14 Dating App Disasters So Epic They’ll Make You Swipe Left On Love, And 21 Sweet Success Stories That Might Convince You To Try Again
We recently asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us their best and worst experiences with dating apps. While some stories will probably have you reaching for your phone to delete Hinge once and for all, others may just fill you with hope. Here's what people shared:
1.Disaster: "I had what I thought was a successful first date at a local bar with a dude. We seemed to jive, and a stranger even commented that we seemed like a good pair. The bartender was shocked that it was only our first date. The next day, I was texting him because I wanted to see him again (I'm 34 and don't have time for games), and he suggested I come over to 'see how the other half lives.' He then told me that was impossible because he was in a relationship, and while his partner was monogamous, he was not. It left a bad taste in my mouth, and later, he messaged me saying I needed to decide if I wanted to date or just be friends sooner rather than later because his 'roster' was filling up."
2.Success: "We met on OkCupid in December 2010. During our first conversation, we stayed up all night talking. I knew from the moment we met in person that he was someone special. At the time, I was in law school, and he was navigating a career change. We dated for a year and a half before we split. I then spent another 11 YEARS on apps without any luck. I was ready to give up all hope and just embrace my singlehood for the rest of my life when we reconnected in August 2023. We took the time to have tough conversations about our past and what we needed in a partner. That same strong connection was still there. We’ve been together ever since and plan on getting married soon. I couldn't be happier. It's all about timing, I guess."
—Anonymous
3.Success: "A friend recommended that I get on the dating apps after my divorce. There were times when I wondered what I had gotten myself into. After two weeks on Plenty of Fish, I met my now-husband. His profile pic was him in a shirt and tie with boxers, leaning back with his legs up, relaxing. I remember thinking, 'This guy looks fun.' We messaged for a week before our first date. He's still the only person to make me laugh out loud via text. I found out later that one of his friend's wives recommended he not use that profile pic. But it definitely got my attention! We've been together for 10 years and married for three!"
4.Disaster: "I met a woman on Bumble, and after some good chats, we decided to meet for a drink and get some tacos. I picked her up, and she suggested a bar close to her place that she liked to go to. We got there and ordered a couple of beers. She offered to get the next round, and after the two beers and some good conversation, we decided to get something to eat. I went to pay my bill while she went to the car. The bartender told me it was $86. Excuse me? We had two beers each. They said, 'Nope, your partner came up several times and ordered you both double shots.' She drank them both on the way back to the patio and bathroom. It was eight shots in total. We got in the car, and I drove her home and kicked her out. She couldn't believe I would do that over a couple of shots."
—Anonymous
5.Success: "I'd started taking an approach with dating apps where I'd swipe left or right, but if we matched, I wouldn't go back and look at the guy's profile again. This way, I wouldn't have any preconceived ideas about who he was, how he'd act, or how cute our kids would look. If we clicked through our messages, I'd give him a chance in person. This is how I ended up on a date with my husband two years later! And I'm so thankful I took that approach. After our first date, I was super into him. I didn't give myself a chance to talk myself out of the first date or convince myself we wouldn't work because he's bald and a cowboy. He isn't a cowboy, by the way. He had one picture in his profile where he was wearing a cowboy hat and posing beside a horse, and it was probably the first and last time he wore a hat or rode a horse!"
"LOL, guys aren't great at the picture part or presenting themselves in a 'realistic' way on dating apps, and it took me years to realize that. Don’t let them tell you what to think about them, and don’t judge them based on ANYTHING they put in their profile. Just see if they’re good conversationalists, and if you have anything in common, then set up a date soon! Then let your gut tell you how you feel about them afterward and go from there!"
6.Disaster: "After chatting with a man on a dating app for a couple of days, I finally decided to give him my number to start arranging to meet in person. In his first phone call, he asked why I was single, and I explained that due to the complete disaster that my life became due to the pandemic, I had been so busy trying to catch up and had no interest in adding dating to the mix until now. He asked me to explain, which I took as him asking specifically how my life had fallen apart since the beginning of 2020. But no! He cut me off and kept asking what pandemic I was speaking of, pretending COVID-19 didn't happen at all. It felt condescending and like he was gaslighting me into thinking I made it all up, which infuriated me! I still feel bad about losing it on him during the call, even though he quickly hung up on me!"
