Dating Apps HellO Date!

When youre new to the dating market because of an end to your marriage or a long term relationship (LTR) or youre just tired of watching Game of Thrones alone, theres a moment of pure panic when you google dating apps and 29,700,000 results pop up. Where do you begin in the sea of potential apps when you dont even know how to swim? You can ask your jaded friends whove been on Plenty of Fish for years and still havent caught a single guppy let alone a whale, but theyll discourage you and tell you horror stories and youll have plenty of your own soon enough. I dove in and this is what Ive discovered about these dating apps:

OKCupid is NOT Okay, my girlfriend told me but I joined anyway and shifted through the hundreds of messages from mostly nice guys. Its free and you dont have to match with anyone to be able to talk to them, so if you have lots of free time this is a great app for you. I met a few guys that Im still friends with and I learned that just because a guy messages you, you dont have to respond. Ive asked lots of guys about this and they told me that if youre not interested just hit the delete button and move on, no hard feelings.

Next up for me was Bumble because it uses Facebook to match you up with your friends friends and that seemed pretty safe. Apparently, Im friends with only writers as I was matched up with A LOT of writers. I went on plenty of first and only dates with sitcom writers and Im still friends with an author who makes me laugh, so I consider Bumble a win but there were no love connections. Its free but when you match with someone, the girl has to start the conversation. I liked that but some of my girlfriends think its the guys job to pursue the girl so they wont join.

The League is an exclusive app that uses your Facebook and LinkedIn to weed out the people who dont have jobs. When I applied it told me that there were over 15,000 people ahead of me in line to join. I paid the membership fee so I could jump ahead but when my girlfriend joined the next day and didnt pay, she was still admitted within a short time. They only give you 3-5 guys at 6:00 p.m. and you can heart or X them, and then if you match you can message each other. Within a short period of time I ran out of guys. When I emailed the concierge he told me that theyre working to expand their age demographics so basically, Im too old for the app. OUCH! I did match with a lot of guys who never responded so my guess is that they gave up too and that there are very little people actually using the app. For me, it was not worth the money or time.

Match should be called pen pal. I paid to join and then ended up chatting endlessly with more dudes than I care to admit to. After a while I started to suggest meeting for tea because they never did. I went on a few dates and met some sweet guys but I deleted my account within a month after getting messages from guys whose main picture is of them sleeping.

The Inner Circle is a very young app as in that its newer and because of all the 18 to 29 year old guys using it. The guys on this site messaged me more than on other apps and there were a lot of good-looking guys. I had a ton of boys ask me out for coffee and men who asked me out for drinks of the stronger type. Ive met a lot of interesting guys and have made some friends. Im very flattered that Im popular with 24 year olds but I just cant go there. I have had a few great dates with a man my own age and if I was in my twenties I would have a date every night for the rest of my twenties.

Tinder is the most downloaded dating app, so although I was avoiding it because of the reputation that its a hookup app, I felt that to really research it, I needed to join. To my delight and horror I saw many of these pictures: guys with monkeys, no heads just abs, food, animals, landscapes, group shots, back of their heads, flowers, dogs blocking their faces, sleeping, sleeping with a baby, babies, drinking in every picture, quotes, flipping off the camera, of celebrities, just blank, transvestites in lingerie, Snapchat dear/dog filters, and more abs! Tip of the day: post very clear pictures of just you and at least one full body shot if you want any chance of a swipe right. I like the app because you have to like each other to talk and Ive met some wonderful guys who arent on there for just hookups.

I joined a dating app and then I joined another one and then started to feel awkward that the same guys I saw on the first one were on the second one and the third and the fourth. I asked a guy about that and he said that guys have to cast a wide net to cover all their bases. Some guys I knew as friends and we would wink at each other and then I would see the guys who liked me on the first app and then never started a conversation and didnt responded when I reached out. Like with anything, you have to put in the effort to see the results. I would wish you good luck with your swiping but when guys put that at the end of their bios, I feel that they would get more likes if they used that space for more important information. And thats my last tip, join an app and then be clear about who you are and what you want and you will create your own luck.