Meta’s in-app dating service, Facebook Dating, has disclosed it now serves approximately 21.5 million daily active users across 52 countries – a milestone mark for a product that launched in late 2019.

The numbers reveal surprising traction among younger adults. In the United States alone, the platform apparently reports about 1.77 million daily users aged 18-29, with daily chats in that demographic up 24% year-over-year. While not yet challenging legacy leaders like Tinder or Hinge in scale, Facebook Dating’s growth signals it’s no longer a footnote in the dating-app ecosystem.

What stands out is the service’s free-to-use model, which contrasts starkly with many subscription-based competitors. Facebook Dating imposes no paid “boosts,” no paywalls to view matches, and no premium tiers that restrict functionality for free users. Analysts suggest this could give Meta a strategic edge given growing consumer sensitivity to cost and value in the dating space. Alongside that is its integration with the main Facebook app, meaning that it’s readily available for any existing Facebook users.

That said, significant challenges remain. Despite announcing DAUs, Meta has yet to disclose detailed metrics such as regional breakdowns, monetisation of the service, or retention curves. While Facebook Dating may be seeing success in terms of user count, it’s not clear how that translates into actual profits from the dating app – especially given that a large potion of current singles are actively seeking more varied and less swipe-fatigue-heavy ways of finding serious relationships.