Do You Need a Subscription to Use Tinder Passport?

No. Tinder says Passport Mode is available as a standalone purchase, and that subscribers also get it as part of Tinder Plus, Tinder Gold and Tinder Platinum. Passport lets you search for a city or drop a pin on the map, so you can connect with people in the place you choose. You switch locations under Settings, then Location.

You can pay for Passport by itself, without taking out a subscription. Or you can get it bundled into any of the three paid plans, Plus, Gold or Platinum, since Tinder includes Passport in all of them.

Either way, the feature does the same thing. It moves where Tinder thinks you are, so the people you see and the people who see you come from the city you picked.

The setting lives in one place.

1. Open Tinder and go to Settings.
2. Tap Location.
3. Search for a city, or drop a pin on the map.

Once you pick a place, you are shown to people there and they are shown to you. To come home, go back to the same screen and switch to your current location.

The choice comes down to what else you want.

If Passport is the only thing you care about, the standalone purchase is the simpler buy. A man planning one trip to one city does not need a whole subscription for it.

If you would also use other Plus features, such as Go Incognito or ad-free swiping, a subscription covers Passport along with them. Men who travel often, or who split their time between two cities, may find one plan simpler than keeping track of separate purchases.

Prices vary, so check what your own screen shows before you decide. The right answer is whichever one fits the trips you actually take.

Passport is at its most useful before a trip, not during one.

A man who flies in on Monday and opens the app from his hotel room is already late. Every conversation starts from zero, and a woman who would love to see him next week is no help if he leaves on Thursday.

So set your location a few days ahead and get conversations going from your own sofa. Aim to step off the plane with one evening already agreed, rather than a handful of chats still trading small talk.

Be plain about the fact that you are visiting, and on which dates. Put it in your first few lines if it is not already on your page.

This does two jobs. It filters out women who only want someone nearby for the long term, which saves both of you time. And it explains why you are asking about Wednesday in particular, so the invitation reads as practical rather than rushed.

Passport exists so you can date in a city you are really going to. Using it to pretend you live somewhere you do not only sets up a disappointing conversation later. Honesty about the trip is what makes the short window work.

A visitor's first date should be easy to say yes to.

Pick a place close to where you are staying, somewhere she can find without a map. Asking her to a bar two streets from your hotel is simpler to accept than a dinner reservation on the far side of town. Suggest a specific evening you are sure you are free, and keep it short enough that she can fit it around her week.

If it goes well, you can extend it on the night. If it does not, nobody has lost a whole evening.

Short trips reward a little work every day. Check in once or twice a day while you are in the lead-up, answer quickly, and move each good conversation toward a plan.

a dating coach's broader advice on dating apps applies here too: answer the women you already have before you go looking for more. On a trip, that matters twice as much. The matches you made before you landed are the ones most likely to turn into a drink before you leave.

You do not need a subscription for Passport. Tinder sells it on its own, and it also comes with Plus, Gold and Platinum. Change your city under Settings, then Location, a few days before you travel. Say plainly that you are visiting, and propose one simple plan for an evening you know is free.