The dating scene has never gotten as much attention in the past as it does now. Gone are the days when people have to hush about who they are pen-or-text-palling. Seeing the need for this brand of online interaction has pushed tech persons to devise dating apps which now have an ever-growing cult of users.
And, no, we are not judging anyone who resorts swiping to the left and right to land that a person, probably from across the world, who'll finally be his/her better half. On the contrary, we ship you and your future lovey-dovey by guiding you on how to choose dating apps and we've also listed our top picks for the best dating apps you can install away.
A dating app is an online dating service downloadable in its mobile phone format, bearing all the necessary data and permission it has acquired from you such as your phone's GPS location, personal information, and photo gallery access.
Once you have successfully installed this app, its algorithm hooks you up with someone nearest to you in proximity, demographic, interest, and the like.
Using your photos, others at the other end would either swipe your profile to the right should they like you. This is not how other dating apps work, though, and no dating apps are programmed equally. But at least, you get the idea.
With its mobile wallet upgrade option, you may view anyone at all from whichever place in the world to widen your pool of potentials. It is of no news that dating apps have cultivated the chatting and flirting amongst its users. But they take more pride in their "success stories" – those who went down the aisle and exchanged "I Dos" through their services.
Whether you'd like to be featured in a dating site as one of their "success stories" or you just need someone to be at your beck and call during this pandemic, leave your worries at the door as we are here to lead you to the one who might not get away this time.
More often than not, dating sites create leeways for casual flings, hook-ups, short-term relationships, open ones, Netflix-and-Chill ones, and whatnot.
Pick dating apps that tend indulgently to your desired outcome. Upfront, dating apps advertise to the target market to which their program has been tailored. One way of making sure you and the potential partner are on the same page when it comes to your relationship type or length is just as simple as choosing an app according to your relationship preference.
This way, users would not get scandalized by the amount of confidence or being-beyond-decent of men's and other women's photos and bio, especially when you mistakenly signed up for a hookup-centric dating site.
If you're the not-in-a-bad-way prude type, rid yourself of unsolicited photos of men in their birthday suits by signing up for apps which are advertised to uphold the same values as yours.
Make sure you select apps that have built-in safety features. Most dating apps normally ask for the users' age, location, and other basic information upon sign-up while others require that you link your social media accounts.
The identity of a user is more verifiable through their social media accounts. However, this also has a pro and con. Verification becomes easier - just to make sure the other person really exists and is not a bot, and for them to verify your existence, as well. On the flip side, it is exposing your and others to stalkers.
Ideally, you only signup for apps with options to secure your profile and there are platforms which allows you to control what you let others see on their end. Choose apps that give your free reign on what to keep private and public.
Other misrepresentations can lead to you actually blocking others. Choose dating apps which enable you to report or block people whom you think is outright fraud. This can also be applied to some creepy men and downright toxic women who make their days complete by annoying you to your patience’s end.
Recent developments in the dating industry are the inclusion of video calls and chat options so people could see each other real-time. This instantly disproves the younger and thinner photos users upload on the app to attract potentials.
Though online dating has been stripped of the stigma of its use, people should still be wary of the white lies others put out in their profile.
Demographic fleshes you out in the eyes of your co-users, and vice-versa. It gives you an identity beyond what the text written immediately below your primary photo says about you.
Apps match you up with others whom you may share similarities with. It might not come as a surprise but when both you and your potential partner's upbringing, education, and religion are in synch, then you will hold at least one or two ideas that could be of the same mettle.
That is, of course, if you divulge these details about yourself – only then is the dating app allowed to use it for your benefit. Cliques click and dating apps bank on this information to classify and categorize its users into potentials for each other.
With dating apps that cater especially to this demographic, those who been openly dating members of the same-sex have free reign in who to choose and swipe right or left.
Upon signing up, the site would inquire on your gender preference so the algorithm doesn't mess up with your feelings. Because, let's be honest, you cannot be truly at home in your own skin should you conform to the social norms running counter to what lies deep within. Dating apps will help you out with this in a way minus the awkward pick-line with a cute person of the same biological make-up as you.
Though you might not have come out of the closet and is afraid to actually do so, installing a gender-sensitive app that let's you hookup with same-sex potential partners is like an outing already.
Personality quizzes compensate for what you cannot yet tell potentials in person. Dating apps keep tabs of your strong opinions regarding recreational drugs, raising pets together, and converting the future other-half to your parents' religion – these and anything under the sun. Users who are game for this portion might want to take some time penning their answers for viewing.
However, others find these queries to be intrusions to their privacy. After all, if someone did feel a spark while staring long enough into your eyes in the virtual profile, they'd make an effort to quiz you on all this all by himself.
Yet, if you are really settled with an app that sits well with you, just skip the investigation-like quiz wholly. Or you can opt to download another which dispenses of this completely.
Dating apps usually classify themselves as 'freemiums' - where you may signup for free but pay for extra services. In short, the more likely you are game for spending your stashed cash, the more access you have to profiles which would be out of reach for those who signed up for free.
This do not preclude you, however, from using the free services. There's nothing wrong with getting to know someone through the unpaid subscription, as optimistically-speaking, you intend for the chitchats to grow beyond the bounds of the dating app.
Nevertheless, splurge on in-app purchases if you do not want to miss on any positive development on your search. After all, this poses a matter of urgency to you. Some apps on its free version are stringent on notifying you the likes, messages, winks and the like, should you be stingy with your money.
