Almost half of Gen Z adults in the UK feel lonely “often or always”, according to the boss of dating app Hinge, Jackie Jantos. Speaking to the BBC’s Big Boss interview podcast, she said young people were “struggling to have the confidence to put themselves out there” as they socialise less in person.
Jantos defended Hinge’s AI feature, which creates prompts to start chatting with a match, as “not about writing words for you” but “helping you express who you are”. The 47-year-old said Gen Z – who account for more than half of Hinge’s monthly active users – were spending around 1,000 fewer hours a year in person with other people than those of the same age two decades ago. That equates to more than two hours per day “spent not in the company of another human, but most likely going deep in some sort of experience engaged in your phone”, she added. “This prevents people from having the experience of being around others and that is quite a lonely experience.”
“Hinge boss Jackie Jantos says Gen Z lacks confidence, needs AI to start conversations as loneliness rises.”
Despite warnings of “dating app burnout” from some relationship experts, Hinge has continued to grow its UK user base. Some 1.5 million adults used the app in the year to May 2025, up from 1.4 million a year earlier. Over the same period, Tinder’s audience fell from 1.9 million to 1.5 million, according to Ipsos iris data. Tinder remains the most visited dating app, but Hinge is now only marginally behind.
Jantos said the Covid pandemic meant many young adults missed out on formative years of social interaction. “Those years when you’re sort of experimenting with how you show up in person with another person, how you flirt, how you think about intimacy, that was interrupted for many people,” she said. Dr Carolina Bandinelli, an associate professor at the University of Warwick who researches dating and relationships, agreed that the pandemic changed dating for Gen Z. “There was the sense that dating apps are [now] the only way to meet people,” she said.
Founded in 2012 and owned by Match Group – which also owns Tinder and Match.com – Hinge has built its brand around the slogan “designed to be deleted”. Jantos dismissed accusations that this is “just a marketing line”, insisting the company wants to help users find long-term relationships rather than stay on the platform indefinitely. But with loneliness soaring and face-to-face interaction declining, the question remains whether AI can truly fill the gap left by missed human connection.