As a man: Prepare to be rejected over and over, to feel disposible and useless, unwanted and nobody likes you and you will never be as good as other men and you might as well end it now.

As a woman: Prepare to meet men who have the biggest mommy issues, to be called an entitled bitch and everybody who likes you will promptly abandon you once they figure out who you really are.

These apps prey on your worst anxieties about yourself, and then sell you the remedy: An outrageously expensive subscription to skip past the chaff and find your true life mate. Except, then you’d leave the platform, and you’d stop paying up. Match group is busy gobbling up every dating app they can get their hands on and they will stop at nothing to turn them all into the same steaming pile of shit.

Beyond useless.

So useless that they’re probably just going to convert over to AI chat apps and you’ll just know from the get-go that everybody you talk to is a bot (instead of just 4 out of 5 users being bots). I’m guessing they’ll farm that sweet, juicy user-data from however many years now to train their AI on. Base level will be a semi-interested friend, but the higher-subscription level you pay into will unlock romantic options, naughty (ai-generated) pics, and they’ll eventually add a feature where you can go on virtual dates with your AI companion and they can scan your pictures/photos and make comments on what you “saw together” on your date. Maybe they’ll even insert themselves into the images to make it seem like they were really there. Hell, they’ll probably even get to a point where you can have live voice chats with them.

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.

If that is your profile name you’re pretty much fucked;)

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.

Hinge was okay 2.5 years ago when I met my gf on it. It’s since been purchased by match.com and is likely ruined now.

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

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.

If you’re at least a 4/10 woman or an 8/10 man, they are pretty effective. For the rest of us, not so much.

They aren’t great, but they aren’t totally useless either. I met my amazing fiance through one, but I had to wade through a ton of shit first.

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 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.

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 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.