Along with Tinder and Bumble, Hinge is one of the “big three” dating apps for American singles in search of love. Perhaps you’ve heard about its reputation as a relationship app and wondered whether your next partner could be hiding out there. Could downloading Hinge be the thing that turns around your love life?
Before you open the App Store, you’ll want to learn a little more about how Hinge operates. What’s the deal with roses? How much does it cost? And what do its users have to say?
We scoured the internet and learned all about Hinge so that you don’t have to. If you’re Hinge-curious, read on!
Hinge is a popular dating app that launched in 2013, just one year after Tinder. From the very beginning, Hinge marketed itself as less of a hookup app and more of a place to meet your future spouse. In fact, their slogan is that they’re “designed to be deleted.”
While you don’t actually swipe on Hinge profiles, it operates very similarly to Tinder and other swiping apps. You make a profile that reflects your personality, add photos, and set filters such as distance and age. Then you can look through profiles of potential matches and give them a like or a pass.
Unlike on Tinder, you do not need to match with someone on Hinge in order to message them. This gives users the chance to see who likes them and then make up their minds.
Though Hinge has been around for a while, it’s still one of America’s most popular dating apps. In fact, 23 million people joined Hinge in 2022. That’s a huge amount of singles who are hoping to find their person and are turning to Hinge for help.
Hinge is owned by Match Group, and it’s in good company there. The behemoth Match Group not only owns Hinge, but also Tinder, OK Cupid, Plenty of Fish, and more. Some people think that its monopoly on dating apps is causing all the platforms to look, feel, and operate the same. Whether you think it’s good or bad, Match Group probably won’t be giving up Hinge anytime soon.
Everyone who’s used Hinge seems to have an opinion about it. We read Hinge reviews from all over the internet to find out the dirt on this dating app.
Reddit users had good and bad things to say about Hinge. Unlike some dating apps where people take to Reddit to talk trash, there are a fair number of people out there saying that the app worked well or OK for them. Some Reddit users liked that they had serious conversations on Hinge, while others complained that online dating is a numbers game in general.
Hinge has a paltry 1.3 stars on Trustpilot. Some reviewers claim that the algorithm is keeping them from getting matches, while many others complain that they were banned for no reason.
App Store users are quite happy with Hinge, giving the app an average of 4.4 stars from 857.3K ratings. Some of the most frequent comments were about how easy it is to use the app and the high-quality people found on there. Many happy users reported meeting their current partner on Hinge.
With 303K reviews and an average of 3.4 stars, Hinge is doing just OK on Google Play. Reviewers complained about the Rose feature (read on for more about that), the limited number of likes you can send each day, and the cost of a premium membership.
Mindbodygreen, a wellness media brand, wrote a review of Hinge that runs through its nuts and bolts and then offers an opinion on the app. Their writer praised the higher level of maturity they’ve seen in Hinge matches versus on other dating apps and said it’s a good place to start if you want to date with intentionality.
PCMag ranks Hinge a 4 out of 5, calling it “excellent.” They note its “great interplay between photos and text” but also call out that there’s no desktop version. That means that if you want to sneak in some Hinge time on your work computer, you’re out of luck. PCMag also shouts out Hinge’s “classy” monochrome interface along with several other features. Overall, it’s a glowing review.
Best Company runs through the pros and cons of Hinge, such as its simple signup process (pro) and its lack of background checks (bad). Overall, it gives Hinge a positive review, praising its high-quality free version.
Match Group, the owner of Hinge, is currently being sued in a class action lawsuit by six plaintiffs. They claim that Match Group’s dating apps use harmful, predatory algorithms and make users addicted to swiping. While Hinge claims that it’s designed to be deleted, the plaintiffs in this lawsuit are alleging that Hinge does everything in its power to keep users single and swiping. That’s not hot!
Hinge is 100% a legitimate dating app with millions of users worldwide.
Hinge is very simple to use. You create a profile by uploading photos and replying to preconceived prompts. For example, one prompt you can select reads “I’m looking for…” You can then write in an answer—whether you choose a serious or a joking response is up to you.
