The 23-year-old also agreed with the idea that it is more about relationships than sex, than other apps
The modern world of dating is a confusing place – not only do we have to contend with thirst traps, ghosting and breadcrumbing, but we’re living this reality online. Why walk up to someone in a bar when you could be head down in your phone, swiping right on a random face in a catalogue of strangers?
Or so the wisdom goes. So we wanted to ask the people who use these apps to talk us through them: the good, the bad, and the one with fuckboys. First up: Hinge.
Hinge sells itself as the only app on the market supposedly “made” for dating: a spokesperson says the app’s USP is that you will get dates, rather than one night stands or friendly pen https://datingranking.net/local-hookup/savannah/ pals. And not only does it vow your diary will be jam-packed but it also tries to avoid leaving you in dead-end chats by building your profile around a mini Q&A so people have easy conversation icebreakers.
It also recently added a unique feature called ‘We Met’ that invites users to share how their dates went and use this information to inform future matches. Does taking lived experience into account puts the app ahead of other offerings on the dating market? We asked users what they think.
Lauren Crouch, 31, from north London has been using Hinge for the past year and agrees with the notion that it is more of a ‘relationship’ app than Tinder and Bumble. Especially because it allows you to be more specific with what you’re looking for – you can exclude categories like smokers or people with children.
“I love that you can be more choosy,” says Crouch. And she isn’t the only one. Despite Hinge also not having fulfilled its promise of a relationship, 27-year-old Sophie Milner says that she feels it has “more soul” than other apps: “Nobody uses Tinder anymore and there’s not that many hot guys left on there.”
Milner has used Hinge on and off for five months and thinks the quality of men is better and the functionality way more interactive. She explains: “Every user has to pick and answer three questions out of a selection, and you can like people based on their answers as well as their photos.”
She has also swapped her phone number with a few matches but does say that like the other apps, it is still easy to get bored when using Hinge. “There’s not much connection with online profiles these days – no matter how attractive or funny someone comes across.”
Kyle Sowden from Manchester agrees that the question format does put it above most other apps. “Hinge requires you to put more thought into your profile by answering questions that become a part of your profile, allowing your personality to come across – I found this leads to higher quality matches.”
“The people on Hinge are less likely to be looking for a one night stand from my experience (take that as you will), so it’s more suited to people looking for something genuine.”
And with every dating app promising something different, this love roulette begins the moment you go to the app store
Sowden’s biggest gripe was the lack of people on the app, as one of the few people we spoke to for this feature who lived outside of London. It seems the app still has room to grow nationwide, rather than focusing on the capital.
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