Plenty of Fish Reveals 2025 Dating Trends

Plenty of Fish (POF) has released its eighth annual list of dating trends for 2025, introducing new terms that reflect the influence of TikTok, social media, and pop culture on modern dating. The survey of nearly 6,000 U.S. users highlights how singles are navigating dating with terms like “Smutten” and “Freak Matching,” adding to the platform’s growing lexicon of dating behaviors.

One of the key trends, Smutten, describes singles fantasizing about the romantic plots of TV shows, movies, or books becoming their own reality. With steamy romance content on the rise, 33% of singles – 40% of whom are women – admitted to being “smutten” with potential matches, seeking the same dreamy love stories they see on screen.

Another popular term, Freak Matching, focuses on exactly what you’d expect – users looking for somebody who can “match their freak” by being just as weird as they are, with 39% of respondents having experienced this. Nearly 50% of singles have experienced Yap-Trapping, an opposite problem where they’re stuck in a one-sided conversation that they can’t get out of.

On the lighter side, StICKing describes the decision to look past an initial “ick” – such as an odd style or habit – when dating someone, reflecting greater emotional maturity. Meanwhile, Grim Keeping involves bonding over shared dislikes or “darker” interests, a trend experienced by 28% of singles.

While these might sound like nonsense to some, these trends can actually be quite important. They show that dating is still just as diverse as it always has been, and that there are a lot of specific wants and needs within the dating space that all have to be accounted for – especially by the apps and platforms trying to facilitate these dating options on a wider scale.

These trends, along with others from other surveys, are fully explained on the Plenty of Fish blog here.