I can’t recall where I read it, but just in the US, 80 Million people have tried dating apps and 30% of married couples met through the internet.
When you have a stable job and a routine life, your circle of friends becomes more fixed and it becomes harder and harder to meet new people — sometimes you’re too shy, too afraid of being rejected, or sometimes just too lazy. It’s times like these that dating apps begin to seem quite appealing, and worth trying out.
Tinder
When it comes to dating apps, you can’t deny that Tinder is one of the first apps that comes to mind. Since most of my single friends (sigh) are using it, and the user interface is quite simple (as a UX Designer I personally cannot stand the lack of elements and poor interface), its definitely the first app that comes to my mind when I want to make new friends.
1.Easy and Simple Onboarding
To start the registration process, Tinder doesn’t ask for too much information or permissions. All you need are your phone number, Email, or Facebook to register. After all, it is just an app to get to know more people.
Although convenient, there are a lot of fake profile scams, people who objectify woman. So you might have to watch out for these profiles.
2. User Experience
Tinder’s interface is designed to be as simple as playing a game with real people, so that users are very good at getting started (I even taught my mother how to use it, she also learned it immediately).
Remember when you first started swiping? If you slide a card to the left or right, you will look forward to a match with the ones you swiped right. Once the pairing is successful, go to the next level and start chatting.
It feels like you are playing a game. Real-life interactive mobile games.
**Emotion sells **— This “gaming” Design Interface makes Tinder a classic for dating apps, and one of the reasons why users have the highest adhesion. However, this also creates an atmosphere that does not require too much attention to build relations with users.
3. Large User Base
Sometimes I keep swiping until very late at night. It doesn’t even matter if I set the matching area more restricted, It will still be enough for me to keep swiping it for seven days and seven nights.
Of course, this can be an advantage, but in fact, more than half of the time spent on Tinder gets wasted filtering matches that are not suitable for you. This is a big drawback for a user who is usually busy with work or other daily errands.
4. Inbox is not convenient at all
To start, you are not able to exchange photos anymore. I have always suspected that Tinder is making their chat system buggy, so users can exchange to other messaging apps as soon as possible.
Stuck Screen and unrefreshed chats are common problems. Sometimes a message is automatically sent twice, or If you haven’t gotten a little intimate with the other person It will make you want to throw your phone away.
Bumble
After using Tinder for a while, I also tried to use other dating apps. Bumble is the only one I have been using. In addition to its simple interface, the gameplay is similar to Tinder, but there are some interesting tools.
1. Personal information is quite accurate
On Bumble, users can’t use someone else’s photos. It will ask you to take a photo and analyze it with facial recognition to ensure that users are uploading their own photos to the app.
In addition to your Bio, you can also choose to answer some of the system Ice-breaking previously recommended questions.
“Two Truths And One Lie” is my favorite one.You have the option to answer it with obviously 2 Truths and 1 Lie, and the other person can read it from your profile. It can be good topic between two people, breaking the ice when you first match.
There is also a section of the app that you can even “filter” people and exclude those who do not match your desired criteria, such as height, zodiac star sign, and much more things.(I don’t have a star sign preference, but I have friends who refuse to interact with people who have certain zodiac signs).
Filtering people out, even before having a conversation with them can be seem as bad, but compared to the Tinder troubles, it does avoid a lot of time wasting.
2. “Female First”
Many people know that Bumble is a dating app designed for women. After the matching is successful, only the woman can send the message first, and if there is no interaction after 24 hours, the match will be automatically cancelled.
This encourages more communication between the two parties, and if it was just a slippery hand, no worries, just wait for 24 hours and the magic happens.
3. The chat system is easy to use
Bumble’s chat system can not only transfer photos, but also make direct calls, without having to exchange phone numbers with each other. Bumble will also ask the user if he is willing to accept it, so the user will not be harassed and will not receive strangers photos.
To Conclude
Tinder does solve the pain points of modern people’s social lives, optimized the UX of online dating apps, and makes the whole process easy and fun. I personally like that. But to some extent, its design seems to reflect that in the end “Love is just a game.”
For me, I just don’t like to feel that i had wasted time, So if you have been single for too long, and just wanna expand your flirting data base, Tinder is right for you! If you are looking for a stable relationship, or if your leisure time is very small, Bumble will probably be your better choice.