18 Alternative Dating Apps To Tinder
Whether you love or loathe Tinder, there is no denying it has changed online dating forever.
As a result there is now no end of apps with the same aim of helping you fall in love and live happily ever after, or at the least find someone to hang out with next weekend.
Whether it's matching you on your favourite interests or finding someone who you share mutual friends with. Here, we take the biggest alternatives to Tinder and give them a spin to find out what (if anything) they do differently and what sets them apart.
Double
The USP: Pair up with a single friend and match with other pairs on the app for you all to go on group dates and decide who you're into. Double's USP is offering a safer way of meeting people offline and also means you're more likely to meet with people to see who of the four clicks.
Pros: Removes the awkwardness potential of a one-on-one date and gives you twice as many people that you might be interested in.
Cons: Adds the very awkward potential of having to fight over the object of your desire over group tacos.
Verdict: If you're laid back about your dating life Double could improve your social life while you search for the one.
Badoo
The USP: With over 400 million members, Badoo is one of the world's most popular dating apps and part of the same umbrella company as Bumble. On it users upload a picture of a celebrity or famous figure they fancy and the app serves up members who look similar.
Pros: It's a non-swiping app and allows you a smaller pool of potential dates tailored to your taste.
Cons: Just because someone looks like Tom Hardy or Jessica Alba doesn't mean they will behave like them!
Verdict: If you've got very specific tastes Badoo might work for you but fancying someone because they look like a celebrity is so rarely how attraction works.
Do I Date
The USP: With the goal of adding some transparency to online dating, Do I Date transforms your profile into a TripAdvisor-esque review page with past dates rating you and, hopefully, vouching for you.
Pros: A refreshingly open approach to dating in a time where many people's profiles and aims are very misleading.
Cons: Exes might not be keen on leaving a review of a former lover, worse still spurned lovers might want to sabotage your future chances
Verdict: A noble goal in a time where online dating can feel toxic but we imagine if wouldn't take much for your credit rating to be bust.
Now
The USP: Input when you're free and find people to date with similar schedules, eliminating the "Can you do Friday?", "No, how about Tuesday?" tennis match which goes on for days on end.
Pros: Fast track the meet up process and end time wasting.
Cons: Do you really want to go out with someone just because they're also free on Wednesday?
Verdict: It's great for the time-poor but you probably need to arrange a lot of dates before you meet the one if all you're going off is a shared calendar.
Coffee Meets Bagel
The USP: Their mantra and methodology is explained thus: 'Each day at noon, guys will receive up to 21 quality matches – known as “Bagels”. They are given the option to either LIKE or PASS. Then, Coffee Meets Bagel will curate the best potential matches for women among the men who expressed interest.'
Pros: A more curated selection than just endlessly swiping through everyone.
Cons: The app requires you to give over control over to someone else to decide for you.
Verdict: CMB only lets you see people who have liked you, so no torturing yourself about 'the one that got away'. A time effective dating app...who knew one existed.
How About We
The USP: A meet-cute app that is designed to help people offer up tasks that they'd like to do with other people, including museum nights, comedy hours, and cocktail meet-ups in your area.
Pros: A great helping hand in getting off your sofa and getting out to meet people
Cons: A lot of activity-based dates which might get in the way of sweet conversation.
Verdict: Great for people that need help with organising a great especially with the interactive Date Map which lets you track who is else is wants to meet for a pint or deep and meaningful conversation at 1am.
Tin Dog
The USP: If you're dog-obsessed here is where you can rest assured you're in good company. Pick your future partner based on their dog preferences, small, scruffy or otherwise.
Pros: Just think of all the cute dog meme sharing that could be yours.
Cons: People might think basing your future parter on dog preferences is weird
Verdict: A silly app that seems unlikely to find you true love but might narrow down options. Who wants to date somebody who like Chihuahuas after all?
Down
The USP: Gives you the chance to tell your friends (rather than strangers) that you want to sleep with them.
Pros: There is a strange thrill in being able to 'swipe' that acquaintance you've always fancied, asking them for a date (up) or telling them you want to sleep with them (down). Until you realise how pathetic it is.
Cons: It pulls in every single woman who happens to be your friend on Facebook, even if they haven't joined Down yet (your cowardly come on will be waiting for them if they ever do), making it rather pointless.
Verdict: The more you think about it, the less sense Down makes. Isn't the whole point of internet dating that you can meet someone new? This hook up app for friends (and friends of friends) is the equivalent of passing 'I Like You' notes in class.
Happn
The USP: Hook up with the people you walk past on the street.
Pros: Once you get over the slight stalker complex Happn instils on you by showing women who walked past your front door an hour ago, matching with users within a 250 meter radius is actually quite handy. Chances are you live or work in the same area, so arranging a date becomes a lot simpler.
Cons: If the date goes horribly, there are no assurances you won't bump into her when you're buying milk a few days later. Also, spend too much time on it and you start getting paranoid you're seeing 'someone you liked on Happn' every time you sit in your local cafe.
