Can You Delete Your Tinder Profile and Make a New One?

Yes. Tinder's help center says your name and age are the only profile details you cannot edit after you create an account. If you need to change either one, it says you can delete your account and create a new one. The catch is what you lose, because most of what made the old profile yours cannot be restored once the account is gone.

Sign in to the app or Tinder.com, tap the profile icon and go to Settings. Scroll to the bottom and tap Delete Account. You can also use Tinder's Manage My Account tool.

Two things catch men out. Uninstalling the app does not delete your account. And deleting your account does not cancel an active subscription, so cancel that where you pay for it.

Everything in the account goes. Every match goes, and so does every conversation, including the one that looked promising last night. The photos you uploaded go. The Verification badge cannot be restored either.

Consumable purchases also go. Tinder says Super Likes and Boosts cannot be moved from one account to another, so any you bought are lost when you start over.

So the question is whether the thing you are fixing is worth that price.

If you deleted the account within the last 90 days, Tinder says you may be able to recreate your profile by signing up with your previous credentials. That can restore some basics, such as your name, age and gender.

It does not restore the rest. After 90 days you start fresh with a new account. Before you delete, use Tinder's Download My Data tool, found through Manage My Account. It gives you a ZIP file of your own data, which may include the photos and other media you uploaded. That way you keep your best pictures even though the account is gone.

One case is clear. Your name or your age is wrong and cannot be edited. That is exactly the situation Tinder describes, and a fresh account is the fix.

Another case is a profile that has run its course. Suppose you have been on the same account for a long time. It holds matches you never answer and pictures that no longer look like you. A clean account lets you rebuild without the clutter.

Many men delete because their results are poor and they hope a new account will do better. It rarely does. A new account with the same photos and the same few lines tends to get the same response, and the only change is that every match and conversation is gone.

a dating coach sees online results as a chain: pictures, then matches, then replies, then numbers, then dates. A new account resets none of those links. If the weak link is your first photo, it will be the weak link on the second account as well. Fix the cause on the account you have, or fix it as part of the new one, but do not count on the delete button doing the work.

Treat the second profile as a chance to change what it shows, not just where it lives.

Start with the photos. coach calls photos the biggest thing men get wrong, and he leads with a clear, well-lit picture of his face. Add a few that show you in real places, and cut any group shot where she has to guess which man is you.

Then add one picture that gives her something to comment on. My term is a curiosity photo, an interesting image that gives a woman an easy question to ask. His version gets more likes and more first messages from women, because she has something specific to say.

Finally, write the few lines about you as if you were answering a friend who asked what you do on a weekend. Specific beats clever.

Download your data first, so you keep your photos. Cancel any subscription where you pay for it. Settle any conversation worth keeping by taking a number, since My approach is to move a good chat to text before it vanishes.

Then delete, sign up with your correct name and age, and give the new account two honest weeks before you judge it.