Dating apps have landed me in abusive relationships more often than meeting people organically. Join a community group, meet people, work with them, hike and make art, youll meet people fall in love and get your heart broke, but theres no subscription fee
After years of screaming into the void on one of these apps, I did eventually find my current gf there. They have a very poor ROI in terms of time, but they are also where most people go nowadays to meet people. Protip if you're a straight guy: have a woman friend help you craft your profile, including potentially a dedicated photoshoot.
Based on my own experience talking to men and women who use dating apps, Hinge is the one to use if you are looking for an actual relationship. That is the one that eventually worked for me. And I know quite a few couples who met there.
Bumble used to be decent too but they keep removing features. The speed dating feature on Bumble was a godsend for people who can't get by on looks alone, but who have a decent personality as well.
Tinder is basically only to be used if you are looking for ONS hookups.
Note that as a guy you may have to pay for premium features on these apps in order to stand out from crowd. The gender imbalance on the apps is too real.
Tinder was great 5+ years ago. It's probably still cool as a woman, but as a dude it's just kinda sad to be honest. And i know, haha i'm ugly and there are two rules on tinder i know i know. But i would get around without premium and get like 5 to 10 matches a month or so. And they were all real people and would actually want to talk and or meet up.
Now, no idea tbh, i get maybe a match every other month. And then it's usually a girl who just wants the attention and can't communicate with more than 3 letter words.
A friend of mine has like 3 shitty pictures and she is hardly on any one of them. She gets like 99+ matches a month easy.
I used OkCupid for some dates before I found my now husband. It took quite a few dates on my side, but I just considered that par for the course. For him, I was his first date on OkCupid. For that matter, I was the first man that he dated, though he had dated a girl in high school.
Unfortunately, in the decade since we've met, I think both straight and gay oriented dating apps have probably taken a turn for the worse. We both had extensive, descriptive profiles and talked for a long time before meeting up. I keep hearing that the gay apps have turned into mostly hookup apps, but I can't speak for straight apps.
Met my girlfriend through OK cupid too, and had the same experience. But I can tell you the app got tinderfied over the years.
Used to be you'd just be able to message people and see how you matched from looking up. When I last used it it already hid people behind a swipe system, only allowing people to talk when they both had swiped right.
The swiping apps usually feel they're used by people less interested in what I wanted. For op I'd tell him to use OK cupid if he likes to answer those profiling questions and wants to find someone who also does. For swiping, tinder works best.
Dating programs will always be useless as long as people will have a will to misuse them. For example, the asexual ones get phoned-in complaints on a daily basis that the people that end up meeting the other person aren't asexual and want to get in bed with their date as soon as night comes. Much of this also comes from culture, in the case of asexuality because it's ingrained in some people that asexuality doesn't exist or that it's absolute.
I think you should be able to get to use them somewhat effectively for free. I've never paid for any. Not sure how much this has changed, haven't dated in a couple years.
Im very well aware these apps are terrible in every aspect possible and only there to take advantage of people's anxieties.
Thus, I'm even more confused I met my girlfriend on Bumble and we've been a couple for two years now.
To be fair, I've been trying my luck on tinder before and got so frustrated I deleted the app multiple times.
As an introvert, finding people in real life can be a lot harder than for other people so you kinda have to rely on dating apps sometimes. This makes it even worse to see how they're developing.
Free version? Almost useless, had 1 decent match in a year. Paid version, will definitely get you seen more but if you don't know how to make a good profile, you're not going to get more matches.
Very. They're all swipe boxes at this point, and that basically means it's a slot machine that dispenses people. It's designed to be addicting, not actually locate a compatible partner.
No, I don't really have a good alternative. Date-me docs are interesting, kind of a zine-y grassroots version of the app we wish we had, but they're a small phenomenon and I don't know how many people actually manage to meet through them. I heard something about fediverse dating, but that's even more niche.
I met my wife on Tinder years ago before there was a premium version. I also used OkCupid. Both were bought by Match which ruined them. Badoo has always been filled with scammer from what I remember.
From what I have heard, dating apps are way worse nowadays. That sucks for lots of people who are shit picking people up in person. There are also fewer third places where it is obvious that single people are open to being social rather than getting annoyed that they are being approached.
A better alternative might be to find a hobby group and try to meet people there.
The gamer girl that's into gamers is a myth yeah, but what I'm supposed to do. That's all I care about. That and listening my music. I can't fake interest in things I don't care about
Perhaps it's time to find better hobbies? It's a chore and difficult because you don't know what you like/don't like before you try it for some time.
Independent of finding girls it's also good for your own psyche to get away from the screen. And if it has to be gaming perhaps you can find people who are into board games?
Dude is not toxic. I've never met anyone, male or female that is an adult that think gaming is fucking cool or whatever, that stereotype you see in parodies is so over the top because is rare. Is the reality, majority of adults, especially women don't care about games or nerd stuff... Even if 50 girls here reply "we're here you know c that's a niche on a damn obscure social network that the rest of the world don't know about it.
Below average, nerdy, niche hetero guy here with no desire to every have any kids. I'm using dating apps since about November now.
OkCupid:
Not that common in my country, which is why I tend to get all kinds of "likes" from people all over the world. Mostly Africa.
It has some - as I call it - "FOMO features" included. Meaning: I rarely get any likes when I use premium. The second(!) I don't have premium any more and can't check the people that swiped me, there are suddenly 7 likes. It's a money grab, nothing more. The only interesting thing about it, is the vast amount of questions you can answer and compare with people you swipe.
Bumble: It's basically the same hell hole everyone says tinder is. Also FOMO-features.
Hinge: The profiles are somewhat limited, compared to other apps. There are some premium plans, but no FOMO-features. The only two dates I ever had came from this app.
blindmate: It's a very small new app. Not even sure if it's already available in another language other than German. You can upload up to 6 pictures, set what you're looking for (age, sex, type of relationship). All other things are done by friends you invite. They answer questions about you (max. 7/day) as well as swipe for you (max. 30/day). If your friends and the friends of the person your friends swiped for both give their okay, you're matched. At first the main profile pic is pixeled until you exchanged a few messages. You can use Icebreakers which consist of answers of you and your match the friends have given. After a few more messages you can choose to unlock your profile for the match. I have 4 friends that swipe for me for months, 5300+ in total with a total of 28 matches. I'm starting to think that I am the issue here.