Among the plethora of dating platforms, Hinge is a key player. One of the many apps owned by Match Group, its tagline is “designed to be deleted,” a reference to its goal of helping you get to successful relationship. With news that NYC mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani met his wife on Hinge, it’s had some renewed interest in the past year. Let’s review Hinge more closely, to better understand its place in the world of dating apps and whether it might be a good fit for you.

General

Here are some basics about the platform:

App Only

The Hinge platform is only available via app, not computer. If apps are your preferred mode, then great! But, it’s a limitation that will annoy some users.

Designed to be Deleted

Hinge’s tagline is designed to attract clientele who are looking for a serious long-term relationship. To that end, it has specific features to encourage that, including limiting the number likes someone can give in one day to eight, unless you have a paid subscription. Hinge states that their research indicates eight is the magic number to helping customers make better matches.

As part of setting their customers up for better matches, their research also showed that liking a specific part of someone’s profile (e.g., a photo, a prompt), rather than a general profile like, leads to more successful outcomes. To that end, you must choose a specific part of someone’s profile to like. In doing so, they further encourage you to add a comment to spark conversation. My son’s friend Jaden likes this aspect of the app. Jaden’s girlfriend liked one of his pictures, initiating a conversation which ultimately led to romantic relationship.

See Hinge’s mission statement if you’d like to see what they have to say about their commitment to “designed to be deleted” in more detail.

Profiles

The profiles are limited in what they contain, but there are certain requirements. This strikes a balance of neither too little nor overmuch information that you can glean from a profile.

For instance, in order to “like” other profiles, you must upload six photos/videos to your own profile. But, six is also the maximum amount of photos you can upload to your profile. No more, no less. Six is a nice minimum amount of photos to see, but an unfortunate maximum limit.

The biographical information is limited as well. There are the several statistics you’re able to provide (e.g., profession, education, politics, religion, etc.), but a limited amount of space where you can describe who you are and who/what you’re looking for in a romantic partner. Beyond the statistics and photos/videos, profiles consist of simply three prompts and answers. Not a lot of space for someone to reveal who they are as a person and who/what they’re looking for.

So, the amount of information that you can relay about yourself or glean from someone else’s profile is adequate, but limited. That said, because there’s a minimum amount of information required, overall, the profiles generally seem more legitimate, better-filled out, and more polished than is often the case on other platforms.

Geography

For those of us who are open to/prefer to date long distance, Hinge isn’t particularly friendly. The maximum distance you can set as a dating radius is 100 miles. You can, however, change your location on your profile, for instance if you’re travelling and want to see who’s available in the area.

Because of the limits of geography, Hinge seems best suited for those who aren’t interested in dating long distance or who live in a cosmopolitan area where there’s a larger quantity of local options.

Profile Structure

Here are the main components of profiles (both yours and theirs):

Six Photos

As I said, no more, no less. Six.

Written Prompts

Rather than an open-ended summary, Hinge provides written prompts for you to answer to tell potential matches about yourself. The upside of this is that it’s a less intimidating prospect for those who are intimidated by the idea of filling a blank page. The downside is that you’re limited to three prompts, not leaving you (or them) much room to share who you are.

As part of a profile, users must choose and answer three prompts. Much like with photos, you choose and answer three–no more, no less. While it’s limiting that you’re restricted to three prompts, as it’s a requirement, it can’t be left empty–users have to give you something of who they are. How much and what they give you can reveal a lot about them, even in a limited space.

Some prompt examples:

• My greatest strength…
• I’m looking for…
• Two truths and a lie:

I suggest that you answer your selected prompts thoughtfully and fully–a paragraph or two. The more information you provide about who you are, the more likely you are to attract a quality match.

Optional Content

In addition to the required profile components there are some optional components.

Video Prompt

Much like the written prompts, you can also do a video prompt (e.g., “I recently discovered that…”). The idea of the video prompt is to show who you are with added dimensionality. By being more than pictures to see and words to be read, you’ll seem that much more real. They can hear your voice, see you move, read your body language.

If you opt in, remember that you want to present your best self in video form. Do a mirror check–should you powder your face? Brush your hair? Change to a shirt without a coffee stain? Do you have something in your teeth? No need to be uptight about it, but don’t be slovenly either.

Also, think through what you want to say. Practice a few times. If you need to, practice in front of a mirror. You want to be natural, not stilted in your response. By rehearsing, you allow yourself to get more comfortable, thus enabling you to come across the way you want.

Prompt Poll

Another option is the Prompt Poll. In this option, you choose a prompt, then give three responses for potential matches to choose from.

For instance, you choose a prompt such as, “Let’s break the ice by…”

Then you write three possible responses for potential matches to choose from, such as…

• Option 1: singing karaoke
• Option 2: speaking in an accent
• Option 3: randomly breaking out in dance moves.

They can be a bit silly, but if a prompt speaks to you, and you’re feeling creative, then go for it!

Voice Prompt

Another prompt option is the Voice Prompt. This option offers potential matches more dimensionality than the written prompt, but less than the Video Prompt. They can’t see you moving in space, but it allows them to hear you vocal tonal qualities.

Voice Prompt examples:

• A boundary of mine is…
• Biggest risk I’ve ever taken…
• A random fact I love is...

If you opt for this, much like the video prompt, it’s a good idea to rehearse your response a few times to get comfortable. Be yourself, making sure to keep your tone warm, open, and unhurried. Ensure the Voice Prompt works for you, not against you, if you choose it.

Identity

This part of a profile is where you identify your pronouns, gender, and sexuality.

My Virtues

Virtues may be a questionable term for the content, but this section of a profile is where you list your work, job title, education, religious beliefs, dating intentions, relationship type, etc.

My Vitals

This part of a profile is where you share your name, age, height, ethnicity, children, etc.

