Tinder actually has one of the best user interfaces of any dating app around. The photos are large, the app is — comparatively speaking — svelte, and setting up your profile is pretty painless. Overall, Tinder gets an A for its usability. Also, no one can message you unless you have also expressed an interest in them, which means you get no unsolicited messages. While there are a fair few people on Tinder who use it strictly to collect swipes, many people are actually inclined to meet up in real life, which is not always the case with dating apps.
OkCupid
All options, including those for accessing the settings and viewing profiles, are located in a slide-out menu. To browse for someone you like, you merely tap the “matches” option, which, oddly, does not show you the people you’ve matched with but rather the people you could potentially match with. If that interface is too chaotic for you, tap the “quick match” option, which restricts the results to photos only. You can like people or message them in a similar fashion to Tinder, but messaging is your better bet: Users can see who has liked them only if they have upgraded to “A-list” status.
Sadly, you also will only be able to see the five most recent visitors to your profile unless you pay for an upgrade and — worst of all — anyone can message you. Anyone. And they can message anything to you. If you don’t reply, they’ll probably just keep on messaging you, too. Frankly, some things can’t be unseen. Facebook verification helps block a percentage of bots and catfishers from creating accounts, so without it, OkCupid loses a level of accountability.
Coffee Meets Bagel is another dating app that piggybacks on Facebook. Once you’ve set up your profile and input your preferences, it will send you one “bagel” a day, which is essentially the profile of a potential match. You then have 24 hours to decide whether you want to “like” or “pass” on your bagel. If you like your bagel and they have also liked you, you’ll connect, meaning that you’ll be able to message one another in a private chat. That chat room expires after eight days, regardless of whether you’ve talked with your bagel or not. You can also earn “beans” that allow for extra app functions, either by purchasing them outright or recommending the app to your friends.
Appearances can be deceiving, though. Although Coffee Meets Bagel allows for a range of super specific preferences, the bagel it sends you may or may not match your specified preferences and, more often than not, if they do, they will be a significant distance away. The app can also be glitchy, often resulting in slow update and load times, and sometimes it’s frustrating that it sends you only a single bagel a day. You can speed things up a bit by using the “give & take” option, but it’ll cost you 385 beans to like someone who catches your eye.
Hinge is kind of like Tinder. Okay, it’s actually a lot like Tinder, but with a few key differences that make it superior. Interface-wise, it looks like Tinder’s younger sister. However, function-wise, it relies more on your Facebook friends to make connections for you. Hinge also connects you through friends of friends of friends, and shows you not just the people you have in common, but also all the things you have in common. It does this by having you answer a bunch of questions through a Tinder-like interface. Have you been to Berlin? Swipe right. Don’t play croquet? Swipe left. This makes answering questions far easier and less time consuming, not to mention more fun. The questions themselves aren’t as asinine as those in some other dating apps — ahem, Score — and give you a better sense of someone than 500 characters might.
You can only add photos of yourself from Facebook or Instagram, though, which is kind of limiting if you’re not very active on either. Also, while the friends-of-friends concept has a lot of benefits, it’s also restricting. It’s possible to run out of matches after 10 minutes of browsing, which is a let down if you’re actually enjoying the app or are serious about finding a date.
Tastebuds
Tastebuds is a dating app that highlights music tastes to ascertain compatibility. You can link it to your Facebook account or not, depending on your preference. You can also make your profile as detailed or sparse as you like — character limits for each question, which are mostly centred on music, are pretty high. Once started, you can flick through individual profiles to view all the information the user has included, including song clips from artists they like. You can “like” a person if interested, and if not, simply “skip” them. You can even send a song or message users before or after they match with you.
The overall experience is also enjoyable. The user interface is clean and simple, and creating your profile is uncomplicated, allowing you to use both Facebook and non-Facebook photos. Even if profiles are a bit long, they’re never cumbersome and only include what you actually filled out. Listening to a song that the person likes while scrolling through their profile is also an added personal touch, as is being able to send someone a song. It’s the updated, truncated version of making someone a mixed tape. Moreover, a lot of people use the app to find friends and concert buddies, as well as dates. Of all the information dating apps use to determine compatibility, music seems the least arbitrary.