour of meeting a more diverse group of people has been an unexpectedly positive consequence.

“You meet a wider range of people because you might connect with someone in an in-person setting that you might not match with on an app,” she says, “So you might get surprised with who you connect with.”

This open-mindedness doesn’t just apply to romantic connections, either. Burns explains that due to the communal atmosphere of the event, attendees who do not walk away with a love match will almost certainly have made a friend along the way.

“I often see people connecting and bonding over the experience, and making new friends and connections,” says Burns. “I think it’s really nice in providing more opportunities not only for romance, but also for friendship, which is something you don’t get when you go on an online date with somebody. It’s kind of a win-win.”

In the same way that traditional dating websites often attract an older audience, and mobile apps appeal to a younger one, speed dating attracts its own age range.

“25 to 35 years-old is what I’ve seen to be the most popular,” says Burns of Crush Club’s key demographic. “Any younger than that, people are still interested, but they’re generally not taking dating as seriously. I would love to go beyond that age range as well — 35 years-old and above — but it’s just a matter of demand and the reach to expand into that area.”

It’s not just age that Crush Club’s most frequent audience have in common, but dating goals, too.

“A lot of people coming are quite genuine, in that they are looking for something more serious,” she says, “Not everyone, but I do find that there’s a lot of people that are willing to date a bit more intentionally, which brings people together that are a bit more on the same page.”

Gabby, 26, first came across Crush Club on TikTok. After the concept piqued her interest, she decided to bring a few friends with her to one of the events.

“I loved the idea of being able to meet multiple people in one night. It felt like a more efficient and exciting way to date,” she says. “The fact that it’s facilitated by someone else takes the pressure off. You don’t have to do all that pre-chatting like on apps. I’m a pretty busy person, so I liked the idea of cutting through the small talk and seeing straight away if there’s a spark in person. It saves a lot of time and energy.”

A photo from a Crush Club event. Picture credit: Instagram/crushclub6

Comparing her experience of speed dating to her time spent on dating apps, Gabby cites a series of advantages to the former.

“The whole vibe is fun. I’ve made genuine friends at these events, and there’s something lovely about bonding with people, and getting to chat about the ups and downs of dating,” she says. “You get the opportunity to meet a range of people without the long, drawn-out messaging beforehand.”

As to the common myth that in-person dating is far more nerve-racking or time wasting than getting to know someone first via a screen, Gabby suggest this is a misconception that should be debunked.

“When you think about it, you only spend about seven minutes with each person [when speed dating], whereas a bad app date could drag on for hours,” she says. “The structure actually makes things less awkward, and conversations tend to flow. There’s also some really cute conversation cards with funny prompts on the tables to keep the conversations fresh.”

Despite the best attempts of apps like Hinge that try to market lasting relationships, dating culture in Australia has become far more casual and noncommittal in the last few years. When asked why she thinks that is, Burns points back to the long reign of the apps themselves.

“If we look back to Covid-19 and lockdown, the apps were booming because this was all we could use. However, now that we’re past that, people are deactivating their profiles or they get on the apps but they’re not actively on there – not putting in any effort, or messaging anyone,” says Burns, “What I’m seeing now is a shift towards the way that people approach dating overall, and we’re having to be a bit more creative with the ways that we go about it … I’m really excited to see that shift. It definitely brings me a lot of joy to see people forming real relationships and connections in person.”