7.Success: "I joined an app called S'More in June 2021 after seeing it advertised a hundred times on TikTok. I wasn't necessarily looking to meet someone to date; I'd just never joined a dating app before, and I wanted to see how that whole scene worked. I was on that app for exactly one week; I honestly don't know if it even exists anymore. I met a few weirdos and a few 'nice guys,' but only one person stood out to me. In my profile, I wrote: 'Hi, my name is [name], I'm 5'2, and I'm too short to reach my top shelves.' This man's opening line to me was: 'Hi, I'm [name], I'm 6'5, and I can reach your top shelves for you.' Very smooth. I wasn't really attracted to him at first, but I thought we could be really good friends; I mean, he had a great personality. He became my best friend, and I quickly fell in love with this man."
"I broke up with him twice because I had a very religious family, and I wasn't allowed to date anyone outside of the religion. After the second breakup, I realized I didn't want to live without him. I also realized that at 23 years old, I had every right to make my own decisions. We moved in together after about three months of knowing each other (wild!), and we have been together now for almost four years. We've endured a lot of family struggles, health struggles, and overall life struggles, but I wouldn't change a thing."
—Anonymous
8.Success: "We met on Match.com in 2002. We had a baby a year later, then built a house and married a year later. We have a blended family of seven. Last year was our 20th wedding anniversary. We still live in the house that we built together. Now, we play with our grandkids and plan our retirement. I went through plenty of Match dates that didn't work out. It only takes one. Or, in my case, two. When I started dating my husband, I got a message on Match from a woman moving to my state. She was checking out the competition but noticed our interests were similar. We had coffee when she moved here and ended up working in the same building. We became fast friends. I met two more of my best friends through her. So, Match is responsible for me meeting my husband and three of my besties."
—dl2
9.Disaster: "We met on an app and spent many weeks having good phone calls. I spent money to travel to meet him. We met up, and his profile pictures were 10+ years old. We had plans to go to dinner, and much to my surprise, we pulled up to a Mobil gas station, where he bought us fried chicken. This was our dinner date. I later discovered I only knew him by the name God gave him in a dream rather than what his parents named him at birth!! I can't make this nonsense up."
—Anonymous
10.Success: "I met him on Bumble. I was actually aiming for a one-night stand due to coming out of a TERRIBLE relationship a few months earlier. But we clicked so well, and at some point on the third date, I looked him in the eye and said, 'I want to keep you. We're exclusive now.' That was three years ago, and now we're considering moving in together. He just brought me soup because I'm at home sick. He's everything I've ever wanted in a human. I'm so lucky."
—Anonymous
11.Disaster: "At the end of what was a nice date, he walked me to my car (I was not planning on a goodbye kiss because although he was nice, there was no chemistry). He then licked my face. I have never gotten into a car and out of a parking lot so fast."
—Anonymous
12.Success: "A little over seven years ago, I had just moved to a new city and had never used a dating app before. I decided to join Bumble because I thought, if nothing else, it was a good way to get to know the city. Two people initially piqued my interest, and I had my very first date ever with one of them. We had a great time — so much so that our second date involved me showing up to the dancing portion of his friend's wedding reception a week later! At that point, I think we both knew it was something real. I did try a couple of dates with the other guy just to do a reality check and not fall for the first guy I met on Bumble, but I knew pretty quickly while that guy was great, he wasn't my guy. Within a month, my first date guy and I deleted Bumble, eventually got engaged, and married a couple of years later. Now, we have our first baby on the way! Fun addition: I met my bestie in the city on Bumble BFF! She was also my first 'date!'"
—Anonymous
13.Success: "My husband and I met on Plenty of Fish. I had been single for about three years due to a string of abusive relationships and was dabbling with online dating apps. He popped up in my DMs on the day I was going to delete the app, so I decided to DM him back. Within hours, we exchanged numbers; within four days, we went on our first date; within eight months, we were engaged; and within a year and a half, we were married and moving into a house together with our blended family. We've been married for five years now and together about seven."
—Anonymous
14.Disaster: "We went to the movies, and his buddy joined us. They talked the whole time. My date had such bad breath that when he did talk to me, I gagged. He bought himself food from the concession stand and walked out as soon as the movie ended, leaving me standing there."
—Anonymous
15.Success: "We met on Bumble. I had just moved back to the area where I went to college and wanted to try dating apps again. He was getting close to his limit of being on dating apps and would only give it a couple more tries until he stopped for a while. We matched maybe a week or so after I had moved back, met at a local historic site, then got lunch and watched a movie at my place. I always tell him that he was lucky his sister helped him create his dating app profiles. The fact that it had multiple pictures and answers to the prompts got him the date. That was March of 2023, and we've been together ever since. We moved in together after our leases were up."
