Is Tinder the Worst Dating App?

No. Tinder gets that label because it is the most famous app. It also gives men lopsided results. A few men collect most of the matches, and the average man gets very little. For some men in some cities it is the wrong app. For others, in much of Europe for example, it is almost the only app with enough women on it.

Three complaints come up again and again, and each has something behind it.

The first is the hookup reputation. a dating coach says Tinder has more of a casual reputation than Hinge or Bumble, though relationships start there too. A man who wants something serious can find the pool full of women who want something else.

The second is fake profiles. coach says that in major US cities Tinder has a lot of them, which is one reason he finds Hinge tends to do better there. We cannot give you a figure for how many, and nobody outside the company can.

The third is the swiping itself. A woman decides on a card in a second or two, so the app punishes anything weak in your first photo and rewards anything strong.

coach describes the spread on Tinder as a small share of men taking most of the matches. He puts it at roughly ten percent of men getting ninety percent, and says it may be closer to eighty and twenty. The exact split matters less than what it means for you: an average card gets an average result, which is close to nothing.

That is why the app feels cruel to a lot of men. They are not being singled out. They are getting the normal result for a normal page, and the normal result is poor.

It is also why the app can be unfair to a man who is perfectly good at dating. A card is not a conversation. If your photos are flat, you never get the chance to show anything else.

Location decides more than most men think. My view is that Hinge tends to beat Tinder in the US, especially in the big cities. In much of Europe, he says, Tinder is almost the only app people are on, so choosing another one would mean fewer women, not better ones.

There is also a question of what you want. If you are looking for a relationship and you live in a big US city, Hinge or Bumble may fit better, since coach reads both as having more of a relationship vibe than Tinder. A man who wants variety may be happier on Tinder.

Our view is that "worst" is the wrong measure. The better question is which app gives you the most conversations with women you would actually meet.

Do not trust any ranking, including this one. Run a short test.

Use the same photos and the same few written lines on two apps. Swipe in short, regular sessions, and like only the women you would honestly write to. After two weeks, count three things on each app. How many women you would take out showed up? How many of your likes became matches? How many matches answered your first message?

Keep the app where women answer. That is My advice for any man deciding between apps, and it settles the argument for your city better than a forum can.

Most men who call Tinder the worst app are looking at a number the app did not cause. Few matches usually means the photos. Plenty of matches with no replies usually means the first line. Replies that fade usually mean you waited too long to suggest a plan.

None of these gets better by changing apps. A man with a flat lead photo will have a flat lead photo on Hinge too, and Hinge will show it to fewer women.

So fix the weakest of the three first. Put a clear daylight photo of your face first. Like fewer women. Write one specific line about something on her page. Then run the two-app test.

If your results are bad on Tinder, you have learned very little about Tinder. You have learned that your page, your swiping or your first line needs work.

If your results are good on Tinder and you hate the type of woman you meet there, that is real information. Try a second app, keep Tinder running as a supplement, and see where the better conversations come from. Tinder is rarely the worst app. It is a big, noisy, quick one, and it rewards the man who treats it that way.