The best sex and dating apps for hooking up

This content originally appeared on Mashable for a US audience and has been adapted for the UK audience.

It's 2026 and times are good for low-effort consumers.

Yes, you can get pretty much anything you want by just tapping and swiping of your smartphone: Your shopping, your favourite takeaway, your high-ticket tech, even — our personal favourite — a hot date.

And why shouldn't you? Online dating is nothing new.

Apps and websites have dominated the dating world for the best part of 20 years.

In fact, some sites go all the way back to the mid-1990s.

But things are constantly evolving in the world of app-based dating.

According to our favourite sex-perts at Lovehoney — the progressive sex toy brand that sells everything from lingerie to lubricants and dildos — we're living in horny-but-wholesome times.

Lovehoney has named 2026 " The Year of Pleasure ." That doesn’t mean quick-and-easy pleasure from one-night stands and flings.

It may come as some surprise, but research says that one-night stands are on the out.

Would-be daters are now cruising for "purposeful pleasure" and "meaningful connections." That means hookups with substance — flings that mean something.

Yes, we're still hooking up, but we're getting more selective about who we hookup with and why .

So, it's important to get the right dating app because each app offers something a little different.

And you need the right tools to find the right date.