"We're going to start looking at engagement rings soon, and it's the most gentle love I've ever experienced from anyone. We had both been on dating apps in the same area before, but I guess we never matched because the timing wouldn't have been right for either of us. I'm so glad we found each other when we did. He has changed my whole life. I love him so much."
—Anonymous
16.Disaster: "Before I met my now-husband, I had met another guy online. He seemed decent enough, and we talked for a while. He pushed for a phone number, etc., but I was still hesitant, so we kept it online. After a couple of weeks, he started to get oddly clingy about where I was going, who I would be with, and stuff like that. I pointed out he was not my boyfriend, and I wouldn't put up with stuff like that even if he were. Then, one day, he sent me a message with a picture. It was his prom photo with my head from my profile picture replacing his date's head. Yep, that was the end of that. Never talked to him again. Super creepy."
17.Success: "My boyfriend and I matched on Tinder while using the passport feature during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020. I was in Romania whilst he was in the UK. We spent months talking, watching movies remotely, and falling asleep on FaceTime until August 2020, when I returned to the UK to continue my studies. We met for the first time face-to-face at the airport, where I agreed to quarantine with him for two weeks. We said it would make or break us. It's been just under five years. We live together now and are about to get our first dog."
—Anonymous
18.Success: "I was a single mom for six years. I thought no one would want to date me again. I was almost 40, overweight, and divorced with two kids. I also had mixed feelings about putting myself out there again, but the loneliness won out. As a lesbian, the dating pool is small, so I tried four or five different apps without much success. Everyone's bios consisted solely of sexual preferences or said they wanted a 'travel partner,' which I couldn't do because of my responsibilities. I finally tried Facebook Dating because it was free, and within a couple of months, I saw a photo of a woman in dorky Christmas pajamas holding her baby nephew. She looked so normal! We were engaged in three months, married in nine, and now, almost two years later, I can't believe life can be this good! On a daily basis, we look at each other in wonder and say, 'Thanks, FB Dating!'"
—Anonymous
19.Disaster: "His pictures were nice, and his profile seemed normal. We met at a nice restaurant and started talking like a normal first date. All of a sudden, his parents 'run' into us. They sit down and start talking with me, asking me questions about my life. They stayed the whole meal. We walked to my car after the date (I still don't know why I stayed the entire time). I asked him if he knew his parents would be eating there. He said yes, and they always liked ensuring he was safe when he met online dates. He was 6'2 and pretty buff. I think he would have been fine. Needless to say, we didn't have a second date."
—Anonymous
20.Success: "I accidentally bought a full 12-month subscription to eHarmony. I figured I was ready to look for something serious after a civil breakup and a very ill-advised rebound. I went on a series of forgettable dates with perfectly nice but forgettable men, then met someone I was really into. We had a really great date, and I thought about him all weekend. So naturally, he ghosted me and later admitted to changing his mind and getting back together with his ex. I tried (and failed) to cancel my subscription out of disgust. Finally, I reached out to one more match. He was a bit older than me and a recent immigrant from Brazil. We chatted. We shared a love of good food, especially good pizza. We agreed to meet up. I had a lousy day at work and almost bailed."
"We had three dates in five days. And here we are now, almost 10 years later: married, with two kids, and making lots of very good pizza! Whenever anyone asks where I found this handsome man who makes such good tomato sauce, I can honestly say, 'I paid money for him on the Internet!'"
—Anonymous
21.Disaster: "I'm an artist, and a few years ago, I matched with another artist on OkCupid. We had a 'phone date' before meeting in person. During the date, he told me his mother had died a while ago and left him an inheritance and a house, so he had never really had to work. After our conversation, I wasn't sure that we were a match, but I thought I'd give it a shot in person just to be sure. Before we met, he texted me his website so I could look at his paintings. They weren't my thing, but he mentioned his birth year in the 'about' section of his site. I quickly calculated and realized he was 60 (his profile said 47). I was 42 then and had my max age set at 50. I wasn't interested in a relationship with a big age difference and wanted to be with someone in the same stage or close to my same stage of life."
"So I texted him, asking about this. He freaked out, first explaining that he didn't want to date people his age, so he'd set it at a younger age (later, I wondered about what pictures he was using because they weren't of a 60-year-old man). He claimed he'd changed it on OKCupid to his actual age and kept texting me to check. I messaged back that he was now out of my age bracket, and I didn't think we would be a fit, so I no longer wanted to meet in person. He then proceeded to text me for a bit about how I was an awful person. He eventually stopped.
