Dating Apps - Do We Stan Them?
Jacey Chen (ISB G11)
We’ve all been interested in and heard of bad online dating stories or even stories that went surprisingly successful, but that’s all we seem know about dating apps.
Being really tired of being hidden away from the dating app game, Jacey delves into the terrifying world of thirsty online strangers to see what the hype’s all about.
Dating apps, interesting in concept and doesn’t actually work as well as a lot of people would like them to. It “promises” a relationship that would leave the user satisfied; however, over the years of the existence of dating apps many people (YouTubers) have had their share of stories involving psychos and boring encounters. In this article, I would like to do a 2 week deep dive into the inner workings of the 5 dating apps: Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, OKCupid, and Happn. They will be rated through 1 to 7. 1 being “I am utterly disgusted” and 7 being “wow I’m actually surprised that it’s good.” The grading scale we’re all too familiar with. Both Happn and Hinge don’t have many users since they are not as well known as Tinder and Bumble, which might affect their score in the 4 categories I am using to rate these apps: aesthetic, introduction to profile creation, matching functions, and the community as a whole.
Aesthetic: Aesthetics will be tested through the layout of the app and the ease of navigating it. Colors and fonts will of course be a factor in this test.
Introduction to profile creation: This tests whether or not the introduction in how to use the app is helpful and simple enough as an app as a whole. (also has something to do with the layout) One thing I will be looking for in these apps is how much you will be able to answer the apps generated questions. This is because it’s always easier to answer questions than to think up ways to describe yourself and would be helpful to the majority. This would not be a crucial element but it would add up points.
Matching Functions: Matching functions is the most crucial part of a dating app, this is how others are able to determine whether or not they are interested in the person being presented to them. This category also focuses on the free options of the apps. Dating apps usually have premium paid accounts that let you swipe or find more people after a certain amount of swipes, this too will be considered in this category. I will see if the matching function Is useful or not, does the app match up couples after both anonymously swipe right? Or are they presented to them as someone who is interested? These are the questions to consider when looking through these criteria.
Community: Ah. The community… this is difficult to study under 2 weeks. There are such people known for chronic right-swiping and those who are just sketchy in general. There are lots of r/niceguys and those who… well… like to send selfies but the camera’s accidentally facing the wrong way.
I will be using these 6 pictures (that will be seen throughout the article) and the very lame bio (I’m bad at bios) “Hi! Hope we can get along~” in every account I create. I will also allow the apps to match me any gender and, or, the options that are available. My persona? Some random college girl mwahaha.
Bumble
Aesthetic: Bumble has a nice yellow aesthetic that’s pretty unique to itself and matches with its bee theme. One extra tidbit that I really enjoy in the profile viewing portion of bumble is the scrolling function while scrolling you can see the bios, hobbies, responses to generated questions, all in-between pictures. I really like this addition and it makes the interface enjoyable.
Introduction to profile creation: It brings the user to profile creation before anything else and they can create an account through Apple ID and phone number, but you need to input your email for both. It first has the user choose up to 6 pictures of themselves in order to get started (I submitted my 6.)
One downside I find with the pictures is how there is no cropping option. Though it’s not too much of a hassle to crop images on the photo album app it’s always more convenient for the user if a cropping option was present. There are 2 modes in bumble Date mode and BFF mode. Each mode is for those who want a different outcome from the app and can be changed once profile creation is set up.
These modes allow those who are looking for either a friendship or a romantic relationship to only look for people of the same category. This is understandable but difficult for indecisive people. Usually, dating websites would let you choose both options (this will be the default in every profile I create) however, Bumble only lets you choose one over the other. This will make it lose points. Some people are open to having only the relationship option but some are looking for friendships that may end in a relationship as well. I understand its goal in separating the two outcomes but it could easily be merged into one. I will choose Date Mode for this app. After the tutorial of the basics, it throws you right into swiping without finishing the full profile or showing where extra changes can be made this might throw off some first-time users. It’s always pleasant to see app-generated questions, though these ones are pretty generic I think they’re not bad as icebreakers. I scrolled through the different starter question choices and came upon “Go-to karaoke song…” and answered WAP. Basic information can be put into the profile section (sex, sexuality, location, etc.)
Bumble adds in the choice to display your work and education locations in order to find those who have those in common. You can also connect your account to Spotify and Instagram.
Matching function(s):
After profile creation, we go straight into swiping. Bumble’s swiping is the generic right and left swipes, right for connect and left for no thank you.
