>Humanity managed dating fine before these things were created

Except back then we had stuff like religion, church, village, common communities etc to bind people.

>even managed it in cities where we live in isolating apartments and only know our neighbours by the music leaking through the walls.

Statistics show urbanites to be lonelier than ever, so that take disagrees with you.

>Pubs, clubs, general social events where you can find people whose actual interests you share, these all do fine.

Massively depends on what the social life is like in the city you live in and what age you age. Some cities are better than others and the older you get the worse it is. While dating apps are more of a sure thing because most people are there to date. Meanwhile you can waste time and money in pubs and clubs for years and never meet a partner.

It's similar to job searching, if you're unemployed and need a job, you go straight to linkedin and apply, you don't go to clubs and pubs hoping you meet a founder who has a job for you. The latter might work every now and then if you're sociable and lucky and live in the right place, but it's not a sure thing for everyone all the time. That's why dating apps will never go away just like linkedin will never go away.