I’ve unfortunately been using dating apps for way longer than I care to admit (even to myself). And I can honestly say it has largely been a waste, unless you want to count life experience and dead-end evenings out as being worth it. I haven’t made it past a third date with anyone, and the large majority never went past date one. However, if you are still so inclined to try, here are my thoughts on the good and bad of ALL the ones I’ve tried.
Side note – My experience is purely heterosexual and with unpaid versions of dating apps. Also, I’m speaking from the point of view of finding relationships, so if you are using them for hookups then your good and bad may be different than mine…so take that as you will.
Bumble
Bumble has probably been my most successful option (if you would call it that). It’s the typical swipe right and left model that most of the apps have. The difference is that women have to initiate a conversation after a match.
Good:
- Large pool of people – Bumble is close behind Tinder and will give you a lot of options.
- Can ignore mistakes – Since women have to initiate contact you can easily ignore a mistake swipe.
- Filter options – There are plenty of filters for narrowing down what you are looking for. More so if you pay for the app.
- Not as hookup oriented – Generally the users seem more geared towards wanting a relationship than many other dating apps.
- Different modes – Bumble also has a BFF and Career mode. I have no idea how the career mode works, but I’ve made a few “chatting” friends on BFF. I think if I gave it some more attention, I could find some nice gal friends on here.
Bad:
- Timer feature – I HATE this. You need to talk to matches within 24 hours or they disappear. This is very annoying when you just feel like swiping for a while and you end up with a bunch of matches at the same time. You pretty much need to stop swiping after a match or two to have any decent conversations.
- Types of guys– Not sure what it is, but I feel like most of the guys are on Bumble because they don’t have to bother making a move. And therefore I tend to find it’s lazy, passive guys or ones that ultimately aren’t that interested in meeting up.
- Can’t delete matches – Once you match there is no way to remove matches. So if you did an accidental swipe then you can’t just undo it, you need to let the 24 hours run out. Which makes me feel bad because sometimes the guy extends the match and maybe wouldn’t have even seen you if you deleted it immediately.
Hinge
Hinge’s tagline is that they are the dating app that is “designed to be deleted”. Meaning they want you to find a real relationship, however I’d say that’s debatable. Hinge does not use the typical swiping mechanism, instead there are prompts that you can like and respond to to create the match. Then, either party can begin the conversation.
Good:
- Not hookup oriented – The app is intended to be about connections and generally does not draw the hookup crowd of other apps.
- Prompts – The prompts make the app a bit more interesting and deeper than the swiping of other apps, and it gives you good conversation starters.
- Filters – Hinge also provides a handful of decent filters to sort out who you are interested in, and again, more if you pay.
Bad:
- Still some of the hookup crowd – The app still inexplicably draws some people just looking to boogie. Why they would go through the trouble of creating a profile on a dating app like this I don’t know, but they do.
- Standouts/Roses– In an effort to collect money, Hinge puts the people you are most likely to like in a section called the Standouts. They will rarely appear in your regular swiping, and for the most part you will only be able to connect with them by sending a “Rose”. And unless you pay, you only get one rose a week. So I’m thinking Hinge loses all credibility on their tagline. They are literally making it nearly impossible to match with your most compatible people. The biggest reason I “deleted the app” was because I couldn’t match with the people I wanted to.
- The people – For the most part, the people on Hinge aren’t really my type. This can obviously vary for anyone, but it seems to be the more straight edge preppy type in my opinion. For me, this isn’t a good thing, but could be for someone else.
Tinder
Tinder is the granddaddy of all dating apps. It runs with the original model, swiping left and right.
Good:
- Huge pool of people – You will get the good, bad, and everything in between. If you are looking for a dating app with plenty of options, Tinder has your back.
- Simple and easy – No restrictions on who must talk first, deleting matches, timers, etc.
- Easy to make a profile – You can get as deep or shallow as you want on here. Only requirement is a photo to be up and running.
Bad:
- Very hookup oriented – Although a lot more people are on Tinder these days for relationships than years back when it started, I still get quite a few comments from guys like “why are you even on here?” when I say I’m not looking to just hookup.