Once people begin to like you back you must pay before viewing them which seems counteractive to what it tries to do. Because I’m rating through its availability through the free option this is really bad for its points. Though if someone who you liked likes you back you are able to converse with them, this does deface all the fish in the sea. After swiping, other people who match with you will pop up on your feed. In Bumble, women (it gets tricky when both parties are female) are the ones who instigate conversation though its ideology is considerate it may be difficult in practice, some women (me) might not want to start the conversation and it may be difficult and uncomfortable for them. However, Bumble does add a feature that counteracts this problem. The woman will get to choose between saying hello which instantly sends an emoji of a waving hand into chat or ask questions from an already generated series or questions. It scared me at first because I didn’t think that pressing the “say hello” option would instantly throw me into a conversation. One thing I really like about Bumble is how users are able to swipe to what feels like an infinite amount of time, this leads to an enjoyable experience in using the app instead of always being frustrated with the choices that were presented to them and then not being able to see more under 7 hours later (which a lot of other apps tend to do.)
Community: There are some people who ask unsettling questions in the first few chat bubbles of communication, specifically, location. Now, this is justifiable in the app being used for finding actual relationships and people would like to see a potential partner in person. Though… it’s still really sketchy.
I’ve also had conversations with very interesting people (both good and bad)
Here are some sneak peeks of my conversations that were fun or made me feel fear:
(Note: I did not feel like telling people where I lived and who I live with, thank you very much.)
(Note: We talked so much that we just got each other’s WeChat, she was very fun to talk to and I made a good friend!)
(Note: I found my lost friend :D (You’ll meet her later in the Tinder section.))
Tinder
The all too well-known tinder.
Aesthetic: I, surprisingly, like Tinder’s layout and color scheme. The spacing and organization of everything pretty clear. Though there are some screens with no specific color theme or coordination, the app plays with tints and gradients in order to have them blend in.
Introduction to profile creation: It starts profile creation by asking you to create your profile through phone number - this is good in terms of guaranteeing the authenticity of the person behind the profile and prevent trolls, but it can get annoying in terms of having the account be linked to a phone number and allowing the system to have access to it. After connecting your account to your phone number it allows you to connect to either your apple or Facebook account. (You can skip this process though)
It then goes through the typical process of sexuality, age, and gender. After asking for school (which you can skip) the “hand-holding” process ends in picture picking. Tinder allows its users to add up to 9 pictures max which is a lot more than other apps, it’s always nice to have more space than not enough. Tinder gives you the choice to skip the tutorial which is a nice consideration for those who are used to the dating app scene.
Matching function(s): The swiping functions of Tinder are the same as every other dating app with the swipe right and swipe left options.
Similar to other free options in other popular apps, once people begin to like you back you must pay before viewing them which, again, seems counteractive to what it tries to do. Because I’m rating through it’s availability through the free option this is really bad for its points. Though if someone who you swiped right on swipes right for you back you are able to converse with them, that or they already have a paid “VIP” account. There are other features that can be confusing like super likes and other features that I didn’t try to use nor could use (it’s only for VIP) this may end up confusing new users but it does add something new to the typical dating app.
Community: I actually met far more interesting people on Tinder than on Bumble, I also got more responses from other people. This is a plus for the community of tinder.
Here are some sneak peeks of my conversations that were fun or made me feel fear :
I never really had any bad experience with conversations in Tinder. (surprisingly) There are just some conversations that I thought were hilarious or really memorable.
Hinge
Hinge goes straight into profile creation by asking for a phone number which is similar to Tinder; in order to create an account your need to input your phone number which is good for authentication. I had some issues inputting my phone number in… It wouldn’t take it… this isn’t really the best thing for the first impression. I wasn’t able to get in at all, this disqualifies Hinge.
Happn
Aesthetic: I don’t like the aesthetics of the app as a whole. This may stem from its overly used blue tone that has been done on many platforms already. It feels old and it doesn’t really make the process all that enjoyable. It feels like Facebook and Linkedin… not the vibe you want from a dating app. The swiping feature of looking through photos is one of my favorites so far, it looks like a fancy website, and swiping up and down is just easier to do.
Introduction to profile creation: Ok, so, Happn starts off with making an account through Facebook, Apple ID, or phone number. When choosing identity options (sex, sexuality, age, etc.) it only notices female and male options and may not be appealing and inclusive to those who identify as others. It starts off picture picking by letting you choose up to 9 pictures. It also begins a questionnaire process in where it asks you about what you're looking for in the app and other things you would have to put on your profile.
