How Does Tantan Work?

After you sign up, Tantan compares your profile with other users' profiles and sends you recommendations, which it calls matches. Each comes with a short description, a compatibility score and a main photo. A free member can send unlimited predefined communications to matches. Personalized messages are limited, both sending and reading them. Paid tiers add the rest.

Tantan does the first sorting for you. Instead of leaving you to search, the system looks at your page, compares it with others, and sends a stream of recommended people.

Each recommendation shows three things. There is a short description, a compatibility score and a main photo. That is what you have to judge on, so the photo and the description carry more weight than they would on an app that shows you a full page at once.

A free Basic member can send an unlimited number of predefined communications to matches. These are ready-made messages rather than something you write yourself.

Personalized messages are limited. A free member can send and read only a limited number of them. Tantan does not publish a figure in the pages we read, so do not expect a fixed count.

Tantan also says it may limit how many predefined communications a user can send, to protect users and the service. So even the free option has a ceiling.

VIP gives unlimited Likes and removes ads. See Who Likes Me shows you the people who liked you. The higher tiers add Super Likes, boosts, read receipts and the ability to see who viewed your page.

Plans are subscriptions that renew automatically unless you cancel them. In some regions the app also sells virtual goods. Check the renewal terms in the app before you pay, and set a reminder for the day you want to decide.

The international Tantan says it centers on shared passions, Tribe rooms and in-person events. That is what its own site says.

So it is closer to a way of finding people who like the same things than a pure swipe app. If that appeals to you, pick a Tribe room or an event you would genuinely enjoy. A shared interest gives you an easy first line and a natural reason to meet.

A cap on personalized messages changes how you write. When you can send only a few, each one has to count.

Do not spend them on a greeting. Open with one specific thing from her description or her photo, in a sentence or two, and ask a question she can answer in a few words. A predefined message is easy to send, and for the same reason it is easy to ignore. A short personal line stands out.

Keep your wording simple, especially if your first language is not hers. Short sentences read friendlier and translate better.

Then move toward a plan within a handful of exchanges. Coffee, a walk or a Tribe event. If you are at the limit of what you can read and send, moving to a number is a good solution.

a dating coach's view on paid features is that they are probably worth it in most cases, as long as the price is sane. His reasoning is that dating apps earn money from paying members, so they have a reason to make the paid version do something.

He also says to test one feature at a time and see whether it changes your results. And he warns that paid features are multipliers. A multiplier helps a man who already gets some replies and does nothing for a man who gets none.

So spend two weeks on the free version first. If you are getting some conversations, a paid feature may add more. If you are not, the cause is likely your photos or your first lines, and paying will not change it.

Whether Tantan is worth your evenings depends on how many active women near you use it. The pages we read give no user numbers for any city.

Find out by trying it. If it shows you plenty of active people, give it a few weeks. If the stack runs thin, a bigger local app will give you more chances for the same effort.