Dating apps are a cool and trendy way to meet potential partners in a world where balancing work and life is becoming increasingly difficult.
Rising in popularity, they are a go-to option for individuals, especially teenagers and recent adults, to look for people that share mutual interests, having compatible personalities, and fit their ideal partner persona.
As such, we have compiled a list of 15 of the top dating apps based on global popularity, with regards to different demographics.
1.Tinder
Tinder is the most popular free dating app with users across the globe. It is often the first application that comes to mind when people talk about dating apps and for very good reason. Tinder was released in 2012 and is available in more than 190 countries, with 57 million Tinder users around the world.
Tinder’s parent company Match Group reported a total of $444 million of revenue in Q3 2018.
This incredibly famous application is based on the “Double opt-in” model, Tinder is easy to use with an intuitive and enjoyable user interface. All you have to do is swipe right if you like a profile, and if they swiped right to you as well, you can get the conversation ball rolling.
Apart from the free version that you can download from the app store, Tinder’s paid versions such as Tinder Plus and Gold allow you even more freedom, with unlimited likes and more control on your profile. So if you can spend a few dollars, you can make matches with an even wider set of people and who knows, maybe that’s where the match you’ve been waiting for presents itself.
2. OkCupid
OkCupid is a great dating application, for both casual dating and more serious long-term relationships.It allows users to find people with similar interests and dislikes by allowing them to highlight their interests and dislikes.
The applications show you not only the single people near you but also people with shared interests. This makes the application both effective and smart in its ability to match you with people that have the potential to mean more to you than just a face on the application.
With OkCupid, you can have private conversations with people on their secure private messaging system, and the user interface allows you to adjust to the app’s nuances very quickly.
Moreover, OkCupid allows you to choose from 12 gender identifications and 20 sexual orientations across the spectrum. Questions within the application are targeted to understand not just your personality but also the kind of relationship you are looking for.
OkCupid’s in-app purchases allow you to boost your profile for more people to see you, increasing your chances to find the match of a lifetime. You can download this application for free and spend a few bucks to make the best use out of it.
3. Coffee Meets Bagel
CBM is a dating platform that’s excellent for people seeking a long-term relationship. The application provide users with intelligent matches every day at noon.It allows you to understand people through offering in-depth profiles to see if you share interests with other users. This gives you the chance to break-ice quickly by giving you a mutual interest to talk about.This shared passion can increase the chances of choosing with whom you share the right chemistry.
Like most dating apps, CMB also allows you to use in-app purchases to boost your profile for more visibility. The unique thing about it, although it is that it has the “read receipt” function, in chats. This helps you to know who is not interested in pursuing a conversation with you even after liking you in the first instance. This means, on CMB, you’re never left in the grey area of not knowing if the other person is interested in engaging with you or not.
Lastly, activity reports on the application give you a better understanding of your potential matches, to make your user experience more informed and seamless.
4. Bumble
The Bumble app is one of the top dating apps that deploys three different functions to provide value for various market demands. Bumble Date, Bumble BFF, and Bumble Bizz. On the app, you can add photos, a biography and link it to your Instagram to showcase your personality with clarity to other users.
Bumble Date has a unique feature that allows women to always make the first move. This is a pre-emptive solution to unsolicited messages from people women aren’t particularly interested in conversing with.
Bumble BFF helps you enhance your life by empowering you in making new friends, getting to know more people outside of the expectation of any romantic intimacy. This helps you expand your friend circle and meet more people with similar interests.
Bumble Bizz is designed to help you expand your professional network, meet professionals from different or similar fields, get in touch with mentors, and enhance your professional network for better career opportunities.
Bumble caters to all sorts of demands. It serves people looking for a romantic partner, have a better social circle or find new friends, and improve their networking on a professional level.
The catch, although, is that you need to be very responsive when you match with someone. Matches expire in 24 hours if you don’t start a conversation.
What makes it truly stand out is it’s “women first” approach, something that has made it very famous for single moms. Bumble is for all your interests, so start swiping left and right and increase your social circle in all aspects of life.
5. Chappy
Chappy is Bumble’s dating app for people who identify as gay. Historically, Chappy has positioned itself as a relationship app, instead of a hookup app.Resembling the functionality of the Bumble app, Chappy is exclusively made for gay men. It allows any user to initiate the conversation.
Chappy takes pride in its community moderation and focuses on creating a discrimination-free space for its users.
6. Jack’d
Jack’d makes finding a gay or bisexual partner easier for its users. The app allows you to customize your profile’s aesthetics to showcase your taste to potential partners and have a good first impression.
It gives you the ability to customize different sections of your profile to exhibit your personality and interests to viewers who come to your profile. This helps you increase your chances of being liked by others.
Moreover, you can share private photos on your profile just like in other dating applications.
7. Hinge
Hinge is an online dating app that targets an audience that’s interested in having long-term commitments and relationships.It focuses on providing value through matching people with similar passions by matching their interests to other profiles.
These profiles are displayed to users, and they can choose to engage with other people. Users can like profiles or comment on them once they’ve gone through the profile and found something interesting.