A week or so later, he started texting me that his mom had died, and he was really upset. I had completely forgotten that he'd told me she died a while ago during our first phone conversation. I texted back that I was sorry that had happened and that he should reach out to his friends for support. I then received another barrage of texts telling me I was awful. Later, I remembered our first conversation and realized how manipulative this guy was, and I was glad we never met in person. What a bullet dodged!"
—Anonymous
22.Success: "Old-time dating app user! I met my now husband on Match.com. This was in 2005, when dating apps were newish, and you didn't really talk about using them because it was kind of embarrassing. We were both in our 30s. I had met several good and bad guys and recently went on a couple of dates with a really nice guy. I was still on the app and messaging this other guy. I didn't feel the spark with Nice Guy #1, but Nice Guy #2 seemed very promising through emails. He was. I called a friend after our first date and said I'd just had the best date of my life. We've been married 18 years and have two kids. Match.com success story!"
—Anonymous
23.Success: "I met my fiancé on OkCupid. I definitely was only looking to talk to someone. But eight years later, I guess you can say we talk constantly. Ha! The funny thing was that we were both so sure that if we got into a relationship online, it would likely be a long distance away. Our parameters were set to 'the world,' so we were prepared to be on 90 Day Fiancé. But we quickly figured out we only lived two miles apart. Weird, but it was fate, I guess!"
—Anonymous
24.Disaster: "I had a date with a guy who seemed nice on the app but, in person, only spoke about being drunk. His best times involved getting drunk; his best trips revolved around getting drunk in foreign countries. His favorite hobby was getting drunk. Great."
25.Success: "My husband and I met on a paid dating app in 2014. We sent each other NOVELS worth of info in our messages and slowly migrated to texting/talking. Although we fell out of touch for a few months (when I dated someone else), we reconnected and went on an amazing first date. We moved in together in 2016, got married, and had a baby together in 2023, so it worked out great! I met my soulmate."
—Anonymous
26.Disaster: "Back in my early 20s, I went on a date with a guy I met on Tinder. I told him I loved arcades, so he took me to our town's local arcade after we grabbed drinks. The drinks portion went great. At the arcade, he said he would go easy on me, and I told him I like competition, so to give me his best. I think, at first, he was letting me win, but then there was a point where he was trying and would get irritated when I would still win. I would try to flirt and be playful, but he was obviously a sore loser, and it turned into a serious competition."
"At one point, I told him we could return to the bar, but he said, 'No, let's try air hockey.' We played five rounds of air hockey, and he won once. I told him I had an unfair advantage since I had an air hockey table growing up. I thought it would lighten the mood, or he would find it cool, but he just became irritated. After the fifth round, he gave up, said, 'This is boring anyway,' and said he wanted to return to the bar.
Well, he took me back to his place and immediately tried getting me into bed. I turned him down and said I wanted to go home (this was before Uber). He got angry and said, 'This is the least you could do for me!' I locked myself in his bathroom and called my best friend to pick me up, and I didn't come out until she was at the front door."
—Anonymous
27.Success: "I just celebrated six years with my boyfriend, whom I met on Bumble! I had never dated anyone in high school or college, and once I finished college, I wanted to meet someone, but I wasn't necessarily looking for anything super serious. I just wanted to get some experience dating and see what was out there. I had been on Tinder and Coffee Meets Bagel all through college, but every guy I met just wasn't what I was looking for, and I wasn't having any luck at bars or parties. I tried Bumble because I liked that the girl messages first, and after about a month or so, I met my boyfriend! We've been through so much. He even moved across the state with me while I got my doctorate, and we're planning on getting engaged after I graduate."
—Anonymous
28.Success: "I had given up on dating and was done 'putting myself out there' since I was on the older side. I was okay with the idea of being by myself. As a last-ditch effort (and with some persuasion from my friends), I tried Match.com. Nothing went beyond pleasantries, surface compliments, and small talk. After a few months, I was over it and wanted to delete the app until, one day, someone asked me a question about my profile picture. I had hiked and reached the summit of a mountain and used that as my profile pic. This person asked about the hike and what it was like because they were planning on going and wanted more information. The conversation was easy and flowed naturally."
"We continued talking for several months, and he became my person; we have been married for five years. He stood out from all the others because he asked about my interests instead of focusing on my looks. The compliments came later. And yes, he did hike that same mountain a couple of weeks later."
—Anonymous
29.Disaster: "I matched with a guy on Bumble. We got hot beverages and walked around downtown for a bit, talking. I didn't feel any sort of attraction to him, so when we got back to my car, I told him I wasn't interested in taking things any further and wished him good luck. His response was to try to kiss me...twice. Both times, I forcefully pushed him away from me. I quickly got into my car, locked the doors, and drove away."
