Dating appdates (Dec ’25): Where’s best for twinks and bears? Grindr and Tinder wrapped
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It’s the most wonderful time of the year: December, when Grindr and Tinder release their own version of Spotify Wrapped, giving us data insights into things like which country has the biggest proportion of twinks and whether travel or singing is the more popular hobby among ‘active daters’.
Grindr Unwrapped is usually the most interesting (and jazzily designed) by far, and that’s the case again in 2025. The world’s biggest LGBTQ+ dating app revealed that the app’s 15 million monthly users sent 136 billion chats on it in 2025 (so far), and that over 12 billion ‘taps’ were sent.
136 Billion
Chats sent on Grindr in 2025
Grindr
Grindr’s culture queens
We’ll get to the twink and bear percentage count soon, but first it’s worth noting the cultural icons that came to the fore in Grindr’s data insights and user votes to wrap the year.
Actor Pedro Pascal was crowned Daddy of the Year, probably more for his debonair moustache than demonstrating any parenting ability. Actor Henry Cavill, singer Ricky Martin, actor Tom Hardy and former footballer and sometime whisky magnate David Beckham comprised the rest of the fatherly top five.
Lady Gaga, who stormed back to the dance-pop world in 2025 with her behemoth Mayhem album and tour, was voted Mother of the Year. She pipped Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Beyonce and Chappel Roan to the top matriarch spot. Gaga also cleaned up in music categories, winning tour and music video of the year, the latter for Abracadabra.
Hottest Man was British actor Jonathan Bailey, followed by rapper/singer Bad Bunny, Superman himself David Corensweet, actor Michael B Jordan then K-pop prince Yung Kook.
Joey Mills got the top porn star spot in the survey run-down.
Grindr
The twink and bear numbers
In 2025 the most searched-for profile tag in 2025 on Grindr was “hung”, but users looking for less meat on the bone would do well to visit Switzerland.
According to Grindr’s data the famously politically neutral European beauty spot was the country with the highest percentage of twinks, followed by the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium and Germany.
Ireland was the country with the highest percentage of bears, followed by the US, Greece, South Africa then the UK.
Does this say anything about the cultures of these countries? Probably not, but now we know where to go when we want to have a really lovely, warm, engulfing, hairy hug.
Grindr
Moving on to bottoms and feet
Grindr also pooled sex position data, and found that South Africa was the country with the highest percentage of self-described bottoms. Australia, the UK, New Zealand and Canada brought up the rear of the top five.
Ever-sophisticated Europe dominated when it came to feet, though. The country with the highest percentage of Grindr users who described themselves as being into feet was Italy, followed by Germany, then the UK, France and Greece.
Finland was the top country for sending nude photos, if we’re judging by user percentage quantity. London was voted best city for a ‘gaycation’.
“These findings capture a community that’s bold, brash, and unapologetically itself”. A community that also really, really loves Lady Gaga.
— Zachary Zane, Grindr’s sex and relationship expert
You can see the data roundup in full on Grindr’s website.
• • •
76%
Would use AI in their dating journey
Tinder
Tinder wrap shows AI acceptance
Tinder’s Year In Swipe data roundup was less spicy than Grindr’s, but nonetheless contained some interesting nuggets about dating app use, at a time when many see the sector as in decline as companies attempt to attract younger users.
Fitting with this, Tinder surveyed 4,000 18-25 year-olds who were actively dating in the US, UK, Canada or Australia for their 2025 roundup.
76 percent of those surveyed said they would use AI in their “dating journey”, following a year of many dating apps rolling out AI functions such as chatbot-assisted messaging.
The most popular ways that respondents said they’d use AI for were AI suggesting date ideas, selecting their best photos, then providing bio prompts, giving us hope that perhaps not everyone is looking to outsource their messaging banter to the bots.
Tinder
Emojis, passports and interests
The fastest-growing emoji in 2025, according to Tinder’s survey, was the ‘flirt mark’: a picture of a pair of ‘biting’ lips being suggestively curled/nibbled in the mouth corner. This, according to Tinder, was the “you got my attention” stamp of the year.
Tinder also listed a run-down of the most popular countries users used the Passport function to ‘visit’, to swipe through users in another country. The top country for this was Colombia followed by Mexico, Canada, Spain and Japan. We’ll keep an eye on foreigner-local marriage figures in Colombia over the next few years.
If Tinder’s insights are anything to judge by, the app’s users are a rather wholesome bunch. The top interest listed on profiles was travel, followed by nature, singing, sports, then spanking (only joking; walking was fifth).
Tinder
Names and causes
The most common men’s first names on the app were Alex, Daniel, David, Michael and Lucas. The most common women’s names were Julia, Maria, Anna, Ana and Sarah.
Showing that virtue signalling… sorry, we mean empathy, was as strong as ever on the apps in 2025, the top ‘social cause’ listed on profiles was war, followed by mental health then healthcare.
Tinder put further details of its Year In Swipe online.
That’s the last Dating Appdate from us in 2025.
We’ll see you in 2026, ideally in Switzerland or Ireland.
We’ll see you in 2026, ideally in Switzerland or Ireland.