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A recent survey conducted by the dating app Hily has revealed a growing disconnect between online dating profiles and reality, with many users reporting that their matches often look noticeably different in person. The poll, which gathered responses from 3,700 Gen Z and millennial users, found that a majority have encountered this issue — and it’s impacting their dating experiences.
According to the survey, 54% of Gen Z and 62% of millennials said they’ve either ended a date early or declined a second one because their match didn’t resemble their profile photos. The trend appears to be fueled in part by outdated images: one in five women and one in four men admitted they haven’t updated their profile pictures in over six months.
Interestingly, while around 45% of Gen Z respondents and 33% of millennials acknowledged that their photos are only loosely representative of how they currently look, few are called out for the discrepancy. Only about 10% to 12% of users said someone had directly told them they looked different in person.
The motivations for avoiding updates vary by gender. Women often cite a fear of judgment, preferring to post images in which they feel most confident, even if they’re older. Men, on the other hand, are more likely to believe that refreshing their profile won’t improve their results. Despite this reluctance, certain factors do prompt users to swap in new photos. More than half of women and 44% of men said they’ll update their pictures after life events such as moving, changing jobs, or simply experiencing a run of unsuccessful matches.
Still, a notable minority – 19% of women and 14% of men – say nothing would convince them to change their photos, leaving dating apps filled with profiles that may no longer reflect reality. Given that this increases the rate of effectively-doomed matches on any given dating platform, it may fall upon dating platforms to encourage their users to actively update their photos – something that platforms like Grindr and several other independent platforms have already been working towwards.
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