Why Are Tinder Top Picks So Bad?

Top Picks looks bad when the information behind it is thin or blurry, and a big part of that information is your own swiping. TechCrunch reported at launch that Top Picks is a curated list, chosen using details such as education, type of job and interests, plus a user's previous swiping behavior. Tinder also says its recommendations weigh things like your interests and the photos you have Liked before. If you have liked nearly everyone for months, the app has little to learn from, and the set you get shows it.

TechCrunch said Top Picks are chosen using profile information such as education, type of job, and hobbies and interests, together with a user's earlier swiping.

Tinder's own description of its matching adds more. It says its recommendations consider distance, age and gender preferences, and the interests and lifestyle details members add. They also weigh photos similar to ones a member has Liked before, and how often profiles are Liked or Noped. It says its algorithm does not track social status, religion or ethnicity.

Nothing in those lists says "who is hot" or "who will like you." The set is a guess about taste, not a ranking of women by quality.

Tinder says it prioritizes potential matches who are active, and active at the same time. So using the app regularly helps you see more profiles and make more matches.

If you open Tinder once every few days, you meet people who also opened it once, and the pool is smaller. A man who is on daily, even briefly, shows up for more of them.

If you swipe right on almost everyone, your Likes say very little about your taste, and the app has little to work from.

a dating coach's point about the apps is that liking everyone makes you look unselective, and the app has little reason to show you the women you actually want. Spend two weeks liking only women you would honestly ask out. Then look at the next few daily sets and see whether they start to look more like your type.

That is not a trick. You are just giving the app a cleaner signal.

Tinder suggests updating your bio or photos, turning on Smart Photos, and connecting Spotify to help your page get noticed.

Take that seriously for your lead photo. It should show your face, alone, in good light. The rest of the set should show you somewhere real, doing something. A weak page makes the whole experience worse, because fewer women like it back and the app learns less about the women who might.

Sometimes the cards are fine and the issue is how you read them. A Top Pick is not a woman who has liked you. TechCrunch reported it as a curated suggestion, and nothing in the pages we read says she has seen you.

So judge each one like any other card. Read her photos and what she wrote. Ask whether you would be glad to match and whether you have one specific thing to say. If not, pass without guilt. A weak set that you skip costs you ten seconds.

One free Top Pick a day is available to everyone, while Gold subscribers get a full set. If the free pick has been poor, a full set chosen the same way gives you more of the same kind of card.

Count first. For two weeks, note how many picks you liked, how many matched and how many replied. If the answer is almost none, the weak point is probably your lead photo or your first line, and a bigger set will not repair either.

a dating coach's rule for anything you can pay for on a dating app is to try it once, watch whether it changes your results, and drop it if it does not.

Put your effort where it pays. Change one photo, keep the rest, and compare your likes and matches over the same days the week before. Write a first line about something specific on each woman's page. Be on the app a few minutes most days.

Top Picks is a side feature. Your photos and your first line decide whether any of it works.