The experience a dating app is ready to accommodate you with also depends largely on your ability to understand that the fullness of their services is not for free. So upon signing up, you might want to key in your credit card details as it might, this time, lead you to your Romeo or Juliet.
We've seen documentaries on computer scientists and data analysts finding the loves of their lives through an algorithm they have fashioned after themselves and, not surprisingly, it worked out for them!
However, we recommend you begin with apps that have made names for themselves in the dating scenes. The apps we have collated will prove that, indeed, there is plenty of fish in the sea.
Running out of luck in the romance department? Desperate times call for desperate measures! It might be high time to download these online dating apps, especially in these trying times when we have so much spare time for anything at all.
From ₱0
In-App Purchase | Yes |
---|---|
Target Market | Everyone |
Age Requirement | 18 and Up |
Registered Users | 7.86 million |
From ₱0
In-App Purchase | Yes |
---|---|
Target Market | Everyone |
Age Requirement | 18 and Up |
Registered User | 50 million |
From ₱0
In-App Purchase | Not Stated |
---|---|
Target Market | Everyone |
Age Requirement | 18 and Up |
Registered User | 1.5 Billion |
From ₱0
In-App Purchase | Yes |
---|---|
Target Market | Young Adults |
Age Requirement | 18 and Up |
Registered User | 22 million |
From ₱0
In-App Purchase | Yes |
---|---|
Target Market | Young Adults |
Age Requirement | 18 and Up |
Registered User | 10 million |
From ₱0
In-App Purchase | Yes |
---|---|
Target Market | Everyone |
Age Requirement | 18 and Up |
Registered User | 500,000 |
From ₱0
In-App Purchase | Yes |
---|---|
Target Market | LGBTQ+ |
Age Requirement | 18 and Up |
Registered User | 5 million |
From ₱0
In-App Purchase | Yes |
---|---|
Target Market | Everyone |
Age Requirement | 18 and Up |
Registered User | 9.9 million |
From ₱0
In-App Purchase | Yes |
---|---|
Target Market | Young Adults |
Age Requirement | 18 and Up |
Registered User | Not Stated |
From ₱0
In-App Purchase | Yes |
---|---|
Target Market | 50 and Beyond |
Age Requirement | %0 and Up |
Registered User | 9.9 million |
Image | 1 ![]() Tinder Inc. | 2 ![]() Match Group | 3 ![]() | 4 ![]() Bumble Trading Inc | 5 ![]() Arum Kang and Dawoon Kang | 6 ![]() Tastebuds Media Ltd. | 7 ![]() San Vicente Acquisition LLC | 8 ![]() Match Group | 9 ![]() Andrew Ross | 10 ![]() Lumen App Ltd |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Tinder | OkCupid | Facebook Dating | Bumble | Coffee Meets Bagel | Tastebuds | Grindr | Match | XO | Lumen |
Features | Raising the Excitement Level of Your Casual Dating | Sharing Your Stories and Passions More Than Your Photos | Turning Friendships into Sought-for Romances | Giving Women the Upper-Hand in Doing the First Move | A Slow and Steady Appeal that Hooks You In | Uniting Matches with Music | Creating A Safe Space for Connections to Blossom | Old-School Dating is Still In Style | Break The Romance Ice With Games | Shine a Light on Your 'Mature' Dating Habits |
Price Starts at | ₱0 | ₱0 | ₱0 | ₱0 | ₱0 | ₱0 | ₱0 | ₱0 | ₱0 | ₱0 |
In-App Purchase | Yes | Yes | Not Stated | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Target Market | Everyone | Everyone | Everyone | Young Adults | Young Adults | Everyone | LGBTQ+ | Everyone | Young Adults | 50 and Beyond |
Age Requirement | 18 and Up | 18 and Up | 18 and Up | 18 and Up | 18 and Up | 18 and Up | 18 and Up | 18 and Up | 18 and Up | %0 and Up |
Registered Users | 7.86 million | 50 million | 1.5 Billion | 22 million | 10 million | 500,000 | 5 million | 9.9 million | Not Stated | 9.9 million |
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If you're someone looking far ahead in life and never seeing yourself leaving your hometown, city, or country, better stick to an app's ability to match you with a potential partner who's also in the same app as you and lives nearby.
However, a little caveat here. The setting on some dating apps limits your options to the distance that you indicate as the proximity-basis. If you indicate you'd want to meet someone, say, within a radius of 10 kilometers from you or within Metro Manila alone, the app completely rules out others outside these radii.
On the contrary, if relocation has been in your mind for some time already, you might want to download the ones which enable you to browse profiles of candidates from all the world over.
Also with relocation also comes language. Will you take it as a challenge that the guy or girl of your dream speaks a native language different to your own? Otherwise, you could easily sever ties with your French cutie with 'Au revoir' as your last exchange. Differences in the language are such a deal-breaker.
In fairness to online dating today, finding someone whose always been in your vicinity makes it kind of ironic. But thankfully for you, you'll find the dating app as a portal through which you can ask that girl from two-blocks away how she likes her coffee. Either way, you have already performed the first in getting to know a person – the meet-cute – and that is possible via a dating app.
Amplify your dating experience with these apps and gadgets. Happy fishing!
Once considered a taboo by our conservative super-egos and old-fashioned belief systems, online dating has saved its face by triumphantly matching a bankable user with other equally good ones. Still, the dangers of its misuse lurk in every bit of its webpage or app interface.
The best that searchers can do is to read the terms and conditions for the apps, stay away from fake profiles, and have the most fun before the search, fortunately, comes to an end.
Author: A. Ugay
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