The 11 Best Dating Apps For People Who Still Believe In True Love
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weheartit When I first started dating roughly one million years ago (psych, it was like, I don't know 1999), meeting, dating, and marrying people you met on online dating sites was not a thing that was done. I heard stories about people who did meet up with people they met on the Internet, but usually those were stories on the news about people who had been murdered.
Thankfully, those days are over now, and if you grab the phone of anyone you know who's single and check out their screen, you're bound to find a selection of dating apps winking right up at you.
That's because each serves a specific audience and has something special to offer its users. Honestly, who knows how many of these things you'll have to try before you meet the one?!
I've picked out 11 of the best dating apps on the market for your consideration, along with the special feature that makes each one truly unique.
1. Bumble
Things to adore about Bumble? It's not your average meet-a-stranger-for-a-martini-and-hope-he-doesn't-leave-with-your-body-in-the-trunk-of-his-car kind of app. Bumble puts the power into the hands of the women, as only they can initiate conversation with a man, even once you've matched with each other.
Will this keep you from ever getting an unsolicited d*ck pic again? Probably not, but it will hopefully cut the number down a good bit.
Plus, if all you are looking for is same-sex friendships guess what? You can totally do that with Bumble too! Everyone knows how hard it is to make friends as a so-called grown-up, so the peeps at this company came along with the friend-finding concept of BumbleBFF. And, as if that wasn't enough, now they've also introduced BumbleBizz for those of you who want to get your networking on. See ya later, LinkedIn!
Standout Feature: Make a move and contact your connection within 24 hours or you'll your chance and the match will disappear! This was intended to get both people to pull the trigger instead of hemming and hawing, thus upping the chances of connecting with someone who actually wants to settle down and get off the dating app crazy train altogether!
2. Hinge
I tried Hinge when it first launched and I hated it. Sure, the idea of being connected to friends of friends on Facebook seemed cool, but in reality, it ended up being more than a little awkward.
"Oh hey, Katie! Yeah, sorry to bug you but your hot friend Brad totally blew me off! What did I do wrong?"
Thankfully, Hinge decided to revamp their platform from the Tinder-like way of doing things, so there's no more swiping left or right on Hinge. You do, however, get to pay $10.99 a month for the app on which you now can get to know people by interacting with their Facebook-style profile. You fill up your own page with stories and pictures, and when someone sees something in your profile that interests them, they can comment on the post directly, offering a natural, more meaningful way to organically start a conversation.
Standout Feature: It feels less like a game you'd download to pass the time and more like a real way to meet someone who actually wants to meet someone special. It also features a daily list of new recommendations for matches to help you get started.
3. Tinder
Hello! If, when reading this, you are first learning about Tinder, may I be the first to welcome you out from under the rock you've been residing beneath. You're gonna like it up here! Also, I'm sorry to be the one to inform you, but Donald Trump is the President of the United States now. I know. It's crazy times.
But back to dating apps, Tinder uses your location (so creepy) to help you find and meet people in your area, making casual sex a breeze, if that's what you're into. Of course, some people do use this app to find true love. I'm just saying...
If you like someone, you swipe right on their profile. If you're not feeling it, to the left they go. Never before has dating been so similar to the feeling you get blasting through the sales racks just after Christmas.
You can pay to upgrade to Tinder Plus for additional features like back-swiping on someone you didn't mean to send to the cybercan just yet. And if you really want to go big or go home, now there's Tinder Gold, which allows you to see people who have already swiped right on YOU. (Not that Bumble hasn't already been letting you do this for eons now, but whatevs.)
Standout feature: Tinder remains at the forefront of evolving step by step with the slickest of smartphone tech developments, which means you can now select a personal "anthem" via Spotify, reply to messages with GIFS, and "react" to things that people say to you in conversations. It's like texting but you don't have to worry that some creep ACTUALLY has your number... yet.
4. Zoosk
Yeah, I know. I was surprised that Zoosk is still a thing too, but it totally is. Compared to some of the other dating apps out there, Zoosk can look and feel a little bit, shall we say, dated. Just like the very first online dating sites, it has you build a profile and add photographs. Is it impossible to meet someone here? Absolutely not. You're just going to have to work a little bit harder.
On the positive side, this a free app, but unfortunately for Zoosk die-hards, there are now loads of other free apps (or free levels on apps) whose more modern designs attract far more users.
Standout Feature: This one is actually really cool. There's got a photo verification system that lets you confirm that the photos you post are actually photos of you. And that's pretty much the whole reason it's on this list, to be honest. So for now we'll just ignore the fact that you can do the same thing on Bumble (anyone noticing a pattern here yet?).
