What Does the Lightning Bolt Mean on Hinge?

It marks a like your Boost brought in. Hinge puts a small lightning bolt next to the name of anyone whose like came as a direct result of your Boost. If one of those likes turns into a match, another small lightning bolt appears next to her name.

A Boost is something you buy on Hinge to be seen by more people for a short window. Hinge says a Boost makes you more visible for one hour, and a Superboost does the same for 24 hours.

You buy and start it from the Likes You screen. If you have not bought one yet, tapping the Boost button there takes you to the purchase. If you already have one, tapping the button starts it right away, and the button changes to show how much time is left.

Nobody else is told. Hinge says other members will not know you are being boosted. More of them simply see you.

HingeX has its own version called Get Seen by More Daters, which Hinge calls a light, always-on version of Boost that runs while you subscribe. Hinge says it does not override other people's preferences. A paid Boost only lasts its hour or its day, and Hinge says you may be ranked even higher while it runs.

When a like arrives that was a direct result of your Boost, Hinge shows a small lightning bolt next to the name of the woman who sent it.

When one of those likes becomes a match, you see another small bolt next to her name. So the bolts follow the Boost all the way through. You can see which likes it produced, and which of those turned into matches.

That is the useful part. The bolts are how you tell apart the women your Boost reached from the ones who would have found you anyway.

a dating coach's own verdict on boosts is short. Speaking from experience, he says they are worth it. He still tells men to try with a boost and without one, because it is cheap to test and you find out very quickly whether it works for you.

The bolts make that test easy on Hinge. After a Boost, count two things: how many likes carry a bolt, and how many bolt likes became matches. Then compare that with a normal hour of your own on the app.

A Boost that brings in a handful of bolt likes and a couple of matches is doing its job. A Boost that brings in nothing tells you something too, and it is rarely about the Boost.

A Boost changes how many women see you. It does nothing to what they see when they get there.

If your first picture is dark, blurry or cropped out of a group shot, a Boost shows that picture to more women in an hour, and more women pass on it. The hour ends and your Likes You tab looks the same as before, minus the money.

So check your results without paying first. If an ordinary week brings you at least a few likes, a Boost has something to build on. If it brings close to none, fix what she sees before you pay for more women to see it.

Your first picture does most of the work in those few seconds. It should show your face clearly, in good light, with nobody else in the frame to confuse her about which one is you. Hinge's own tips list smiles and candid shots among what tends to get more likes, and sunglasses and posed shots among what tends to get fewer.

After the picture, she reads a line or two. Hinge says fun prompt answers that say something about you are more likely to get engagement. An answer she can reply to in one sentence beats a clever one she has to decode.

Do this before the Boost, not during it. An hour goes fast.

A Boost puts you in front of more women for one hour, so start it on a day when you have time to answer whatever comes in. A like that sits unanswered until next week has usually gone cold.

To match, tap the Chat icon on her like and send a message rather than a bare match. Answer her comment if she left one. If not, react to one detail from her answers in a sentence or two.

Then do what the bolt cannot do for you. After a few good exchanges, pick a place and a day and ask her.