- No filters – There is no way to filter out what you don’t want and this is ultimately what kept me off Tinder. It is way too exhausting to start a conversation with person after person to get to the deal breakers.
Plenty of Fish (POF)
Plenty of Fish is huge in the dating apps world and has been around a long time (since 2003). It has swiping and searching options.
Good:
- Pool of people – It is true there are plenty of fish on POF. No shortage of options here!
- Don’t need to match – You can message whoever you want, you do not need to match first.
- Personality quiz – To assist in finding you compatible matches, POF has a somewhat lengthy personality quiz required to set up your profile. This gives some insight on how good of a match you will be with someone you’re interested in.
Bad:
(yup, for this one everything good about it is bad too):
- Pool of people – There are A LOT of people, and I find you get the roughest selection out of any of the apps.
- Don’t need to match – Sure you can message whoever you want, but so can they. Be prepared to have about a 100 emails in a few hours.
- Personality quiz – This can be somewhat time consuming and if you are going to quit the app in frustration after a day like I usually do, it’s a bit annoying.
Match
Match is the longest running dating site – going back to 1995! I didn’t realize the internet was really even existing at that point. It also has one of the largest user bases – somewhere between 20 and 30 million people from what I can find.
Good:
- User base -There are a lot of people to choose from!
- Set up is easy – Set up is quick and doesn’t require a ton of info to get started.
- Free Option – Can see matches and send messages for free.
Bad:
- Types of People – This depends a lot on who you are looking for but for me, I was always into the more blue collar, rough and tumble guy. I don’t feel like most of them are the type to use Match compared to other dating apps. You will in general get the more serious crowd on Match.
- Age of People – Again, depends what you are looking for, but Match isn’t as big with the more casual, under 30 crowd.
- Free is Limited – You can use Match for free but you can only email your top matches. Otherwise, you need to pay and it gets a little pricey (cheapest overall option is 3 months for $95.97, and gets cheaper monthly as you subscribe longer).
- Empty Profiles – The fact that Match doesn’t require you to set up a lengthy profile also leads to there being a lot of incomplete profiles on the site.
OKCupid
OKCupid is an interesting one. Newer on the scene than some of the original dating apps, but still appears to have a huge user base somewhere around 50 million.
Good:
- Pool of People – Once again, a huge selection of people to choose from. (Man, there are just a lot of people on these apps in general…)
- Questions and Personality Profiles – OKCupid has a lot of fun questions to go through to see if you are compatible with your match, unlike most other dating apps. There is also a very in-depth personality test to go through that helps you find matches.
- Cost – You can use all the major features of this dating app with no membership fee.
Bad:
- Casual – If you are searching for a real serious relationship, this probably isn’t your best bet.
- Big city – From my research, users of this app are mostly based in metropolitan areas. If you are not near a big city, there may not be many options.
Last but Not Least…eharmony
Trust me, there are more dating apps out there. A lot more. But we are going to wrap up with the most sophisticated and serious of them all – eharmony.
Good:
- It’s serious – As with many things on my lists, this depends on what you are looking for. But if you want a serious relationship, everyone on eharmony is looking for love.
- Success – eharmony claims to have one of, if not the highest success rate of any app.
- Quality matching system – It takes a long time to set up your eharmony profile completely because it’s very in depth. There is a serious system here to finding your best matches.
Bad:
- Amount of users – They claim to have a lot of users, but I have signed up in the past, gone through the whole process, paid a bunch of money, and only had a very small handful of options. One of them being my coworker that I was very aware was NOT a good match. So I think if you live in an area without a lot of users, they kind of force the options to give you somebody.
- Cost – This is by far the most expensive dating app, and you really can’t use it without paying (aside from frequent free trial offers). The current cheapest option I can find is $65.90 per month for six months.
- Type of people – This goes both ways. You will get a serious bunch because of the price. No one is paying that much to find a hookup. On the flip side, it’s so expensive it will keep people away. That ultimately makes it less efficient because you are getting so few options (and dare I say, more desperate options).
Well that’s it! My full reviews on the most popular dating apps that I have tried personally. Have you used any (or all) of these apps? Agree or disagree? Let me know!