Tinder and Hinge are not enough anymore What is Feeld and why is it the number one dating app right now?

The dating landscape in 2025 was, for lack of better words, disastrous. The epidemic of performative males, the relationship recession, the fact that young people chose to languish emotionally rather than seriously look for a suitable partner, and a widespread sense of avoidant attachment across dating apps have all contributed to the disillusionment of an entire generation toward relationships (a sentiment not even the love story of New York’s first couple managed to revive). This is precisely why platforms like Feeld are gaining ground over traditional apps that continue to promise an encounter with “the love of your life.”

What is Feeld and how does it work?

Feeld is a “non-conventional” dating app, or at least that’s how it defines itself. It launched in 2016 under the name 3nder and, rather than competing head-on with giants like Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge, it chose to occupy its own black ocean, that of sex positivity. Put simply, Feeld is often described as a kind of Grindr open to everyone and has become known as the app for those seeking non-monogamous relationships, multiple experiences, fetishes, or, more broadly, a space where desire can be discussed without having to make it palatable or reassuring.

The way the app works partly mirrors the dynamics of more traditional dating platforms, but it introduces structural differences. The profile is not meant to build a romantic or aspirational narrative; instead, it serves to clarify identities, orientations, relational dynamics, and expectations. Users can link multiple profiles, state whether they are already in a relationship, and specify from the outset what they are looking for.

This positioning choice, long perceived as marginal, has started to have an impact beyond the cultural bubble that initially embraced the app. As reported by The Guardian, growth outside the UK contributed to a 26% increase in revenue in 2024, with a £9.3 million pre-tax profit, despite a slowdown compared to the previous year and rising marketing costs.

The mainstream era of Feeld

The fact that Feeld is entering the mainstream comes as little surprise. As noted by Dazed, the app has tapped into the long wave of sex positivity, which in recent years has challenged many patriarchal and conservative narratives around sexuality, particularly female sexuality. At the same time, fatigue with traditional dating apps has become widespread, driven by experiences perceived as repetitive, alienating, and increasingly ineffective.

At first, Feeld worked precisely because it appeared different. It attracted people who were more aware of their desires, more direct in expressing them, and less inclined to use ambiguity as a form of emotional self-defense. This reputation, also recalled by Dazed, citing the New York Times, helped build the image of the platform as a space of sexual freedom. The issue today is that the app is experiencing an identity crisis, fueled by its renewed popularity, which has drawn in a new population of “vanilla” users, meaning those outside the kink community.

Feeld is not just an app

Today, however, Feeld is no longer just an app designed for fleeting nights; it has become a media ecosystem. In October 2024, the company launched A Fucking Magazine, an annual publication focused on sexual fluidity and liberation. The same approach also emerges in Feeld Raw, the annual report on the state of sex and relationships, based on app data.

The 2025 recap shows a sexuality that is increasingly unstable and increasingly interchangeable. The heteroflexible orientation (people who are typically straight but interested in other experiences) records the fastest growth on the platform, with a 193% increase, and the shift between heterosexuality and heteroflexibility ranks among the most frequent changes. Millennials make up around 65% of heteroflexible users, followed by Gen Z and Gen X. A similar trend applies to sexual practices. Among the most notable findings is that in 2025, interest in pegging (a.k.a. when men are penetrated anally by a strap-on) among cis men grew by over 200%, a clear sign of the normalization and destigmatization of male pleasure practices.

For this reason, Feeld seems set to carve out an increasingly visible role in mainstream discourse as well. Certainly not as a definitive answer to the chaos of dating, but rather as one of the spaces where generational transformations begin to be observed. In 2026, its role will likely take shape here: in helping to shift the way we talk about sex, relationships, and desire. Will Gen Z finally return to being sexually active in the new year?