Matching function(s): This matchmaking feature is different from all the other apps I have tested so far, instead of swiping the user would press either an x or a heart button one to pass and one to like, respectively. Another thing I don’t really like is how it wants you to always have your location on. Location is to find those who live near you but I’ve always put it on “when I’m using the app” but Happn will not find matches if you don’t change it to always which I don’t like.
Community: I was actually unable to meet with anyone because of the location feature (or I’m just extremely ugly) either way this criterion was hindered because I refused to share my location with the app at all times. Without turning on location always it will not show you as a match to anyone else.
OkCupid
Aesthetic: The aesthetics were pretty decent, I liked the sharp blue and magenta color scheme but the spacing and the layout of the app put me at some kind of unease in the “likes you” section and I have no way to explain why.
Introduction to profile creation: OkCupid starts off with signing up through email. I prefer this because I don’t really like linking accounts to my phone number and neither do a lot of other people. It goes through the normal processing of gathering basic information. I really like how features they have in their information gathering make the process feel more liberating and up to the person instead of making restrictions due to some tech issue.
There is also a very inclusive and vast variety of genders and sexualities that should be the basis of a dating app (where sex and sexual preference can be very important to certain people.) There are few rules that restrict face coverage and unrelated material which is pretty nice to have as a rule, however, you will be banned and unable to use the app if you were to break any of these picture guidelines, which may be a bit too harsh. It allows you to upload up to 6 pictures however small files will not be able to be displayed, because of this I will be taking one of my pictures off.
Matching function(s): OkCupid is unique because it launches you into a quiz first thing. I like this concept because the questions asked are like those BuzzFeed questions, they’re relatively related but also not at all making the process more enjoyable.
This quiz also allows you to find others who have the same beliefs or the same opinions and eventually uses your answers to see the compatibility you and another person may have. It also asks you what you prefer your partner’s answers to these questions be. I think that’s very unique and really good for this type of partner searching. The swiping function is the same as any other and allows you to look through pictures the same way Tinder does, by tapping.
OkCupid also allows you to create your ideal person in order for them to get a better understanding of who you’re attracted to.
Once people begin to like you back you must pay before viewing them which seems counteractive to what it tries to do. Because I’m rating through it’s availability through the free option this is really bad for its points. One thing I love is how you can message people even though the likes don’t work, so people who can’t see likes because they’re not paying can message instead (a way to cheat the system.)
Community: I would like to think that the community isn’t bad but you’d certainly run into very... interesting people. Those people are most likely to interact with you first. I’ve come in contact with people who wouldn’t take a hint, a little too straight forward, and one’s that just simped too hard. I would also like to say sorry for all of those that I have ghosted, sometimes the conversation would escalate out of my control or bore me to an extreme extent. This just goes to show that you should pick people that are of your interest and not if you’re doing research and just accept everyone (well almost everyone in this case) because you need to.
Here are some sneak peeks of my conversations that were fun or made me feel fear (There was an intense amount of e-girl squiggle because I don’t know how conversations work, people scary) :
(Note: I uhm... am not equipped to talk to these types of people)
(Note: I- I’m sorry, I can’t see past the emojis.)
(Note: Someone please help)
Let me also take into consideration that these are the only people that I have bumped into and talked to during my time in Okcupid and, surprisingly, I was expecting to see a lot more of this in other apps but this was the only one that was the most severe. I never even got a backwards selfie (relieved).
Results:
Bumble - Aesthetics (5), Intro (5.5), Matching (5), Community (6)
Tinder - Aesthetics (6), Intro (6), Matching (5), Community (6.5) 🎉 Winner
Hinge - Disqualified
Happn - Aesthetics (4), Intro (5), Matching (4), Community (1)
OkCupid - Aesthetics (5), Intro (6), Matching (7), Community (3)
Surprisingly, Tinder is the best dating app out of this bunch. This makes sense with its title as the #1 dating app in app stores. A lot of reasons why it excelled in a lot of areas may be due to the number of people that use Tinder and how much experience Tinder has in the dating app scene.
Please remember that the minimum age for signing up for these apps is 18 and that I’ve only been using the apps for around 2 weeks. My experience may greatly differ from others depending on a lot of things. Please be careful when dealing with strangers online, I was careful to ensure that information that was not necessary was not given to the apps or the individuals I was speaking with. Good luck with Valentine’s this year, you don’t need dating apps to get through it, I believe in you!
JaceyC