Of all the emotions that music inspires, love has to be at the top of the list. Consider how many songs focus on lost loves, spurned lovers, celebrations of new love, or just good old-fashioned horniness. Although many dating apps target certain shared identities, shared hobbies can also encourage romantic connections, and Vinylly bets that a shared music love forms the most romantic connections of all. Despite the intriguing gimmick, Vinyl has too many limitations to be your dating life’s lead single.  

Love Songs

Vinylly, a cute if hard to type pun on “vinyl” and “finally,” is available as a mobile app on Android and iOS. There’s no desktop version. However, you’ll need more than just the app to get started. The service revolves around connecting you with other people through your music tastes. The algorithm determines compatibility by comparing favorite songs and genres. 

In order for Vinylly to know what your favorite songs are, you must sync it with your Spotify account. You can’t even start making a profile unless you have a Spotify account. Already this limitation disappointed us. While Spotify is free, excellent, and very popular, it’s not the only way to listen to music on your mobile device. People passionate enough about music to use a music-focused dating app may turn up their noses at lower-fidelity streaming music services that pay artists a pittance. Vinylly says it’s working on ways to import other music sources in your profile.

Once your playlist is synced, you fill out additional details to finish your profile. This isn’t an OkCupid- or eharmony-sized questionnaire, but it helps provide more context to who you are and what you want beyond a song list. Enter your gender, preferred partners, and search radius. Are you looking for concert buddies or a commitment? Upload just one photo. Answer a few music questions, such as “What was your first concert?” and “What genre could you listen to forever?” 

Vinylly is a free download, and although it says it offers in-app purchases I actually couldn’t find any in testing. I updated my profile to a Gold account, which sounds like a premium upgrade, but I didn’t get charged. I’m also not sure if anything changed or if I got any additional features. Perhaps Vinylly doesn’t want to punish early adopters and is waiting to roll out paid subscriptions once more folks sign up. It seems all Vinylly users can currently upgrade to Gold for free, but that may change in the future, and we don’t know how much those changes will cost.

Dance Partners

Vinylly’s music theme extends to its presentation. The rich gold and black tones drip with audiophile ambience. The interface mimics music player controls as a metaphor for the swiping method pioneered by Editors’ Choice pick Tinder. Press play on profiles you like, skip the ones you don’t, and shuffle ones you aren’t sure about back into the mix. A loud volume number reflects a high compatibility rating. 

When you like a profile, Vinylly offers a few icebreakers to get the conversation going. You could start with a simple “What’s up?,” but why not start bonding through music right away? Ask other people what they’ve been listening to, discover which bands they consider dealbreakers, and learn the songs they played on their first iPod. 

Digging into a profile reveals more musical tastes. You’ll see top genres from EDM to hip-hop, favorite artists, and answers to profile questions. Under playlists, you can listen to your match’s highlighted tracks, which creates a sense of digital intimacy. It’s like starring in your own personal High Fidelity remake. 

The emphasis on music makes profiles feel unique, but they also feel a bit shallow without much other information. Compare that to the robust profiles found in Editors’ Choice pick Match, which give you the deep sense of the person you're interesting in meeting. The gamer-focused Kippo enables more personal expression within its nerd dating framework. 

Vinylly’s most hindering limitation, though, is the limited number of users. When I first made my profile I didn’t see any matches. After refreshing the app a few times, it connected me to users who, more often than not, were far outside my New York City search radius. For every match I saw from Brooklyn, I got another from Chicago or California. This is the risk you run when using any new, unproven dating app. But unlike your favorite underground club, you want Vinylly to become popular and flooded with curious newbies. 

Social Distancing With Vinylly

One question Vinylly asks is “What was the last concert you saw before COVID-19?” It knows that the pandemic hit especially hard not only for single people looking to go on in-person dates, but music lovers looking to see in-person concerts. Fortunately, using the app’s coolest feature, Concert Search (which is powered by Songkick), you and your match can search for nearby concert tickets right in the app, including virtual concert tickets.  

However, that’s it when it comes to virtual dating features. Vinylly doesn’t have any video chat functionality. For that, turn to our top video dating apps like Match, Tinder, Bumble, Clover, and Hinge. 

Record Scratch

Vinylly offers an original music matchmaking service that makes it stand out in the larger dating app field. That said, it’s too limited in terms of features, music sources, profiles, and actual users to be your best bet for finding love off the dance floor. Our Editors’ Choice picks for dating apps, Match and Tinder, remain the most dependable pathways to lasting love and quick flings, respectively. 

For more on dating, check out: How I Ended Up in a Tinder Ad Campaign and Match vs. Tinder: Which Dating Service Deserves Your Everlasting Love?