Does Tinder Use Race or Religion to Pick Who You See?

No, according to Tinder. It says social factors such as race, ethnicity, income and religion play no role in its algorithm. The algorithm does not track social status, religion or ethnicity either. The inputs Tinder says it does use include your current location, gender, age, and distance and gender preferences. They also include the interests and lifestyle details you add, anonymized cues from your photos, and your Likes and Nopes.

Tinder is direct about this. Race, ethnicity, income and religion play no part in deciding who you see, and the algorithm does not keep track of social status, religion or ethnicity at all.

So if you have wondered whether the app is quietly sorting people by background, Tinder's answer is no. The women in your recommendations are not being picked for you on those grounds.

Tinder names the inputs it relies on:

• Your current location.
• Gender and age.
• Your distance and gender preferences.
• The interests and lifestyle details you add.
• Anonymized cues from your photos.
• Your Likes and Nopes.

Most of that list is either a plain fact about you or a choice you make. That is good news, because it means much of what shapes your recommendations is in your hands.

Men often assume their results come down to hidden sorting they cannot see. By Tinder's own account, the inputs are ordinary ones.

Your location and distance decide who is even in range. Your preferences decide who the app considers at all. And whatever the app does behind the scenes, the first thing a woman sees when you appear is your lead photo, and the first thing she decides is whether to keep looking.

If you are not matching with the women you want, start with what you control, before blaming a system that, according to Tinder, is not looking at race or religion.

Take them one at a time:

• Distance. Set it wide enough to give the app real options, and narrow enough that a date is practical. A woman two hours away is a match you will struggle to meet.
• Interests and lifestyle details. Fill them in honestly. They are one of the inputs Tinder names, and they give a woman something specific to write to you about.
• Photos. Recent, clear and taken in daylight, with your face easy to see in the first one. Tinder says it uses anonymized cues from them, and she will certainly use them.
• Age and gender preferences. Set them to the women you actually want to date, not the widest range the app allows. Honest settings mean the people you see are people you would be glad to meet.

None of this is complicated, and all of it is more useful than guessing at what the algorithm wants.

Of the lot, photos repay effort fastest. Plenty of men are using a set that is old, dim or full of group shots where she cannot tell which one he is. One afternoon outside with a friend and a phone, in two or three different outfits and places, can do more for your results than any setting you could change.

Your Likes and Nopes are on Tinder's list of inputs. The way you swipe tells the app something about who you want to see.

So swipe as though it matters. Liking every woman who appears, just to find out who likes you back, sends a muddled message about your taste and fills your matches with women you never wanted to talk to. Like the women you would genuinely be glad to take out.

That way your Likes say something true about you, and every match that comes through is someone worth writing to.

Some men want to date within their faith or culture, and that is a perfectly reasonable thing to want. Tinder says its algorithm will not do that sorting for you.

So do it yourself, in the open. Mention what matters to you in your own words, wherever the app gives you room to write about yourself. Bring it up early in the conversation, naturally, rather than saving it for the third date.

It does not need to be heavy. A line about how you spend your Sundays, a festival you never miss, or the family dinner you cook every year says a lot without sounding like a checklist. In conversation, a simple question does the job: "Is faith a big part of your life?" asked with real curiosity, not as a test.

A woman who shares it will be glad you said so. One who does not will know before either of you spends an evening finding out. Either way you save time, and the women who stay in the conversation are the ones who fit what you are looking for.