Reviews tinder-app

Last updated on August 24, 2015 | by Aet Suvari

0

Tinder Review

Tinder Review Aet Suvari

Tinder Review Rating

Popularity
Trustability
Easy to use
Profile quality
Matching/Searching
Value for money

Summary: It's free and easy to use and also immensely popular but you can't perform your own search and profiles are very meagre.

3.8


The world’s most popular dating app has gone viral. But is it worth the hype? And can you find true love here – or is it mainly for hooking up? Our Tinder review dives in to investigate….

We’ve waited a long time to put together our Tinder review – seeing it doesn’t follow the rules of more traditional ‘online dating’ sites. However it’s impossible to ignore its massive presence in the field of online dating.

As of spring of this year 1.6 billion Tinder profiles have been browsed – or using Tinder-talk, ‘swiped’ – every day, equal to more than 26 million matches. That is per day – more than the whole sum of users on Match.com (23.6 million)!

First steps in Tinderland

Signing up to Tinder is simple and straightforward – you do it through your Facebook profile. While it’s not failsafe there’s good reason to applaud this it not only simplifies the sign-up process it also makes Tinder a much safer and secure place for dating.

Linking Tinder to Facebook means that most people who appear there are who they say they are and don’t fake their identities – so in a way, Facebook works like an easy background check here, making sure you are a real person. Also, many people are worried to sign up when they see it’s linked to their Facebook accounts – what if all their Facebook friends will see that they’re using Tinder? You don’t have to worry about that.

tinder-profile

Tinder never posts anything on your Facebook wall, nor does it automatically show your whole Facebook profile. Yes, if you like, it will scan through your Facebook contacts and show you if any of your pop-up matches are friends with your Facebook friends, but don’t worry: there won’t be any marks left anywhere, no one else will have to know.

You can still maintain a certain degree of anonymity and you can also choose the photo(s) you’d like to show on your Tinder profile. Also, your last name is always kept private on Tinder, so unless you’re called Isambard, you should be fine.

And that’s another reason why linking Facebook and Tinder (and now Instagram too!) is a good idea. You don’t have to go through the trouble of picking and choosing and uploading a bunch of photos to your Tinder profile – they are already there, ready to be used.

Still, is it technically possible to sign up to Tinder without having to use your Facebook account? Not really. What you can do, is to create a new Facebook page that you only use for Tinder and limit the information on that page. However, we strongly encourage you to use your real name, age and photos there too. A desire for privacy is understandable – lying isn’t.

So, all you have to do to set up your account is press ‘Connect with Facebook’ in Tinder and that’s it, your profile’s done. You can access your profile from the top left corner where you can also rearrange your photos, set the distance, age and sex preference you want to see amongst your matches and you’re good to go. You can also make yourself invisible if you wish to do so – simply open ‘Discovery Preferences’ and turn ‘Discovery’ off – this means you won’t be shown to any new matches, but you can still keep chatting to your friends and people you have previously liked.

Swipe – left or right?

There is no Search in Tinder. You will be given a bunch of matches every day and all you have to do is swipe right (YES) or left (NO) – that’s it. Bear in mind that unless you are using the paid version of Tinder (called Tinder Plus), you can’t undo a left swipe.

The little profiles you see consist mainly of photos, although you can see if you have common interests or friends as well. The app will tell you the first name and age of your match, as well as how far they are from you and when were they last active.

tinder review - screenshot

Generally you can only browse people near you – don’t worry if you want to use Tinder while travelling, the app will locate you automatically.

Alternatively, you can use Tinder Plus, which will let you change your location so that you can swipe and match with people anywhere in the world – for example, if you’re going away you can start using Tinder a few weeks before your holidays so that by the time you get there you could already have a few dates set up. Tinder Plus also lets you rewind your very last swipe – in case you made a hasty decision that you regret just a moment too late.

Tinder Plus

Tinder introduced the Plus version recently and caused quite an uproar with it. For you to be able to use the aforementioned Premium services (plus get an ad-free version of Tinder), you have to fork out some money every month. That would all be fine if it wasn’t for the price difference, which – for UK Tinder membership – is pretty hefty. Young users (between 18 and 27) have to pay £3.99 a month while all users above the age of 28 pay a monthly fee of whopping £14.99! You can read more about it here but for now let’s just say that there really isn’t any point for any regular users to sign up to Tinder Plus as the regular version works just fine.

Is it true that there is a limit to right swipes or likes for regular Tinder users? Yes it is. But in reality this won’t affect your normal use as you’re unlikely to swipe right so many times every day for the paywall to come up. The whole feature has only been designed to stop spammers and bots abusing the system, so you don’t have to worry about it. And even if you turn out to be one of those extraordinary Tinder users who really loves everybody on Tinder, you’d just have to wait until the next day to keep swiping right again after you’ve used up your limit.

Extras

So, what happens if you like somebody and swipe right? Unfortunately we have to tell you that nothing will happen right away. There will be no magic bells ringing in his or her profile, notifying of new likes pouring in. Your profile also appears in their list and only after they’ve swiped right too will you both get a little notification that there’s been a match.

What happens after that is totally up to you. If you’d like, you can start a conversation with your match – there’s a special in-built messenger for that, so you don’t need to change any phone numbers or email addresses right away.

tinder review - match

Another way how you can interact with your matches is through a special new feature called ‘Moments’. All you need to do is take a photo using the app. The photo will be available for all of your matches to see and assess – they can do that by swiping. If they swipe right, it means they liked your photo, so it makes it easier for you to start a conversation and/or see what you have in common with your match.

You can see all of their shared moments – or hide them, if you don’t want to see any more. Bear in mind that each photo is visible for only 24 hours, after which your matches won’t be able to see them any longer.

Tinder Review: Conclusion

Tinder is super easy to use and sneakily addictive. You can go for hours swiping, swiping and swiping. However, is it really an app we can recommend if you want to find a date or even a long term relationship? Well, I suppose it all plays down to what type of dater you are and how seriously you take it all.

It goes without saying that an app that lets you make yes or no decisions based mainly on photos can’t be seen as an in-depth matchmaking device. If you’re the type of dater that likes to perform your own searches, who believes in compatibility testing, who likes to get to know your matches before diving in to conversations then Tinder probably isn’t right for you.

At the same time Tinder is much, much more than just a mere hook-up app. Claiming that would totally undermine the millions of users who’ve downloaded Tinder on their phones and are happily using it every day. It’s an easy, fun and straightforward way to meet new people and – what’s more – it’s completely free!

Tinder review - Good Easy to use, cheap and cheerful.
Tinder review - Bad Slightly shallow. Decisions are made based largely on profile photos.

Visit website

You can now swipe left or right on our Tinder review as the decision to sign up is over to you!


About the Author

has been reviewing and writing about the world of online dating since 2008 and the launch of Online Dating Help. A stickler for promoting ethical practices within the UK dating industry she champions the sites that get it right while highlighting those holding it back. You can follow her on Google+



Leave a Reply

Back to Top ↑