"More than a year later, I got a WhatsApp message from a number I didn't recognize around midnight on a Friday. It was him. I told him it was weird that he still had my number, and his response was to gaslight me. So I went off because I'm so sick of men acting like women are morons. We know exactly what a text at midnight on a Friday means. For him to not only still have my number saved but to then use it to try to obtain sex is creepy. He called me a bitch. I called him an incel. Then I blocked that creep's number.Men: DO NOT ASSAULT, ATTEMPT TO ASSAULT, OR CONTACT A WOMAN AFTER THEY SAY THEY'RE NOT INTERESTED IN YOU ROMANTICALLY! Not everybody is going to like you, and you need to find ways to deal with that instead of being creepy assholes."
—Anonymous
30.Success: "My S.O. and I met off of Hinge. He liked my profile picture and left a comment. I was about to delete the app, but I had such a good, sarcastic, and funny comeback for his comment. We continued texting over the phone, and it turned out we had the same phone area code. What a small world! Neither of us was from the city we were living in. We finally went on a dinner date. I did my research on him, and I agreed he would pick me up for dinner on the first date. Dinner went really well, and we had fun at the club afterward. Fast forward six months, and it's the healthiest and most loving relationship I've ever had. And that's after going on a lot of dating app dates."
—Anonymous
31.Disaster: "We didn't meet in person, but he told me he moved to the area for me. He also came off as super possessive and was into weird stuff. He was also talking about marriage way too soon. I ended up having to block him and change my number after he got pissed at me for not wanting to hang out with him because I wasn't feeling well."
32.Success: "I met my boyfriend on Hinge. We proceeded to have the best first date we have ever had. We went and got hot pot, which he hadn't had before, so it was super fun. Fun fact: I was an hour early because I had read my clock wrong. I wasn't planning on telling him, but he confessed to being over 15 minutes early. He held off on texting me because he didn't want to sound too eager. I then told him about my mistake and that it was just fine because I lived within walking distance. He then told me he also lived within walking distance, and we found out we lived mere blocks away from each other. We matched because of a Warhammer joke and our love of good food. He's the absolute love of my life, treats me so well, and supports me no matter what."
"We cook together and love horror movies and video games. Our height difference is kind of hilarious, too. I'm 5'0, and he's 6'4. He also loves my little pug so much, and it's the cutest thing. I love him; I couldn't imagine my life without him."
33.Success: "We met on Bumble in June of 2020, so our first few dates were virtual, and we spent hours talking on the phone. The quarantine took away so many distractions. It was a refreshing dating experience because we built an emotional connection before we met in person. He is the funniest and kindest man I've ever met, and he makes me wonder why I ever let anyone disrespect me in a relationship. Before I met him, I had no intention of getting married. He changed my entire worldview on love. Our wedding was on November 11, 2023. Best decision I've ever made."
34.Disaster: "I matched with this woman on a dating site in 2006 and took her on a date in St. Louis at an upscale restaurant. She was 15 minutes late and grilled me about my favorite name-brand clothing. I've never had a favorite name brand. I explained I lived on a correction officer's salary and 50% disabled veteran's pay and that I actually had to work hard for my money. I was very polite, but I damn sure made my point. She wanted to roam the mall afterward. I boogied TF out of there after I paid for dinner. At the time, my budget was *tight.* I CERTAINLY wasn't buying name-brand anything. She actually called me a week later, telling me what a great time she had, then asked if she could move in with me. I couldn't hang up fast enough and blocked the number forever."
—Anonymous
Restaurant Billing Tray with Letter "Thank You"
35.Success: "My husband (35M) and I (34F) met on Tinder. This was 2015, so Tinder was relatively new and really the only dating app on the market. I had just gotten out of a semi-serious relationship and had a new lease on life. I had never thought of myself as being particularly attractive. Tinder provided me with a whole new pool of guys who were more than willing to swipe right on my profile. I decided to play the field and embrace my new confidence. Life threw me a curveball in the form of my now-husband. We matched, talked for a couple of weeks, and then met for the first time. Two weeks later, we were official and saying we loved each other."
"A month after that, we moved in together. We have now been married for seven years and together for almost 10. Thanks to Tinder, I met the love of my life, best friend, and partner."
Do you have a dating app story — whether abysmal or magical — that you want to share? Tell us in the comments or share anonymously using this form.
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
