The Only Dating App You Should Be Using in 2026

A Pew survey found more than a third of dating app users actually feel more pessimistic about dating after being on the apps. Will that stop us for a minute? Maybe. But long term? No. And why is that? Because unfortunately, due to the busy nature of our lives and the difficulty of meeting strangers in coffee shops, we still feel we need them. If your experience with dating apps is its own kind of toxic relationship, what? One that never seems to get better but keeps drawing you back in anyway, I made this video for you to restore some optimism, to give you an obvious but much forgotten secret to finding love and even, dare I say, a way out. Over 17 years, I have coached millions of people to find love. I've written two New York Times bestsellers on the subject, and I feel fortunate to be considered the number one expert in my field. And every year people have asked me, what is my number one recommended dating app for people who are serious about finding love? And I have never had an answer for them. But if you stay till the end of this video, I am actually going to tell you what it is. Spoiler alert. It is not a dating app. I was inspired to make this video when I came across a Reddit post titled Everybody Hates Dating Apps and it makes me sad. I loved that, because she wasn't saying that the apps made her sad, she was saying that everyone hating on them is what made her sad. She wrote, dating apps have undoubtedly become a necessary evil. Even if you're not on them, somebody you meet in the wild probably is. And of course, that's the contradiction of modern dating. On one hand, we hate the apps, on the other, they're where everybody else is. She continued, my free time is incredibly limited right now. I don't really have the time to indulge in an additional hobby that might increase my chances of meeting someone that is so real most of us don't have hours to manufacture magical meet cutes in our everyday lives. Apps may be flawed, but for many people they are the only practical option. Then she wrote, the cons are endless. Fake profiles, ghosting, too many options. But if the alternative is never meeting anyone, I'd rather be on a few apps and deal with some disappointment. Now, I loved that she's not romantic about the apps, but she'd rather try and get hurt than do nothing at all. But the last part of what she wrote really hit me. She said, it just feels isolating to hear people constantly parroting how no good ever comes of the apps, when for a lot of people it feels like the only option. Especially because everyone you're into in real life who is single is probably on them too. That's insightful. The people on the apps aren't a different species. They're the same people you'd meet in a coffee shop. It just feels different because you met them while you're scrolling on the toilet instead of ordering a latte. I like this woman. She may be tired, but she's an optimist. And in nearly two decades of my experience as a coach, I can tell you optimism is often what separates people who find love from people who give up. My wife, Audrey, once told me about a friend of hers who finally opened up and then got her heart broken. She said to Audrey, I don't know how you do it, because now I just never want to date again. Audrey remembered it specifically because unlike her friend who shut down, she always chose to focus on the people she hadn't met yet, even when she was hurt. Staying open and positive about love doesn't just make you feel better. It massively affects your chances of actually finding it. When we stay optimistic, we keep shining brightly. And that is the only way that the person who's right for you is going to find you. Remember, the person who's right for you is finding it just as difficult to find you as you are to find them. So you can't give up on each other. I coached a guy recently who wanted to retreat from dating after two different guys on the apps. Completely ghosted him after great dates. Here's what I told him. It is okay to pause if you need to, but don't let the shit munchers get in the way of you and your person. Look, when we are single, it is strange to think that the person we will end up with is out there right now, probably with no idea we exist. And yet one day, that stranger could be sitting across from you at dinner, or standing next to you in the kitchen you now share, or holding your child in their arms. We will look at that stranger and realize that they have become one of the most important people in our lives. Among billions of lives unfolding right now, there is someone you haven't met yet who you will go on to love and who will love you back. It's true that nothing is promised in life, but it's all to play for. That's why optimism isn't cheesy. It's practical. It keeps you in the game long enough for love to find you. But. And this is why that Reddit post made me mad, optimism alone isn't enough. She Deserves better. You deserve better. Dating apps incentivize all the wrong things, like addictive swiping and fast food dating. They put people looking for relationships and people looking for hookups all in the same shaker. And then shake it up and see what happens. And what happens is sheer randomness. That randomness will always produce some couples, but for most, it's painful, it's exhausting, and it makes them feel disposable. Even if you meet people who want the same thing, finding someone you're actually compatible with can feel impossible. For years, people have told me, matthew, if you created an app designed for people who want real relationships, I would join in a heartbeat. And my answer was always no. Because the world did not need another dating app. But something has changed. A new wave of companies have what they believe is the answer to the necessary evil of dating apps. AI companions. A report earlier this year showed that AI Emotional Companion products surged fivefold in just six months. They say it is difficult to find someone in real life who is as enthusiastic and focused on you as the AI Companions can be. They provide a safe and comfortable space for emotional interaction and filling the emotional gap from found in reality. Think about that. The emotional gap found in reality. In their conclusion, they say, we have reason to believe that more similar innovative applications will emerge, like mushrooms after rain, bringing more surprises and touches to our lives. I have seen the last of us. I know what happens when surprising mushrooms start emerging everywhere. Look, I get it. An AI companion is extremely compelling when people, real people, have let us down and disappointed, disappointed us so much. But this cannot be the conclusion we come to as a society. This is why, for the first time in my career, I felt a deep urge to actually do something about this. So about nine months ago, I decided to stop standing on the sidelines and build something different. It is called sync, and it is not a dating app. Sync is the world's first AI matchmaker and relationship coach combined. Instead of swiping, sync talks with you, asking you the kind of questions I would getting to know not just what you say you want, but who you really are and what you truly need. Sometimes even better than you know yourself. And it uses that to introduce you to people that you are deeply compatible with. Not just another chat that doesn't go anywhere, but someone who's actually worth meeting in real life. You are going to have the world's most intelligent matchmaker in in your pocket. And sync isn't built to keep you online. It is built to get you offline, into better dates, faster and into relationships that last. We are even measuring success differently at Sync. Dating apps celebrate swipes and signups at Sync. We're going to measure success by how many second offline dates we create in the real world and how many five year anniversaries we get people to. One of the ways that we're doing that is what? By having Sync coach you. Unlike apps that vanish after you match, Sync stays with you as your coach, guiding you through the highs and lows of dating and relationships so that you're not just finding love, you're learning how to keep it. Sync is not just some tech experiment. As someone who has spent their life doing what I do, helping people find love, this is my ambitious, audacious attempt to give you something better than what is currently being offered to you. Where other companies are using AI to replace human connection, we are using AI to create it. This is not about spending more hours online. It is about finally getting you beyond dating into real life connection. That is what Sync is. That is why we built this. We are starting with a private test in New York City. Now look, version one is not going to be perfect and that is intentional. If you join, you're not just going to be an early user, you are going to be a co creator helping us to shape Sync Sync into the best version of itself. If you're in New York or you know someone who is, join the wait list for free using the link below. And by the way, if you're not in New York, still join the wait list. It's just that New York is going to be first. But if you are in that location, this is your chance to be one of the first people in the world to experience Sync, the matchmaking app that is the alternative to dating apps. Dating should not feel like that woman on Reddit described it. It a necessary evil. It should feel like what it truly is. The beginning of the most important story of your life. That is why I built Sync and why I cannot wait for you to try it.