5. MeetMe
This is one I've been surprised to find myself recommending to people more and more often lately. MeetMe didn't start out as a dating app at all. It was originally designed to help people connect with other people who share similar interests to help them organize stuff like game nights.
It makes sense then, that this would turn into people looking for people they want to have sex with and ALSO play The Settlers of Catan with all night long. Hence, it is quickly gaining in popularity.
Standout Feature: They have a "Lunch Money" program where you can earn "money" by engaging with the app to boost your profile in the queue, thereby getting it seen by more potential love matches. It's a premium feature without a premium price tag, and I am all about that life.
6. Match
Match is an OG in the world of online matchmaking. You know, as their name indicates. You gotta get up pretty early in the morning to snag that kind of a domain name. The company also claims to have led to more dates, relationships, and marriages than any other dating site or app around, and in this industry if you're looking for something serious, that really means something.
If you are ready to move away from casual dating into marriage, that is certainly a message you send when you join Match to meet prospective suitors. Of course, don't be mistaken. There will still be plenty of creeps to go around.
You know how it is.
Standout Feature: If you upgrade your subscription you can get fun stalkery features like the ability to see who has looked at your photos. Then you can look at their photos in turn! Huzzah!
7. 3Somer
Hey, guess what? Not everyone out there using a dating app is looking for a relationship or marriage or a hookup with like, just one other person. Sometimes people want to arrange a threesome, and that can be friggin' challenging, so I'm all about 3Somer. As the name suggests, it's an app for people looking specifically to set up threesomes. You simple register as a couple or as a single person and then go from there.
And by "go," I mean meet, you connect, set up your rules, and have fun going to town on each other.
Standout feature: It's legitimately solely for people looking for threesomes, and that is awesome.
8. OKCupid
As a dating site, OKCupid has been around for a good, long time and it's fairly traditional. It distinguishes itself from the others by asking you to answer a seemingly endless amount of questions about yourself, and your answers are then available to other users who have answered the same ones. The more questions you answer, the better your chances of receiving an accurate "match percentage" when you view prospective mates. Never mind the fact that they've admitted openly to playing games with users' minds via those very percentages in the past. Let's just keep on moving, shall we?
Like Tinder, when you use the OkC app, you get to swipe left and right on people your phone's geolocation system scopes out for you. Because why should anything about dating these days NOT be creepy?
Standout feature: You can pay for an A-List subscription, which allows you to see who's "visited" your profile, while you remain free to stalk/visit profiles undetected. You can also buy "boosts" to increase the number of people who see your profile over a 15-minute period of time, a feature that has since been, um... borrowed by Tinder and Bumble (for a price) as well.
9. Snapchat
You know it. You love it. It's Snapchat. Let us now commence with the humorous filters. Look! I'm a puppy! Look! I'm an adorable cartoon creature! Look! Now I'm barfing a rainbow! Hurray!
While Snapchat started out mostly being known as a "safe" way to send sexy selfies without having to worry about them sticking around on the internet forever, it's now become even more well-known as a (sometimes) G-Rated social media experience. That said, "the kids" these days are definitely using their Snaps to make new connections, particularly via the "Add Nearby" option, and often these connections are of the romantic variety. Hence, my listing this app here.
Standout feature: While we all should be aware by now that screenshots can and do happen, Snapchat will at least do you the favor of letting you know when your potential soulmate/sexting partner has snapped a screenshot without your permission. So at least there's that.
10. Coffee Meets Bagel
Most of the options out there are all about presenting you with countless choices when it comes to your crop of potential dates. Not so with Coffee Meets Bagel. They give you one match and one match alone each day, which can feel pretty special!
Of course, it feels, you know, somewhat less special when you finally get one that you like, and then they choose not to respond to you.
Hello Tortoise? This is the Hare. Can we possibly go any more slowly here?
Standout feature: This dating app pulls from your Facebook account both to build your profile and to match you with people who are friends of your friends. Or friends of your friends of your friends. Or something.
11. Happn
Okay, so, let's talk about the app that was apparently created by a team of people who watch one too many Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan rom-coms over the course of their combines lifetimes. Nah, kidding. They're just French.
Happn connects you with profiles of people with whom you cross paths over the course of a given day. Was that hot guy in the elevator really checking out you? Take a peek at Happn and see if he's on there too!
It does sound great and tres romantic, although, admittedly a tad Big Brother-esque.
Standout Feature: They cut back on some of the creep-out factor by making it impossible for someone to send you a message unless you like them first.
Rebecca Jane Stokes is a sex, humor and lifestyle writer living in Brooklyn, New York with her cat, Batman. She hosts the sex, love, and dating advice show, Becca After Dark on YourTango's Facebook Page every Tuesday and Thursday at 10:20 pm Eastern. For more of her work, check out her Tumblr.