Online dating explained – what is the difference between Tinder, Bumble, Grindr and how do the dating apps work?
AN increasing number of people are turning to apps in a bid to find love as the stresses of daily life seemingly leave little time to find someone in real life.
But apps are also a handy way to suss out the competition, and can provide an outlet for spontaneous fun or just an interesting rummage through who’s available.
Tinder
is one of the most well-known dating apps with users in 196 countries, and boasts 1.6 billion swipes per day and more than 20 billion matches per week.
Launched in 2012 the free app remains a heavyweight in the dating game, with a high chance you have either been on there yourself or know someone who is.
When signing up, you give personal info such as your name and age.
You can share a little or a lot of information about yourself, but you’re more likely to get a match the more you share.
There’s room for photos and you pick one to be your main image.
You have a bio to fill out, your likes are listed and if you link to Facebook it will reveal if you and a potential date have interests or friends in common.
You select who you’re interested in and an age and distance range, then you’re ready to swipe.
Clicking on someone’s picture will bring up their full profile, and Tinder has added new features such as "superlikes", although the number of free ones are limited per day.
If someone superlikes you, you will get a notification even if you have never seen their profile, and you can choose to respond.
For others, if you’ve liked a person or they’ve liked you, once the other party presses like as well you get a match.
You will both be notified and then you can strike up a conversation.
Bumble
Founded in 2014, is a female-focused app where women make the first move and it is taking the world by storm.
Similarly to Tinder, you have a profile with photos, your name, age and likes.
Describing itself as “a movement”, they have tips on how to make a profile stand out.
They suggest making sure your first photo is your best, keep the highlight reel real, ensure to include lots of information, flaunt your ‘most special and specific self’, and ask a guy mate to give it the once over.
On Bumble, when a man and woman match – only the woman can send the first message.
For LGBT+ users, either can make the first move within 24 hours.
The app is designed to shake up old-fashioned power dynamics by putting women in control.
But there is a time limit of 24 hours, so if no message is sent the match disappears.
For a man, they too have a 24-hour time limit to respond to a message or the match will vanish.
Grindr
advertises itself as the "world’s largest social networking app for gay, bi trans and queer people".
Pre-dating Tinder, Grindr launched back in 2009 and has a location feature allowing people to see who’s online and nearby, and also connect with people anywhere in the world.
People can customise what type of person they’re looking for, and like Bumble and Tinder they have a swipe feature.
You can chat and share photos for free, but if you want more you can upgrade to XTRA to six times as many profiles ad-free.
How do the dating apps work?
The apps are like speed dating and a lonely hearts ad combined.
By being on there, you’re advertising that you’re looking for fun, love or a relationship, while being able to swipe through so many potentials brings in the speed dating element, trying to meet as many people at once.
Most are free but have a premium version where users can pay extra for some benefits.
After matching on the apps, conversation usually follows, but this is not always the case.
But if a chat goes well, this usually leads to a face-to-face meet-up, and potentially more dates.
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