For years, singles have tried to game dating apps in their favor or questioned why the apps would serve up potential matches that are so not-their-type.
Dating apps are basically search tools. They use algorithms to make match recommendations using your data, which includes personal info (like location and age) as well as preferences you set and your app activity.
Some say dating apps are poor search tools precisely
So how do the most popular dating apps work? We’ve broken it down by service below.
Tinder
Tinder is ubiquitous at this point, boasting
The
Today, however, according to the Tinder blog, “Elo is old news at Tinder” and the score is no longer used. The blog post claims that the most important thing a user can do is…use the app. The more you use Tinder, the more data it has on you, which in theory should help the algorithm get to know your preferences more. The blog post further states that the more time you spend on the app, the more your profile will be seen by potential matches who are also active.
The app’s communications manager, Sophie Sieck, confirmed to Mashable that the blog post is current and that Tinder hasn’t made any algorithm changes during the global COVID-19 pandemic. She reiterated that being active on Tinder is the biggest factor in who shows up in your “stack.”
Tinder’s current system adjusts who you see every time your profile is Liked or Noped, and any changes to the order of potential matches are reflected within a day.
Bumble
Bumble declined to comment about its search algorithm. There’s no blog post about it, either. When you search “algorithm” on Bumble’s site, the only post that comes up is about
A Bumble spokesperson told Mashable that anyone users see on the app has been active within the last 30 days — so there’s no need to worry about matching with inactive accounts.
Hinge
The dating app “designed to be deleted” doesn’t have swiping, nor does it use the Elo rating system. Logan Ury, Hinge’s director of relationship science, told Vice that
A research paper in Nature lays out how the
Ury pointed out — like Tinder did in its blog post — that matching is not just about the profiles you swipe on. It’s also about how potential matches interact with your profile.
“It’s all about pairing people who are likely to mutually like one another,” said Ury. The more you use Hinge — the more you like other users, engage with profiles, tell the app when
OkCupid
OkCupid is an OG dating site that has more robust user profiles than the aforementioned apps. You can list lots of personal info on
Unlike other apps, OkCupid calculates a match percentage with other users to see how compatible you are. OkCupid didn’t respond to Mashable’s request for comment about the algorithm, but it does have a blog post about how its
Basically, if another user has similar search preferences and responses to questions as you, and is looking for the same things relationship-wise, you’ll have a high match percentage. You can see someone’s match percentage with you on their profile.
Grindr
According to a blog post,
Grindr confirmed to Mashable via a spokesperson that it only uses AI and Automated Decision Making (a kind of algorithm) for purposes such as sniffing out spam accounts. (Though, as stated in the blog post, that process isn’t perfect and sometimes spam gets through.)
So how does Grindr serve up matches to meet? When a user searches for people nearby, the post states, the app displays other users who were online that day and applies the user’s preference filters (such as age and relationship status) and sorts everyone by distance.
“Sometimes a little randomness is thrown in to keep results fresh. That’s it,” said Grindr’s blog. “There’s no recommendation algorithm to speak of on Grindr today.”
For proprietary reasons, these apps will likely never reveal all their algorithmic secrets. But while we can’t control an app’s search results, we are always in control of the most important factor in our matches: how we swipe.