Once your proposal is met with positivity, you get the conversation going. Exchange phone numbers, go on a date, and see if that’s the right person for you.But that’s not all. The application also has a recommendation feature in which you can provide details about your date and get future recommendations.
Like most other applications, Hinge’s in-app purchases allow you to have far more control over your profile, allowing you to make it more desirable for others to see.
8. Badoo
Badoo is a fascinating dating application, to say the least. Designed generally for people looking for casual flings or relationships (at least to begin with), it helps users find all kinds of matches.Badoo has three stand-out features that you can decide for yourself if you appreciate it or not.
First, Badoo’s strong verification system makes it a reliable platform in terms of other users on the application. As a vetting process, this is a good thing to make the application more genuine. So you can message people, with far more comfort and ease and utilize the messaging system with a lot of freedom.
Badoo also has a video calling feature that allows you to talk to people in a more personalized and face-to-face manner. The pros and cons of this are similar to that of any video chat; it’s a personal preference, and users can choose to utilize or ignore this feature. Although, it does add an extra layer of conversation that users can use for a better understanding of their matches.
More interestingly, it allows users to match with celebrity lookalikes. This is primarily meant for people who have specific aesthetic preferences and it also adds a bit of zest to the matching process.
If any of these features seem interesting to you, the application is free to download and comes in 27 different languages, so why not give it a try?
9. Grindr
“Grindr” is one of the most popular social networking platforms for people that identify as gay, bisexual, and trans people. It has around 27 million members, with an average of 3.6 million men using the app every day.
Grindr shows you potential matches based on your location and shared interests.The application integrates the ability to share your current location with your matches to meet them in-person if you are satisfied with the conversation. This makes meeting your partners highly convenient for its users.
10. eharmony
eharmony has been active since 2000 and is the first platform of its kind to implement a matching algorithmic to make the best possible dating matches for its users.
Once you sign up, you have to go through a questionnaire to create a profile persona that helps the application match you with compatible personality types. The questionnaire includes about 80 questions through which it determines 32 compatibility dimensions for your profile. This includes communication style, your world view, interests, and your way of approaching people.
Moreover, the application’s premium version allows you to see users who have viewed your profile recently and take advantage of additional discovery options, for more visibility on the platform.
The value proposition is simple, what happens when you apply a compatibility system based on scientific data to match people? This complex compatibility system makes sure you get the most compatible matches to increase your chances of finding the right people for you.
11. EliteSingles
Elitesingles has a different approach to its target audience. This application is tailored for professionals and doesn’t target a wider target market of other dating apps.This app specifically looks for people with a higher level of education or professionals working in industries and not just any other user on the internet.
The EliteSingles’ User Interface is similar to other dating applications with a right-left swiping option to match or ignore potential matches depending on how you evaluate their profile.
Available on both Android and iOS, the application is lightweight and takes less space on your mobile device. So if you have dating standards that are above the standard, this application might give you the match you are looking for.
12. Her
Her is a dating and social networking platform that targets people who identify as lesbian, bisexual women, people who identify as queer or non-binary.The signup process is simple. Users can use their social media accounts on Facebook or Instagram to get started.
The application allows users to see the activities of other verified users. You can “Like” photos of other users, and if there is mutual interest, the app will link you up to chat with each other.
Two things make Her so unique. First, the application offers social features, trending news, and articles on LGBTQIA+ issues, events, questions, and more.Second, it limits cisgender people from signing up for the application, making it a safe space for people to operate in and be themselves.
Free to download, the application offers premium paid features that you can avail by opting to pay for additional features and controls.
13. The League
This is an application dedicated to people who are looking for their “one true love” or their “special one.” The league promises users matches that are looking for a long-term sustainable relationship.
With around 250,000 daily users, the league requires mandatory LinkedIn verification to join its platform.
The application has been in the news recently, as it follows Bumble’s lead towards integrating a video date feature within the platform. The idea is to allow users to speed date, with a feature called League live. This feature allows users to opt-in for video dates, which takes place at 9 pm local time on Sunday, starting from December 1st.
Each user will get three dates, based on their preferences and location and an ice-breaker question that they can answer to initiate a conversation. These video calls will be 2 minutes long, allowing users to heart react to the other to officially match on the application and have an open chat line.
So set your preferences and get going with “The League” and its to meet your significant other.
14. Happn
Happn is an online dating application with a gamification element to it. Available in 15 languages and working across 40 countries, its target audience is huge.
The app comes with a fascinating feature that is yet to be competed against in the dating application market. What makes Happn stand out the feature that uses your geolocation to recommend the matches you have crossed paths with in real life.
The user interface is intuitive and easy to understand. A user likes a profile if they are interested in the other person and can only start a conversation if that person like them back on the app.
Furthermore, Happn gives its users an engaging in-app game called Crush Time. The game allows users to guess which profile they think liked them, from an option of four profiles. This makes the application both interactive and engaging for its users.
15. Zoe
Zoe is also based on the most famous dating app model of mutual interest to provide matches with other users. If you react positively to a user, they have to also give you a thumbs up for you to chat with them.
This application is also tailored for women looking for a Lesbian partner. Explore different profiles, show your interest in other users, and match with your possible romantic partner on Zoe.