Verdict: One of the most effective – and convenient – dating apps out there. Until it isn't.
Hinge
The USP: Match with your pal's pals (on Facebook).
Pros: The brashness. If you actively pursue a date on Hinge, discretion mustn't be an issue – your friends are bound to find out. This means having a handy mutual connection to discuss / slag off when you meet up for drinks.
Cons: It's all a little too close to home: what's to stop her feeding your dating tekkers back to your pal? It could make future beers with your mates a little awkward.
Verdict: This app allows you to eliminate the middleman. If you lack inhibition, Hinge could throw the door wide open.
OKCupid
The USP: Endless personality quiz questions that give you a match percentage with would-be partners.
Pros: You can weed out people with traits or points of view you find simply unacceptable. Racists, bigots and Mumford & Sons fans, then.
Cons: Too many basic functions are restricted to paid membership.
Verdict: Worth a shot, if only to kill time answering bizarre questions about yourself.
Plenty Of Fish
The USP: It's a huge ocean, with more members than any of the others (around 70 million).
Pros: Unlike most of the other apps, doing the basics on POF – looking at profiles, sending and reading messages – is absolutely free.
Cons: A high number of sexually frustrated virgin-trolls means a lot of women find using it a harrowing experience, which understandably makes them cagey when you come along. It's disheartening how many women have to resort to 'please no sex pests' appendixs on their profile information.
Verdict: Easy to navigate, simple and free to use, void of distracting gimmicks. And unlike Tinder, users tend to write a bit about themselves, meaning you have more to go on (and sell yourself with) than just your 5 least-worst selfies.
Grindr
The USP: It really works. If you happen to be gay, bisexual or curious.
Pros: Easy and efficient to use, you can find a hookup within minutes.
Cons: It is notoriously 'glitchy', with messages disappearing and some functions not working properly.
Verdict: The app that started it all, Grindr has been helping men who like men improve their sex lives since 2009. Whether they are honest about it or not, every heterosexual internet dating app out there aspires to be the 'Grindr for straight people'. Has is happened yet? Not even close.
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Inner Circle
The USP: Members are vetted, and they also run IRL singles events.
Pros: The screening process ensures out-and-out perverts are banished, which means everyone wins (except the perverts). The fun and well organised events means membership feels a bit more like a club, and less like pin-balling around a vast galaxy of random singletons.
Cons: After sending someone a message, you're notified when they're checking your profile, which means you can actually see yourself being rejected in real time. But hey, that's life.
Verdict: Pulling together the best elements of other older dating apps, Inner Circle is the best all-rounder out there with the highest quantity of people you'd actually like to meet. £5 a week for the advanced user options is just too much, though.
Bumble
The USP: Like Tinder, except once you match, only the ladies can make the first move and say hello.
Pros: It means women have an extra barrier against the 'hey hun wanna fuk??' brigade, which is good for all concerned. It also means if she's got in touch with you, you definitely weren't an 'accidental swipe', meaning you'll be leaving less of those unanswered hellos that slowly chip away at your soul.
Cons: None, really. Though one minor gripe is that Bumble's algorithm clearly pulls ten of the highest rated profiles to the top of your feed every time you log in. Parading the hottest – and least obtainable – women in front of your face every time you log in feels a little bit manipulating / cynical.
Verdict: A dating app where women need not fear to tread, where the sting of rejection is largely removed for you. Win-win.
Loveflutter
The USP: Pulls together facts, tweets and other information to get a full picture of a prospective partner.
Pros: Less shallow than just swiping from a picture.
Cons: Tweets are still not a totally accurate picture of someone.
Verdict: A well-intended app that tries to convey your personality rather than just transferring your Instagram feed but the pressure to think up facts can be overwhelming. They've just launched a premium service for people with the hallowed blue tick on Twitter. You can imagine the grounded people that lurk on there.
Luxy
The USP: Connect with verified millionaires.
Pros: The site boasts a large portfolio of high earners and offers 24/7 customer service for their members.
Cons: Sadly, you also need to be a millionaire. People tend to upload shots of their huge houses.
Verdict: Aside the obviously Dickensian classism all over the site, it also has an understandably odd mixture of trust fund brats and retired divorcees. Luxy does however offer high security to protect your privacy and weeds out people looking for a sugar daddy or mumma.
Tastebuds
The USP: Fall in love with someone who shares your music taste.
Pros: A nice way to connect with people on something you're passionate about or it can be used to find friends to visit gigs with.
Cons: Just because you both like Kings of Leon doesn't really mean you're made for each other...
Verdict: A nice concept and considering music is a personal passion that connect a lot of people, Tastebuds actually has more of a USP than most niche interest apps. However the same warnings apply, you may be looking for your dream girl who loves Ok Computer but end up with a page of middle-aged Radiohead loving blokes like yourself.
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