Does Telling Hinge You Met Count Toward Your Signals Badge?

Yes. Confirming your date, which means planning a date on Hinge and then letting it know whether you met, is one of the five behaviors Signals looks at. You need three of the five plus Hinge's baseline requirements, and Hinge says meeting offline is never required.

Hinge describes this one as planning a date on Hinge and letting the app know whether you met. That is what its We Met check-in is for. It asks whether you went on the date, so answering it is how you tell Hinge.

So the behavior has two parts. You make a plan through Hinge, and you answer when it asks how things went. Hinge's own wording is letting it know whether you met, so the point is an honest answer, not a particular one.

Signals looks at five kinds of activity in total. Besides confirming a date, Hinge lists these:

• Spending time on someone's page before you like it.
• Commenting when you like someone.
• Reviewing the likes you receive.
• Messaging your matches.

Every one of these is also a habit that gets you more dates. Reading before you like means your likes go to women you actually want to talk to. A comment gives her a reason to reply. Working through your incoming likes means nobody who liked you is left hanging. And messaging your matches is the whole point of matching in the first place.

For most men the weakest of the four is commenting. A like with nothing attached is fast, which is why men send so many of them. One line that reacts to something she wrote takes an extra ten seconds and gives her something to answer. It is also the habit most likely to improve your results on its own, badge or no badge.

You do not need all five. Hinge says the badge needs at least three of the behaviors, on top of its baseline requirements. Those are a complete page, an account in good standing, Selfie Verification, and an account that is past its first week.

That makes confirming dates optional, even for the badge. If you comment, review your likes and message your matches, you already have three. Confirming your dates adds a fourth, which is useful cover if one of the others slips during a quiet month.

Hinge also says the badge reflects your recent activity and refreshes as that activity changes. A habit you dropped a while ago will not keep counting for you, and a habit you pick up now will start to show.

Hinge is clear that meeting offline is never required for Signals. Some people use the app slowly, and some are not ready to go out with anyone yet. The badge is meant to reward thoughtful behavior, not a tally of dates.

So do not book a date you do not want just to tick a box. The badge would not be worth it, and neither would the evening.

The same goes for plans that fall through. If you and a match lined something up and it never happened, do not feel pushed into rescheduling a date you have lost interest in. Answer the check-in truthfully and move on.

Yes, whenever Hinge asks. It takes a few seconds, and it helps you twice. It counts toward Signals, and your We Met answers also feed into who Hinge recommends to you next.

Be honest when you answer. If the date never happened, say so. If you went and would not see her again, say that too. The check-in only helps you when it reflects what actually happened.

It is tempting to treat Signals as a game to win. Do the opposite. The five behaviors are simply what a man who takes dating seriously does anyway. He reads before he likes, he comments, he answers, he makes plans, and he follows through.

A badge on your page tells her you use the app with some care. It will never outweigh your photos or your answers, and it cannot make a dull first line interesting. Treat it as a bonus that comes from doing the basics well.

Do those things because they get you dates. The badge will follow as a side effect, and so will the thing you actually came for, which is more evenings out with women you like.