What Dating App Safety Settings Should You Turn On?

Turn on photo verification first, then use the app's own blocking and calling tools, and switch on any feature that shares your plans with a trusted service. On Tinder that means Photo Verification, Block Contacts and Noonlight. On Bumble it means Private Detector and the in-app voice and video calls. On Hinge it means Selfie Verification and the Are You Sure? prompt.

This is the one every app offers and the one that costs the least. Tinder's Photo Verification compares a short video selfie to your photos with facial recognition and adds a blue check mark. Hinge's Selfie Verification is a voluntary video selfie that adds a badge showing you look like your photos.

It protects you in two ways. A woman who sees the badge has one less reason to doubt you. And it puts your account on the safer side of an app where fakes are a worry.

Tinder says the check mark is a signal, not proof of who someone is. Use it as a signal when you look at other accounts too.

Block Contacts lets you pick people from your phone contacts, or add contact details by hand, so that Tinder tries to stop you and them from seeing each other. The person you block is not notified.

For a man this is most useful for the awkward cases: a coworker, an ex, a neighbor, or a friend's sister. You can date the way you want without a surprise from someone in your real life.

In the U.S., Tinder's Noonlight connection lets you share where, when and who you are meeting. If you feel unsafe on the date, you can discreetly trigger emergency services.

Most dates will not need it. Turning it on takes a moment, and it is built for the date where something feels wrong.

Bumble's Private Detector blurs photos that may be explicit. It tells you why the photo was blurred, and then lets you view the image, delete it, or block and report the sender.

This saves a man the unwelcome surprise, and it gives him an easy way to deal with it. A woman who sends an image like that has told you what the conversation is going to be, and the block button ends it.

On Bumble you can block someone from a chat or a profile. They are not notified, and a block cannot be undone. Make your peace with that before you tap it.

Bumble also offers voice and video calls inside the app. That lets you talk to a match without handing over your phone number or email before you are ready. A short call before you meet does two jobs: it tells you whether she is a real person, and it tells you whether you like how she sounds.

Hinge's Are You Sure? gives a gentle prompt before a message with potentially harmful language goes out. It is aimed at the sender, which means you.

A man who has just been ignored can type something sharp in a few seconds. The prompt is a pause before you send something you cannot take back, and a message like that never got a man a date.

Hinge's own safe dating advice is short and sound. Never send money. Never share personal details such as your address or your daily routine with people you do not know. Report suspicious behavior from any profile page or chat.

Add the basics a man should do anyway:

• Meet in a public place the first time.
• Tell a friend where you are going and when you expect to be home.
• Keep your own transport.
• Take your time before you leave the app for a private messenger.
• Be ready to walk away if the story keeps changing.

Safety tools are about protecting you, and they happen to help in a second way. A verified account with clear photos looks like a real man, and a real man is the easiest kind to say yes to.

The same steady habits make you better at the apps themselves. Calling before meeting filters out the no-shows. Taking your time with details keeps you out of messes. Neither slows you down much.

Switch on what is worth it, then spend your attention on the part that moves your results, which is the first photo and the first message.