top of page

So you want to online date?


So, what is online dating? According to the good ol internet, it is "the practice of searching for a romantic or sexual partner on the Internet, typically via a dedicated website.” These days apps have replaced websites. As you know there is an app for almost anything you can think of.

Let’s cover some of the major apps, shall we...

  • Tinder

  • Bumble

  • OkCupid

  • Coffee meets Bagel

Tinder

Tinder seems to be the most popular app on the scene. It does have a reputation for being a hookup app BUT I have met people who married off Tinder. Tinder uses your location and Facebook info to create your profile. Your Tinder profile is made up of your first name, age, photos of your choice and any pages you’ve ‘liked’ on Facebook. You can also include your education and occupation in your bio.

Tinder then finds matches near you. You can filter matches by age and distance. You swipe right If you like and left to pass on a profile. If they’ve also ‘liked’ you by swiping right on your profile – then tada! it’s a match and you can start chatting.

Pros: Matches don’t expire.

Cons: Reputation, and time consuming as you must navigate through a sea of profiles.

Bumble

Bumble is made with the woman in mind. After a match (both users swiping right) the woman must initiate conversation within 24hrs otherwise the match expires. Also after the conversation has been initiated the guy also gets 24hrs to respond otherwise the match is lost. There is an option to extend match time by 24hrs for both parties.

Bumble only allows 6 pictures of yourself on your profile in addition to your job title, employer, education, and 300 characters or less profile write up.

Pros: Girls initiate conversation, so you swipe on profiles you are interested in.

Cons: Match Expiration.

OkCupid

Matches are based off compatibility which is determined by a questionnaire.

Pros: User friendly and straight forward.

Cons: can be time consuming when exploring profiles.

Coffee meets Bagel

Every day at noon you receive a "bagel," which is a curated match sourced from your Facebook network including friends of friends. Coffee Meets Bagel has two main sections where you can browse profiles: Bagels & Discover.

The Bagels section is where you’ll go to look at your matches, or ‘bagels’. Women are presented with bagels who both meet their criteria and have already “liked” them. CMB tries to match you with people who share at least one Facebook friend, but when it can’t, you’ll still get matches. Bagels are screened with limited criteria: gender, age, height, distance, ethnicity, and religion. Source: Virtual Dating Assistants

Pros: User friendly and straight forward.

Cons: Chat expiration.

Honorable mentions

  • Happn

  • Hinge

  • Christian Mingle

  • Plenty of fish

Overall, there are TONS of dating apps out there, a simple google search for dating apps will overwhelm you. There is something for everyone, so you must be patient with yourself and the system. You get out what you put in.

Fun fact Friday: I worked on a dating app called Blynd in 2015. (check it out on the apple app store). Users get 30 seconds of chatting after which they could choose to reveal their identity/profile or let the chat expire. Sadly, it didn’t take off. Turns out we all want to see who we are chatting with or have potential to connect with.

Have a great weekend!

Pearl B.

 

bottom of page