As the creators of Dine dating app we stay competitive by always researching, testing, challenging and optimizing our experiences on the many different apps now readily available to the world. There seems to be a new dating app launching every week with some new recycled concept. However, one app making the headlines caught our eye, Hater dating app.
Only, for iPhone, this new, hot or not app which launched last month matches you with people based on what you hate (thus the name). It’s pretty interesting because traditionally speaking, we seek people who share the same interests. Naturally, Hater dating app made it to headlines fast because they completely turned this concept upside down.
But honestly speaking, is matching with people based on things you hate really such a great concept? Will this concept prove to be more effective than matching with people based on your interests? Will hater dating app increase the amount of dates users are scoring? As dating app dudes, we decided to check this one out and give the community a more analytical review then let’s say your average Huffington post journalist. We’re gonna try and make this as non-baised as possible and simply just want to put some commentary on our new competition.
Concept & Usability. Match with people based on what you hate.
Hater uses Facebook login so making an account takes literally 1 minute of your time to set up photos and all. Dine dating app uses Facebook login as well and so does 95% of dating apps. It’s the new standard. Although many any people get discouraged by a Facebook login requirement, many users don’t realize this actually works to their advantage as it screens out shady Facebook accounts and therefore sketchy people. Trust me when I say this, a VERY small handful of people don’t have Facebook or an account with less than 10 friends. Facebook login is good, not bad!
As soon as you’re finished with setting up a profile, Hater dating app brings you to the “home screen” which it will then ask you to swipe in one of four directions on random topics such as animals, celebrities, activities and more. Swiping up means love, down means hate, right means like and left means dislike. Still with me? Good.
For example, I love 5-Dollar Footlongs so I swiped “up” to indicate I love this.
…And I swiped down on complaining because, well, I hate complaining.
Matching algorithm
At first, Hater dating app had me a bit confused and will probably be more so for new dating app users. For example, because I swiped up on 5-Dollar Footlongs, does this mean someone who doesn’t love/like 5-Dollar Footlongs will be opted out of being someone I could potentially match with?
Not really to our surprise, but maybe to yours, Hater dating app’s algorithm “finds your best matches based on your swipes”. Therefore, those infinite amount of topics presented for you to swipe through from the home screen is meant to be taken seriously as this will supposedly increase the level of compatibility of the users that get listed that you will later be able to swipe/browse through.
Our assumption.
Basically, depending on which direction you swipe in for a specific topic, Hater dating app is recording this data on a point/score system and learning about you…what you hate. Us app people call this listing/learning logic. It’s pretty basic.
This is nothing too new. Matter of fact, Dine dating app has been using listing logic for a while now. Once a week we request users to browse through images of users in an attempt to learn as much about a specific user’s tastes possible. Therefore, we can try to better calibrate the quality of users we introduce to everyone.
Listing profiles and Matching with users.
Remember, the whole concept is based around the 4 directional swipe feature in an attempt to introduce you to higher quality potential matches.
To put some visual evidence behind this logic, you will notice when swiping through profiles of users that there is a percentage listed on each user’s profile. This percentage informs you of how compatible you both are. Right under that percentage, you can also see what that user’s “top hate” is which I guess is supposed to be the cherry on top for someone you may share a special hate with.
If you’ve used Tinder or Bumble or literally almost any other dating app, it’s quite simple to pick up. It follows the same exact hot or not concept; swipe right to like, swipe left to dislike. Fun right?
After swiping through some users, I finally got a match (and so will you too). It then asked me to “break the ice” by prompting me via push notification to send my new match a “message”.
This is actually something both Jenna Amatulli from the Huffington Post and Avery Hartmans from Business Insider forgot to mention in their own Hater dating app reviews. However, it seemed different (and almost ridiculous) enough to us that we felt it was worth mentioning.
After matching with someone, Hater dating app takes a more creative approach in an attempt to get you and your match to start chatting. To start off the initial conversation, Hater dating app presents you with a template message and asks you to fill in the blank with something which in turn will send a message that is supposed to resonate with your new match a bit more than the good old“Hey, what’s up?”
For example:
“Surprise your man by bringing this into the bedroom!”
Naturally, I chose “Harambe”.
This app has flaws, but I don’t want to hate on Hater too much.
#1. Listing/learning logic is old and HIGHLY INACCURATE! The reason why listing logic is bad to rely on is because simply put, users don’t take it seriously. Users will swipe on almost anything and how long does Hater dating app expect them to swipe for before getting bored to death?
Not very long. I can tell you from Dine dating app’s user experiences…not very long at all. Plus, some users won’t even swipe at all and completely leave this “unique” feature in the dust which defeats the whole concept of Hater dating app.
