Dating has never been easy. I should know, I've only ever had one relationship in my twenty-some-odd-years of life. When I found myself single and ready to mingle earlier in 2017, I thought I'd bite the bullet and try out what all the cool kids were doing: dating apps.
Tinder, Bumble, Match, you name it and I tried it. And in case you're wondering how successful I was, don't. I wasn't. But I did make a couple of new friends, so I suppose that's saying something.
Leave it to me to find new friends on Tinder but not a date.
That aside, in the seemingly endless sea of websites and apps designed to help you find 'the one,' I've come across 3 dating apps that you single-folk should consider if you haven't already.
1. Hinge
What I Like: Creating a profile greets you with a bunch of unique question prompts, designed to let potential matches get a better look at who you are. It's a great feature for those of us who can't think of what to write in an 'about me'.
Hinge also allows for videos to be used in your profile instead of pictures only like Tinder, Bumble, and the like.
'Liking' someone involves more than just swiping on their photos too. Someone have a funny joke or witty quote in their bio? You can like that piece specifically and even send a message related to it.
What I Don't Like: Not too much to dislike about the app from my few weeks of use, though it does seem like users are less active than others. That or my bio sucked even with all of the app's assistance.
2. Coffee Meets Bagel
What I Like: There's a feature in the app for you to choose two of your photos and have the community vote which one is more appealing. It can help you decide what photos are worth posting to your profile.
Each profile also allows for a lot of information to be shared so people can get a good glimpse into who you are, and the search functionality has a wide range of filters outside of the simple age and distance qualifiers that some other apps are limited by.
What I Don't Like: The coffee beans function makes this a 'pay-to-play' app. You get a certain number of beans to start and can earn a very small amount in the app, but these beans are required to like someone's profile in the first place.
This means that you have to be much more selective with who you like, but anyone looking for a more wallet-friendly experience will be left frustrated.
3. Glint
What I Like: Glint is centered around helping you interact with others through fun mini-games built into the app. It's a nice, low-pressure approach that might be easier than swiping manically and trying your best pickup line over and over again.
I also found myself drawn to the user interface of the app itself. Can't explain why, but I just really liked how it looked.
What I Don't Like: In my limited experience trying out Glint, there just didn't seem to be too many people involved. This meant fewer interactions which is a shame considering how promising the app seemed.
Dating has never been easy and it never will be. Maybe one of these apps can make it easier for you.
