Pros & Cons
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- Simple, welcoming interface
- Free for basic use
- Work Mode lets you stealthily swipe on desktop
- Video chat with all tiers
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- Geared more toward hookups than long-term relationships
- The many incremental ways to spend money can add up fast
Tinder Specs
| Desktop App | |
| Free Account Offered | |
| Mobile App | |
| Starting Price | $24.99 per month |
| Video Calls |
Tinder has ensconced itself in the modern dating world, but does that justify its place in the dating app pantheon? Yes. Tinder fully delivers on its promise of putting you in front of thousands of eligible singles who want to meet you right now. The service's basic version is free to use, with premium options (perhaps too many), providing an addictive, irreverent, entertaining, and well-built platform for endless swiping. Match remains our Editors' Choice winner for seeking deeper connections, but Tinder is our top pick for casual dating.
Getting Started With Tinder
Tinder is an app-focused service available for Android and iOS, but you can also sign up via a web browser. The first step is to log in using a verification code sent to your phone. You can also connect your Apple, Google, or Facebook account.
Then, you must provide some basic initial information, including your name, age, gender, and email address. After that, you're tasked with completing a CAPTCHA to verify that you're human. Like many websites, Tinder prompts you to let it send browser notifications for new matches. However, there's an option to keep Tinder confined to its own app.
That's it. Tinder has no further requirements for profile write-ups and no menu options asking if you fancy tall people, smokers, drinkers, or religious types. It dumps you straight into the dating pool and asks you to start swiping on mobile, or using the arrow/Enter keys and the space bar to view profiles on the desktop.
Settings, Interface, and Profiles
Before diving into swiping, you can enhance the experience by dipping into Settings. There, you can set your Swipe Location to your current location or where you plan to be soon, for example, if you're going on vacation and want to set up a few dates in advance. Additional options let you select gender and age ranges for potential matches. In the Edit Info field, you add pictures; write the requisite About You section; include your job title, company, and school; and connect your Instagram account.
The information you supply is important and relevant, but it feels like the bare minimum. In contrast, Match's profiles require you to answer more in-depth questions to showcase your whole personality, from favorite hobbies to fundamental questions about what you're looking for in a partner in terms of family and values.
If you want to operate undercover, you can hide your profile in the queue (Tinder calls it the Card Stack), so you can't be seen or swiped. This setting still lets you message matches, chat with your picks, and block contact from new suitors. You can even choose to hide your age and location.
After getting into the hunt—and make no mistake, Tinder feels like a hunt—it's easy to see exactly why the app is so addictive. You swipe right if you're into someone and left if you're not. Your thumb is judge, jury, and executioner, acting on instinct and immediate assessment of the human being on the other side of the screen. It works because it's brutal in its immediacy, which is why other dating apps, including Bumble and OkCupid, have adopted a similar approach. Hook up, break up, and hook up again. Hinge strikes a better balance, presenting you with profiles that have a bit more depth, even as you speed through them.
You have options if you want something a bit less superficial. Tinder Modes lets you search for partners with more intentionality. For example, Double Date lets you team up with a friend to find other pairs, while College helps you find potential matches at your university once you provide a school email address. The Blind Date feature only lets you see photos after you and a match have a chat. Tinder says more modes are on the way.
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Swiping, Video Chats, and Work Mode
Swiping right gives a profile photo a "Like" stamp, swiping left gives it a "Nope" overlay, and swiping up sends a premium "Super Like" alert (more on that later). You can send someone's profile to a friend to see what they think. Swipe a dozen or so times, and Tinder serves you an ad or a prompt to read a "Guide To Dating" or a similar article.
You can also use the X, Star, Heart, and other icons at the bottom of the screen, but why bother? It's more fun to just keep swiping. Once two people have both swiped right on each other, a match is made. However, free users don't know if someone has picked them unless they've already picked the other person. Free users also have a finite number of likes they can give per day.
Meeting strangers from the internet can, unfortunately, lead to tragic results. As a result, Tinder has robust safety features, including real-time photo and video verification, and the ability to share your date's details, such as time and location, with emergency services via Noonlight. You have options for blocking profiles, like an ex, as well as reporting offensive messages. In a nice touch, Tinder tries to prevent those toxic messages from being sent by giving users a chance to reconsider what they're saying if the app detects something questionable in their language.
If you and your match both consent to video chat within the app, you can turn on the camera for more intimate conversations thanks to Tinder's Face to Face functionality. It's available to everyone who uses the service, and useful tools are in place for reporting anyone who misbehaves. Bumble, eHarmony, Match, and Plenty of Fish also have video dating features.
Want to search for love while in the office? Tinder's desktop version features a Work Mode function that switches the interface to resemble a Google Doc. This prevents you from being caught profile-surfing while on the clock. Nice.
Premium Tinder Features
Tinder has three premium tiers: Tinder Plus, Tinder Gold, and Tinder Platinum. Tinder Plus ($24.99 per month) gives you unlimited likes, unlimited rewinds (the ability to change your mind about a swipe), a free Boost each month, and the opportunity to swipe around the world. You can also turn off ads and choose who sees you. Tinder Gold ($39.99 per month) goes further, allowing you to instantly see who you've already matched with before swiping and providing full access to people in the Top Picks section (which non-Gold users can only view a few of at a time). With Tinder Platinum ($49.99 per month), you can send messages without matching, and you'll be a higher priority to potential matches. The prices drop the longer you commit, though you can sign up on a weekly basis starting at $12.99 per week.
A Boost increases your visibility for 30 minutes, while a Super Like indicates that you're really interested in another person. Free account holders must pay to receive Boosts (starting at $9.99), but Tinder gives away a few free Super Likes per day (though you can buy packs of three for $9.99 should you need more). Boosts and Super Likes become more affordable the more you buy. Still, as with Match and most other dating apps, Tinder's many monetization options can quickly drain your bank account.
For its most dedicated users, the Tinder 1%, a Tinder Select tier is available for a ridiculously steep $499 per month. Spend that much money, and you can message anyone you want, receive early access to new features, and have your profile visible to everyone. However, at that price, Tinder Select seems more like a VIP status symbol than anything else. After all, your profile receives a special Tinder Select badge that highlights your baller status. To sign up for this tier, Tinder must vet and approve you, a process similar to that of Raya, an elite-focused dating app with celebrity users.