Why Christian Singles Are Walking Away from Dating Apps in 2026

More and more Christian singles are quietly deleting dating apps—and not because they’ve given up on love.

They’re stepping away because the environment often works against intentional faith-based dating.

Not ALL Apps Are Made Equal

Either Christian dating apps are owned by parent companies of secular dating apps (like Tinder’s parent, Match Group, owns Upward), the apps are not owned by Christians at all (Christian Mingle), or the apps are built with good intention but that’s where it ends (I won’t post the one I’m thinking for kindness sake!). So Christians begin to run out of options, or try what’s available and well… now we’re here. In 2026 with more young and middle aged Christian singles than ever before even with apps that are supposed to be connecting us. After joining several dating apps and participating in Christian groups across dating apps and social media (lurking in gender specific groups and even participating in some), here’s what I’ve found.

The Fatigue Is Real

Dating apps were designed for volume, not discernment. Endless swiping can lead to:

• Burnout: men complain of swiping and not swiping through bad profiles, swiping through fake profiles or getting no response. While women complain of swiping through mediocre profiles and getting very aggressive responses when they reject someone. Either way, both genders are easily annoyed by the other and just end up exploding into a fight and stop swiping all together.

• Shallow interactions: because so many of these apps are not protected with Christian values, they’re just money grabs, alot of these apps have many secular people on them approaching men and women in gross ways. Or they’re spreading very secular knowledge and causing a stir in group chats.

• Confusion about intentions: this is happening on well rooted Christian apps and the secularly made Christian apps. People are not upfront about intentions. We’ve become so desperate that we try to hide our true intentions in the hopes that eventually everything will work out. But it never does, and it always backfires later on.

• Emotional exhaustion: a lot of men become exhausted before women because they’re running into profiles that seem perfect but is just a bot. They get tired and embarrassed. Women on the other hand, are only being approached by angry resentful men, or secular men. The real Christian men and women are getting too tired before finding each other.

Faith Often Becomes a Filter—Not a Foundation

On many apps, faith is reduced to a checkbox:
“Christian”
“Church-goer”
“Spiritual”

But shared faith requires more than a label. It involves values, lifestyle choices, and long-term vision—things that are difficult to discern through a profile alone. And with so many folks ghosting, bots, and unresolved anger, people are not having enough conversations to meet in the middle.

Lack of Accountability

Apps are largely unmoderated and unstructured. This often leads to:

• Mixed intentions

• Ghosting—the biggest complaint amongst Christian men!!!

• Misrepresentation

• Casual approaches to serious people—will talk about this in another post in February!

Many Christian singles aren’t walking away from dating—they’re walking away from unhealthy systems with nowhere to go. They’re not ready to give up, but they’re certainly ready for something new.

Why Structured Alternatives Are Growing

Because Christians are tired. They’re tried connecting via apps, now they’re ready to connect face-to-face with real conversations that go back-and-forth. Not a text sent today and response coming in tomorrow. Of the hopes of a response and it never comes. So Christians have turned to faith-based events. They’re looking into matchmaking and speed dating, because these options are providing them with:

• Clear expectations

• Moderation and boundaries

• Real conversations

• Accountability

Structure doesn’t remove romance—it protects it.

So if you’re looking for alternatives to apps, explore our Christian singles events and structured matchmaking experiences. For more on my ongoing field test of dating apps and groups, subscribe to us to get notified about blog updates! I have so much more to share from my past few months on these apps.