At this point, sites like match.com - supposedly the future of dating - already seem antiquated. We stream movies, music and TV on our smartphones--why not add dating to that list? Whether you’re just looking to meet new people, or the love of your life, there’s a dating app out there for you.
Tinder Tinder boils dating to one thing: Attraction. When viewing someone’s profile, you are given the option to swipe left (meaning “not interested”) or right (to say, “I’m interested.”) If you and the other person both swipe right, the app lets you know it’s a match. At this point, you can choose to start a conversation via Tinder’s internal messaging system. The ease of use contributes to an overall more casual environment. A downside is that the sheer volume of matches means social niceties tend to fly out the window. On the plus side, your rejection by “Cute Guy Posing with The Giraffe” will get drowned out by all the other matches you have. Available for iPhone and Android
OkCupid Instead of taking a questionnaire, the app generates questions for you to answer. You can rate which answer you would like your potential mate to have, and level of importance their answer has. So if you saw that they answered that “wherefore” in “Wherefore art thou Romeo?” means “where,” you can head for the hills. This app gives you a compatibility rating based on your answers, which can be sketchy if the only thing you have in common is a love of sandwiches. You’re also not allowed to creep on your heart’s content, as the app lets people know if you so much as look at their profile. But this app offers a more systematic approach to dating, rather than giving you random matches. Available for iPhone and Android.
Coffee Meets Bagel If you like food, and think food-related terms of endearment are romantic, look no further. Here your love match is called a “Bagel,” and instead of sifting through dozens of pictures in a five minute span, you only get one Bagel every day at noon. If both parties choose “like” you get to message each other for seven days via a temporary phone number. Because you sign in with Facebook, you are less likely to get complete randos, but rather friends of friends you might have never met. Available for iPhone and at coffeemeetsbagel.com.
Grouper So you’re hesitant about meeting up with people from the scary world of the Interwebs... understandable. Grouper believes you shouldn’t have to endure the painful awkwardness of a first date all by yourself--share it with two other friends. The app takes info from your Facebook profile, as well as a quick survey to match you and your friends up with another group of three. Grouper helps set up a time and place and even suggests games like “Two Truths and a Lie” to get things going. You pay a fee to cover the first round of drinks, so if all else fails, you’ve got your friends and some shots. Available for iPhone and at joingrouper.com.
Hinge: Very much like Tinder, you are given a daily batch of up to 20 potential matches to like or pass. Hinge, however, uses friends of friends on Facebook as those matches, minimizing the creepy factor of Tinder. That also means people are far more likely to actually look like their profile photo in real life. Hinge is meant to expedite the process of meeting friends at social gatherings that you might just not have happened yet. People are more open to meeting offline because both parties already have an established social connection. Available for iPhone and Android.
HowaboutWe This app prides itself on being an offline dating site. Using the formula “How about we…” you suggest a fun date idea, to which others can respond. It’s great if you want to get out and do something instead of talking for weeks before actually seeing someone. It’s not so great when the suggestions are “How about we [go] werewolf hunting, disguised as two innocent people on a date in downtown?” (Yes, someone actually posted that.) While you can do some of the basic profile set up and interactions with others, for full access, you have to pay a membership fee. Some cheapskates will illicitly post their contact information on their date ideas to avoid paying. Please don’t do that unless you like getting texts from random numbers at 2 a.m. Available for iPhone and Android.
Melissa Aguilar is a reporter for The Beacon. You can reach her at aguilarm16@up.edu.