Every time you log into the app, Hinge will show you potential matches. You can look through their profiles and send a like or a message to someone who fits your fancy. When someone likes or messages you, you’ll see that and can decide if you want to match with them or pass.
Once you match with someone, you can start (or continue) the conversation and perhaps make plans to meet up for a date.
Hinge has a lot to recommend it. It has a comprehensive free version with a lot of features, such as the ability to send a weekly Rose. It also allows users to make detailed profiles that can be much more reflective of their personalities than a simple bio. Best of all, Hinge’s reputation as a relationship app seems to be based in truth. It took first place in The Knot 2023 Engagement and Jewelry Study, making it the app most likely to lead to marriage.
In terms of Hinge’s cons, you can only send a certain number of likes per day on their free version. Also, many people don’t like that when you like someone, that person will see it right away. That’s opposed to a model like Tinder, where you only see if someone likes you when you like them too.
Hinge has a reputation for being a relationship app. That said, it allows users to indicate whether they’re looking for a long-term or a short-term relationship. Many people use Hinge to find hookups, casual dates, and situationships. The most important thing is for you to know what you want and communicate that clearly on your profile.
The average Hinge user is 25 years old. Hinge’s largest population is Gen Z users, followed by millennials.
If you use the free version of Hinge, you have the ability to send one Rose per week to a potential match. A Rose is similar to a super-like on Tinder. If you see a profile that really stands out to you, you can let them know by clicking the Rose button. Hinge will also gather up people it thinks you may really like and suggest sending a Rose to one of them. Similar to sending a like on Hinge, you can choose to include a message when you send a Rose.
Hinge has a huge LGBT+ population. In fact, 2019 presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg met his husband on Hinge. If you’re queer and looking for a dating app that isn’t specifically aimed at the LGBT+ population, Hinge could be a good fit.
While Hinge has the reputation for being a relationship app, that doesn’t mean it’s automatically a safe way to meet people. As with any dating app, bad things can happen when two people meet up in real life. Every Hinge user should exercise caution and use street smarts when messaging and meeting up. Always meet for dates in a public place and tell a friend your plans for the night.
Hinge has a very popular free option, though it limits the number of likes you can send per day and only allows you to send one Rose a week. You can also pay for Hinge+, which costs $34.99 per month and has perks such as unlimited likes and the ability to set more dating preferences. The other paid option is called HingeX and will run you $49.99 per month. HingeX will give you “enhanced recommendations” based on your type and will allow you to skip the line, meaning you get recommended to potential matches sooner.
If you’re dating on a budget, don’t fear—Hinge has a free version of their dating app that many people find perfectly adequate.
There are two premium versions of Hinge. Hinge+ costs $34.99 per month, though you can also choose to pay by the week. The same goes for HingeX, which costs $49.99 per month.
It’s hard to say why Hinge is so expensive. It’s a for-profit business, so they want to make money off their users. It’s possible that by charging more, Hinge wants to convince its users that it’s offering a more premium service.
Whether or not a premium version of Hinge is worth the money depends on your dating goals and your disposable income. If you feel that you’re ready to date seriously and want to find a relationship, it could be worth investing in Hinge+ or HingeX for at least a few months. That said, the free version of Hinge remains very popular and is a good option as well.
Hinge, Bumble, and Tinder are often compared to one another, and many singles choose to use a combination of them or even all three. While each of these apps operates on a similar model—and two of them are owned by Match Group—they all have a distinctive flavor. Tinder is known for being a hookup app with a low barrier to entry. It’s easy to make a Tinder profile that shows very little about who you are. Hinge is known for being a relationship app that enables users to create a very distinctive profile. You can use voice prompts, short videos, and more to show your true colors. Bumble is similarly known for being more relationship-centric, and also has the quirk of only letting women message first in heterosexual matches. All three apps have free and premium paid versions, so you can tailor your experience.
A survey of Americans who were dating someone found that 5% of them had met their partner on Hinge. Another article claims that Hinge has a 90% success rate of matches resulting in a date, though that’s hard to believe. All in all, it’s hard to assign an exact percentage to Hinge’s success rate.
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