The dating game is evolving every day and with both Millennials and Gen-Z looking for partners online, their patterns are quite different from each other, and thus influencing the relationships they have over time.
While everyone on the internet is trying to find the right light and angle for that perfect selfie, there is always something new that is driving how people attract matches.
Gen-Z daters on Indian dating app, QuackQuack, are focused on a completely different game that is not what you would expect today.
They are choosing authenticity to attract the right match. According to the app`s latest survey, 2 in 5 Gen-Z daters are now embracing a trend called `reverse catfishing`, a dating strategy where users intentionally put up unfiltered, raw, and even flawed pictures with purposefully toned-down achievements to find the most genuine match, who has the potential to love them even at their lowest. 21 per cent of these daters say not flexing at all is the newest flex.
The app has been observing the steady rise of this trend since early 2025, reinforcing GenZ`s focus on unfiltered authenticity. The survey was conducted from the beginning of April among 7,463 daters between the ages of 18 and 27 to have a better insight into this new trend. Participants came from metros, suburbs, and rural regions and belonged to various career fields, including IT, healthcare, education, finance, marketing, content creation, and more, as well as students and young startup owners.
The app`s founder and CEO, Ravi Mittal, commented, “Reverse Catfishing is still very new. We think it`s a love letter to emotional intelligence. Who, other than an emotionally sorted and extremely secure person, would dare to play it down on purpose? It shows that young daters are more interested in finding the right match than impressing the wrong one. They are looking for more than surface-level attractions, even if that means they have to let go of their `Insta-worthy` lifestyle for that.”
Authenticity over performance
Today`s young daters are tired of the performative nature of social media, pushing everyone to be the most aesthetic versions of themselves and, in the process, forgetting the real meaning of life. For the GenZ daters indulging in reverse catfishing, authenticity isn`t just a buzzword; it is everything. It is a green flag.
28 per cent of users from Tier 1, 2, and 3 said they are more attracted to users who look and talk like a real person. They revealed going for matches that don`t have the perfect display picture and bios that look straight out of an AI chatbot. While these polished profiles might indicate effort, somewhere, the authenticity of love is lost in trying hard to be perfect. They also admitted showing up a little undone in their own profiles to make a statement that “this is me; take it or leave it.”
The app`s data also shows that since March 2025, a silly couch selfie with more realistically written bios showed better match longevity even if the match rates were slightly lower.
The surprise “wow” factor
3 in 5 male users between 20 and 25 called reverse catfishing a clever yet non-toxic trick to WOW their matches. It manages expectations during the online interaction, only to exceed them when things go offline. They called it the `surprise upgrade` that not only helps them find someone who genuinely likes their humble version with all the under-promising but also leads to over-delivering when the romance goes IRL.
Sam from Delhi says, “I loved it when my match said I look even better in person. That somehow gave the message that I understood myself, and there might be more good things about me that I didn`t tell her, which there were.”
Emotional comfort
27 per cent of women between 18 and 25 from metros and suburbs disclosed that reverse catfishing acts as a protective layer. Anuja from Bengaluru, a fitness coach, said, “A less glamorous profile attracts men who truly want to know me, instead of the `pretty woman` in the picture. Ever since I have adopted this approach, the connections I have made have all been real, even if the numbers are slightly lower. Tells you a lot about people.”
3 in 6 women also said that this trend is the perfect way to control who you attract with your vibe.