My Vices

This section is where you reveal whether or not you’re a lush, smoke, use marijuana, or are a drug addict. If you have other vices, apparently you’re not expected to come clean about them on your profile.

Feeds

There are three different feeds on the Hinge platform: Discover, Standouts, and Likes You.

Discover

The Discover feed is marked by an H symbol on the app. This is where you can browse profiles, and, if you find someone you’re interested in, like some part of their profile.

Standouts

The Standout feed is marked by a * symbol on the app. This feed has ten profiles that rotate daily. Each profile features a particular prompt/response that Hinge selected based on your preferences.

Likes You

The Likes You feed is marked by a symbol on the app. As the name of the feed implies, this is where you can see users who have liked you, but with the caveat that you can only see one at a time unless you pay for a subscription. Only allowing users to see one profile at a time encourages users to engage with profiles rather than scroll through them, or, alternatively, to shell out money for the convenience of having access to multiple profiles.

Other Features

Roses

If you really like someone, you can send them a Rose, which functions similarly to a Super Like, making your profile rise to the top of someone’s list. Users get one free Rose per week, but you can purchase additional Roses within the app.

Boosts

A Boost lifts your profile to the front of the line, so that more people see your profile, for one hour. Superboosts do the same thing for twenty-four hours.

Messaging

Hinge encourages messaging when you like part of someone’s profile. Once a message is sent, Hinge will notify users that it’s “Your Turn” to respond. This helps keep momentum in a connection, as well as discouraging ghosting.

Once someone includes a phone number in a message exchange, Hinge will follow up with users to see if you’ve met, and if so, how you felt about the quality of the connection. This helps Hinge continue to tweak the algorithm to try to provide better matches.

Dealbreakers

If there are any qualities that are true dealbreakers for you, you can mark them as such in your Preferences. Note that this will filter out matches that don’t meet your preference on that quality. Unless it’s a true dealbreaker, you probably don’t want to mark it as such.

Subscriptions vs. No Subscription

You’re able to do a lot on the Hinge platform without paying for a subscription, including liking profiles, seeing likes, and messaging. This was an inviting aspect of the feature for some twenty-somethings I talked to who are still in school and not in the career/money-making phase of life. To me this also suggests that it’s a good app to try-on, and, if you have a good experience, it may be worth considering paying for a Hinge + subscription.

Hinge +

A Hinge + subscription comes with the additional perks of unlimited daily likes (a free subscription is limited to eight); the ability to see all of your incoming likes at the same time (rather than one by one); and advanced filtering preferences.

Paid Hinge subscriptions can be pricey, especially when you consider all of the features available for free, but you might find some of the additional perks worthwhile. If you’re interested in exploring expanded features, the current cost for a Hinge + subscription at the time of this writing is:

• 1 month @ $10.49/week, around $45.74/month
• 3 months @ $6.99/week, around $30.48/month, or a total of about $91.43
• 6 months @ $5.83/week, around $25.42/month, or a total of about $152.51

As you can see, the longer the subscription you pay for, the more money you save over time.

Hinge X

With a Hinge X subscription, you get all the perks of a Hinge + subscription as well as the additional features Enhanced Recommendations; Skip the Line; and Priority Likes.

Enhanced Recommendations brings potential matches who share more of your preferences to the top of your Discover.

Skip the Line is like a constant Boost.

Priority Likes keeps your profile at the top of recipients’ lists for seven days, working much like Roses. Because of the similarity to Roses, it seems like a rather pointless feature.

At the time of this writing, the cost of a Hinge X subscription is:

• 1 week @ $24.99/week
• 1 month @ $12.83/week, around $55.94/month
• 3 months @$7.77/week, around $33.87/month, or about $99.99 total
• 6 months @ $6.99/week, around $30.48/month, or about $182.86 total

Hinge X features bear a lot of similarity to the features you already have access to in the free subscription and Hinge + subscription. A Hinge X subscription seems to be a poor value for the extra money.

Users’ Thoughts

When I asked people about their experience on Hinge, the responses were generally positive. For many, it was their preferred platform. Everyone I talked to was using the free subscription. Some of their thoughts:

Jaden, a twentysomething, met his girlfriend through Hinge and had several good things to say about the platform. When I asked if it was the platform he had the best experience on, he replied in the affirmative, saying, “Yes, it was the most interactive in a human way.”

Brad, who’s in his fifties, said that it seemed to have a “higher level of quality” than other platforms he’d used, and he definitely prefers it to Match.

Additional Information

Hinge does seem to be geared more toward younger users (Gen Z). An example of this leaning is that they’re an app-only platform.

Some users feel that Hinge isn’t what it used to be, that its quality is on the decline. It certainly isn’t the only dating platform that can be said about. Match used to be the king of dating apps, but they’ve abdicated that title. Customer Service in general seems to be on the decline–I had a frustrating experience trying to get help with a Microsoft issue the other day. Wouldn’t it be lovely if customer satisfaction was a priority? Any platform/company/corporation can choose to step it up any day. It’s a niche waiting to be claimed. If only.

It’s also of note that some users have filed a lawsuit accusing Hinge and Tinder of allowing serial rapists to remain on the apps, even after being reported. Per this, remember to properly vet potential matches; Google search them (make sure they are who they say they are; don’t put yourself in any precarious circumstances; and trust your gut. There are some bad people out there, be careful.

If you’re interested in a more thorough breakdown of the app, including details, tips, comparisons, and articles, VIDA Select has many resources.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Hinge stacks up nicely against its competitors and there are a lot of great accessible features even on the free subscription. With a tagline of “designed to be deleted,” I hope that if you use it, they live up to that claim.

If you have experience with Hinge and/or other platforms and would be willing to share your thoughts, please leave a comment below or contact me.

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Good luck out there!

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