What Happened to Hidden Words on Hinge?

Hinge replaced it with an updated version called Comment Filter. The core idea is the same: you can list words, phrases and emojis you would rather not see in the comments attached to the likes you receive. Comment Filter adds one thing on top, an automatic filter for potentially offensive language.

If you are looking for a setting called Hidden Words, you will not find one. Look for Comment Filter instead.

Open Settings, then Safety, then Comment Filter. That screen has two parts. One is the switch for the automatic filter. The other is your personal list of words, phrases and emojis you would rather not see. Both are optional, and you can add to the list, edit it or clear it whenever you like.

The personal list is the part that carried over. It works the way Hidden Words did: you decide what you do not want to read, and Hinge keeps likes whose comments contain those things out of your main list.

That can be anything. A word that annoys you, a phrase you are tired of seeing, a particular emoji. Nobody else sees your list, and nobody has to agree with your reasons.

Hidden Words only knew what you told it. The auto filter goes further and catches comments with potentially offensive language on its own, without you having to guess every word in advance.

That is the real change. The old feature depended on each person writing their own blocklist. Comment Filter adds a baseline that screens out the worst comments even for someone who never opens the setting.

A like caught by either filter does not simply disappear. Hinge moves it to Hidden Likes, marked Comment Hidden, and sends no notification for it.

From there, the person who received it decides what happens. She can read the comment in full and then match, skip or report the sender. She can also clear it out unread.

The sender is not told. There is no message saying your comment was blocked, and no sign on your side that anything went differently.

Men tend to assume this setting is only for women. It is open to everyone, and it works on the likes you receive.

Most men will not see many rude comments, so the list can stay short or empty. The auto filter is still worth leaving on. It costs you nothing, and a filtered like is not thrown away. It waits in Hidden Likes, where you can read it later if you are curious, or delete it without opening it.

For most men, this is the part that matters. The filter works on her side, with her list, and you cannot see her list.

So a comment you think is harmless can still land in Hidden Likes if it contains a word she chose to block. A crude or aggressive comment is at risk from the auto filter as well. Either way, your like may sit unseen in a folder she might never open, and you will not find out.

The comment is supposed to be the best part of a like. Hinge's help pages say comments make a like more likely to be answered. Once a filter catches yours, that advantage turns into silence, and silence teaches you nothing. A man could spend months sending edgy lines, wondering why nobody answers, without ever learning that the lines are the reason.

a dating coach pushes men to be memorable on the apps. He would rather two women out of ten love what you wrote and eight find it a bit much than have all ten think you seem fine. Fine gets ignored.

He draws a hard line at offensive, though. Standing out does not mean being rude, and he warns men not to earn black marks against themselves on the apps. A comment that lands in Hidden Likes is the same kind of cost.

The good news is that playful and clean are not opposites. Tease her about an opinion she wrote, make a guess about her life from one of her pictures, or argue the opposite of something she said. "Ranking brunch spots by their hash browns is the kind of research I respect" gets noticed and would never trip a filter.

coach also likes an emoji to show a tease is a joke. Just keep it to the ordinary ones. Emojis can go on a woman's list too, and the suggestive ones are the likeliest to be there.

If you would say the comment to her face on a first date, it is safe to send. If you would not, it is probably the one getting filtered.