Grindr: if you’re a man looking to meet a man
Do I Date: for rating dates
Do I Date is one of the newest dating apps on the scene, which sees users leaving reviews for the people they’ve dated, including a star rating. The app’s founders Terry Amsbury and Jamie Forsyth say it’s about adding transparency to online dating.
Received a dick pic or found out the guy has two girlfriends? Leave a review. Had a great time with a lovely girl and want to date them again? Let them know.
Feeld: if you’re open to anything
Feeld advertises itself as a dating platform for couples and singles, a space open to all genders and sexual identities.
You can link your profile with your partners and explore together. There’s over 20 sexual identities to choose from including heteroflexible, pansexual and queer, as well as over 20 gender identities to add to your profile including agender, cisgender and gender queer.
As well, the app tries to be as private as possible, shunning the Facebook API to login and choosing to go via the email route.
Before there was Tinder, there was Grindr. Having first launched in 2009, the app is credited with being the precursor to the current swathe of digital dating apps.
Things to note: it’s an all-male dating app for both gay and bisexual men, it uses your mobile device’s location-based services to show you the guys closest to you who are also on surfing the app and it’s most popular in London, meaning you’re probably living in the best city to try it out.
Happn: to meet someone at your local coffee shop
Got your eye on your local barista? Get on Happn. The French app plays on natural serendipity by flagging mutual interests in real time.
It works as simply as this: every time you cross paths with someone in real life, their profile shows up on your timeline. It captures other users within a 250m radius of your own smartphone, giving you a cross-section of Londoners around you — and potentially your coffee house crush.
Hater: for hating
Dream of finding the person who hates the same things as you? Then Hater is the dating app for you.
Instead of faces, you match with people depending on topical talking points, whether that’s your feelings on Trump or Putin, or rage-inducing topics like slow walkers.
Her: if you’re a woman looking to meet a woman
Originally launched as ‘Grindr for girls’, Robyn Exton’s LGBTQ dating app has grown to be the biggest community for lesbian, bisexual and queer women worldwide. The app mixes dating and social networking, with a timeline to read the news, find out what’s happening in your city and make connections.
Hinge: to meet someone sort-of-‘IRL’
Don’t want to tell your friends or future children that you met on Tinder? Hinge wants to help people find real relationships — not just sex. The app uses a combination of AI and algorithms to help people find who is going to be right for them. A We Met feature follows up after the initial match to see if users went on a date, and if so, how it went. Results so far have shown that the algorithm is eight times more likely to lead to a date than other apps.
A new Photo Prompts feature allows users to add a caption or meme to the six photos they have selected on the app, allowing them to add more personality to their profile.
Lumen: for over-50s
The next dating space to bet on? Dating for over-50s. There are around 80 million single men and women over 50 around the world and they now have their own dating app in the form of Lumen.