What Does the Purple Lightning Bolt Next to a Tinder Match Mean?

It means the two of you matched while you were using a Boost. Tinder says that when you match with someone during a Boost, you will see a purple lightning bolt icon by that match's name. The same purple lightning bolt on the main screen is the button you tap to start a Boost, which is why the two look alike.

Open your list of matches and look at the names. Most will have nothing next to them. A few may carry a small purple lightning bolt.

Those are the women you matched with during a Boost. Every other match came from ordinary use of the app.

Tinder's help page describes the icon as something you see by the match's name. It does not say anything about what she sees, so do not read more into the bolt than a label on your side of the list.

The same purple lightning bolt appears on the main screen, and there it is a button. Tapping it starts a Boost, which Tinder says puts you among the top profiles in your area for a short window.

So the icon means the same thing in both places. On the main screen, it is where a Boost begins. Next to a name, it marks a match that the Boost helped bring in.

Most men buy Boosts and then guess whether they worked. The purple bolt means you do not have to guess.

After a Boost, count the bolts in your list. That is how many matches came in while it ran. Do it after every Boost and write the numbers down, along with the day and the time you ran it.

After a few, you will start to see what suits you. Maybe your Sunday evening Boosts bring in plenty and your weeknight ones bring in very little. Maybe the one you ran after a week off the app did far better than the one you ran the next night. a dating coach's experience is that a Boost after a quiet spell outperforms one run the day after another, and your own bolt count is the simplest way to check whether that is true for your account.

The bolt tells you when she matched. It does not tell you anything about her.

She liked you, you liked her, and the conversation starts from the same place as any other. There is no need to treat her differently or to mention how you met. She does not need to hear about your Boost, and nothing is gained by bringing it up.

What the bolt does suggest is timing. You matched while your Boost was live, which usually means she was using the app at the same time you were. That is a reason to answer quickly.

If you open your matches after a Boost and see a row of purple bolts, start with those.

My advice is to write to every match a Boost gave you before you even think about the next Boost. The bolt makes that easy to follow. The women with the icon are the ones this Boost produced, and they are the ones to reply to before you buy another.

Keep the opener short and about her. Pick one thing from her photos or what she wrote, and ask a light question she can answer in a few seconds. If her second photo is a plate of noodles she clearly made herself, ask whether that is a family recipe or something she taught herself from a video. Then aim for a plan while the conversation still has energy.

Sometimes a Boost ends and there are hardly any bolts. That tells you something, and it is rarely about the Boost.

A Boost shows you to more women. It cannot make them like what they see. If a half hour of extra views brings almost no matches, more women saw your page and passed. In My terms, a Boost multiplies what you already get, and a weak result multiplied is still a weak result.

In that case, stop buying Boosts for a while and look at your first photo. Your face should be clear, in good light, with nobody else in the shot. Then read your written lines as a stranger would. When a normal evening brings in some matches, go back to Boosting, and let the bolts tell you whether it is working.