Dating App Trends: Tinder or Hinge

Dec 12, 2013
Melissa Garcia • Lifestyle

In a world where online dating has become the norm, the digital world has upped the game and has now introduced us to the world of dating apps. It’s hard to keep track of what’s deemed acceptable in the eyes of our peers. Initially, many people were skeptical of online dating and wouldn’t admit to meeting someone on the Internet. If you must have a cover story for how you met your new beau, meeting someone through an app probably isn’t for you. But it’s important to keep up with the times so we’re checking out two of the most popular apps that have taken our iPhones and Droids by storm.

Tinder

I heard tons of people talking about this addictive new app called Tinder. Curious, I took a gander for myself and was a little taken aback by the popularity of the app. Your matches are picked based off your Facebook likes. But don’t worry, the app doesn’t actually post to your page. And from there you get to swiping. What does swiping mean, you may ask? Well, if you’re interested in whomever pops across your screen you swipe to the right, and if you’re not interested, just swipe left. See why I was taken aback? This isn’t based off of common interests, but more so whether or not you’re attracted to the person staring up at you from your phone screen.

While a lot of users refer to Tinder as just a hookup app, I’ve personally known a few people who did actually date someone they met on the app. Hookup app or not, there’s a new app in the market aimed at getting people in relationships. And it’s called Hinge.

Hinge

I’ve yet to use this nor do I know anyone who has used it, but that’s due in part because it’s only slowly taking off. In order to be matched up, you must currently be friends with someone on Facebook who is using the app, otherwise you won’t be able to use the app. Admittedly, this puts us a bit more at ease, knowing that we’d actually be set up with people in our social circle. But it kind of stinks having to wait until someone we know signs up. Whereas with Tinge, you can jump on the app at any given moment and receive matches for instant gratification and fun. One other thing about Hinge that shows it’s serious about being the match.com of dating apps is it’s romance graph. This graph filters matches for the user based on compatibility of professions and hobbies, hopefully resulting in better matches and more relationships.

With its $4 million dollar investment, time will tell if Hinge can actually rival Tinder. While Tinder seems to be at the top of its game, we all know how quickly that can change.