Moreover, making an app that completely revolves around listing logic will prove to be ineffective to due time with at most 1 hate in common. I guess it’s fair to say that we all share at least something we hate.
PRO TIP: Hater dating app should make it mandatory once a week or mandatory for all new users to swipe through some of the topics. This way Hater dating app can at least rank some of the users who choose not to use the feature or use it rarely. It’s not great for retention rate to restrict users, but this is something they should consider figuring that their whole entire concept is literally based around this listing/learning logic of things people hate.
#2. This app is literally the same as Tinder, just with more hate. Honestly speaking, making another Tinder rip off app in 2017 is seriously is a bit of a let down. Compared to the thousands of Tinder knockoffs (yes, thousands.) out there, it would be fair to say Hater did a MUCH BETER job, but all and all, it’s the same. Why is that bad? Well, Tinder has a bunch of its own flaws. Therefore, the same flaws of Tinder will be carried out on Hater, if not worse.
#3. Hater dating app did ZERO to increase matchmaking. There’s probably Hater dating app staff reading this blog post now saying that’s a garbage statement of us to make because, come on, matching on what you hate? That will increase compatibility for sure! But my friends at Hater dating app missed the bigger picture. The BIGGEST ISSUE with modern day dating apps isn’t a compatibility issue, it’s the fact that users are struggling to get real dates or even replies from the large volume of matches users yield. Therefore, what we have is a proximity and large amounts of low quality users problem. Hater may put a spin on the lower quality users by trying to match users with others who are compatible, but what’s the point of matching online with someone compatible if you will never meet them in the first place because that user had no intention on going on a date from the start?
This is by far the BIGGEST issue that continues to persist and copying (I use that word lightly) already flawed apps like Tinder, Bumble and all the other hot or not apps is going to do ABSOLUTELY ZERO for increasing date rate; the ratio of real life dates to matches.
How Dine dating app solves the proximity/low quality user problem.
Our team identified this and did our best to understand the problem before even making an app. We noticed this big issue long before many. That’s why we designed Dine with the main goal being to get users a real first date.
Dine dating app accomplishes this by coordinating the first date as much as possible before a match is even formed. Therefore, at the time a match is made, on Dine, both users have already “agreed to meet” for a first date. Users choose restaurant/bars/cafes as a location to meet and having that date agreed on at the time of the match goes a VERY LONG WAY in securing an actual first date. We know this, Dine users know this and a few other dating apps who are getting it right out there know this.
See for yourself:
Obviously, there are flaws in our concept as well. For example, some people may not want to meet over food or drinks for a first date (sucks for them) or users may want to know some sort of compatibility probability before meeting. But in all seriousness, how compatible do you think you’re going to be with someone by looking at a percentage based on things you hate? Secondly, even if you are 100% compatible on things you both hated on Hater dating app, what does it even matter if you never meet that person for an actual date IRL? Or worse, they don’t even reply to your message because they have 50–1000 other matches in line before you? Again, kind of a let down.
Overall thoughts on Hater dating app.
As much as I wish my new competition good luck out there in an already super saturated market, I can’t see Hater app thriving for too long as for some reason they decided to stay within the 1st generation of dating apps and haven’t really brought anything new to the table besides the whole hate feature.
I’m confident they will make a movement and all the media hype has probably gained them a good user base to start off with but besides the whole “hate” concept, this app is literally just yet another Tinder. Lot’s of matches, NO DATES! Hater dating app will have the same bulk of low quality users people match with, which as we know is the biggest frustration for dating apps users today.
Male users will continue to swipe right on all users regardless of their hates in attempt to yield as many matches as possible. Therefore, the whole matching for a reason and compatibility concept goes right out the window because male users don’t care about compatibility on hot or not apps (they want dates!!!).
Messages to female users who had zero intention to meet in the first place will continue to go unanswered, leaving hoards of male users scratching their heads asking why girls haven’t replied to their Harambe messages. With all of the Tinder knock offs out there, did the world really need another Tinder? The PR was clever though, and so was the concept at first (hats off to your PR strategy, Bravo!). You guys definitely got the world’s attention which I can say first hand is not an easy thing to pull off. Good luck guys, have fun, match on and make sure to check out Hater and our app Dine for iphone.
Download Dine and stop being single:
CHECK OUT: I used Tinder, Happn, Bumble and Dine for 2 weeks. Results were interesting.
About Dine
Dine which has been featured in Apple App Store as well as Business Insider is creating a buzz as a new social dating app centered around meeting someone for the first time over the best food or drinks in town. Endless swipes from left to right that only lead to dead end conversations are history. With Dine, it’s time to meet people, get back out there and go on an actual date.
