How The Tinder Algorithm Work
And how to increase your chances of matching
Tinder is the name of a location-based mobile social search application that enables users to interact with each other and match. The app is predominantly used for dating. Launched within Hatch Labs in 2012, the application has been in use since 2012 but gained significant popularity, especially since 2014, when it surpassed the limit of one billion swipes per day.
How does Tinder work?
Tinder is a straightforward application. After installing the program on your smartphone, you connect it to your Facebook account and create a Tinder profile with selected photos. Tinder uses your name from your account to display it on your profile, but other users cannot access your Facebook account.
As for how Tinder works, Tinder presents profiles to you one by one, considering some search criteria that you can change (gender, current location — which you can only change by paying Tinder, search radius, and age range). If you swipe right on a profile, you indicate that you like that person (Like), if you swipe left, you indicate that you are not interested in that profile (Nope). If the person you “liked” also likes you, you match. The system only allows matched individuals to message each other. After that, it’s up to you.
Now, let’s talk about some other basic Tinder functions.
Super Like is a relatively new Tinder feature. When Person A Super Likes Person B, Tinder sends a message to Person B to notify them of the Super Like. Person A can Super Like Person B by swiping Person B up or tapping the Super Like button in the shape of a star. Then, when Person B reaches Person A’s profile by swiping right or left on Tinder (Tinder doesn’t immediately show this profile), they see that Person A has super liked them.
Super Like is not unlimited in the paid application, but you can pay to get more.
Another feature you get when you pay is Rewind. Previously, if you swiped left or right on a person, you couldn’t go back and change your decision, but with the Rewind feature, you have the chance to go back one step and change your decision.
Tinder Algorithm: How Does It Work?
The following is not Tinder’s official statement, but my conclusions based on internet research and my own experience. First, some basic information:
- Tinder shows each user only one profile at a time, but thousands of people are using this application in the same area at the same time.
- Tinder does not show the same list in the same order to each user.
- Tinder is more successful in showing more attractive male/female profiles to you compared to other applications.
- Tinder shows different attractive male/female profiles to different users (the difference here depends on the user’s own attractiveness).
- The profile ranking algorithm is constantly changing.
Right now, Tinder shuffles profile cards quite predictably. The first 10–15 profiles are generally profiles of more attractive people than the general population. After that, if there are people who have liked you a lot, it shows these likers to you by interspersing profiles that haven’t matched yet. If there aren’t many people who liked you a lot, Tinder continues to show you a list of people who haven’t matched yet, but shows fewer attractive people than the list of those who were liked a lot.
The reason Tinder initially shows more attractive people is simple, to encourage users that they can meet very attractive people here.
Tinder used to show people who liked you first, but in this case, especially profiles that received many likes (mostly women) were constantly getting matches as soon as they opened the program and liked profiles, which spoiled the fun. Today’s algorithm shows you people who haven’t liked you yet (or even skipped your profile) when you open Tinder, and intersperses these profiles among those who liked you. This way, you also see more profiles at the same time.
Attractiveness score: Most likely, Tinder assigns some kind of attractiveness score to user profiles. It’s probably not a simple “most liked” score, as that would give users who have been using the program for a long time an unrealistic advantage. My guess is that it’s not a simple algorithm and that it’s based more on the likes of more attractive people (similar to Google PageRank).
Online presence effect: Tinder probably shows the profiles of online members to other users more. This makes sense because the probability of people who are online at the same time matching is higher. This also means that you need to be online more to get more matches. But of course, this doesn’t mean you won’t get any matches when you’re offline.
Selectivity: One of the theories about Tinder that is probably realistic is the effect of your selectivity on your matching potential. So if you’re someone who likes everyone (i.e., you’re not selective at all), you probably don’t appear at the top of anyone’s list. So be cautious and be a little selective.
Another factor that I think works here is your liking/skipping speed. Are you someone who doesn’t look at what’s written in the profiles, second photos, or Instagram links? This may make you eager to quickly swipe right on as many profiles as possible and get more matches, but it probably has the opposite effect, pushing you down in the displayed user lists.
How to be successful on Tinder?
In the light of the above theories, we believe that in addition to general methods such as well-taken photos (see: What should a Tinder profile look like?), well-written and fun profile texts, and not approaching everyone with a “wanna hook up?” attitude, the following will also be important for your success:
- If you think the app is constantly showing you profiles that aren’t very attractive, Tinder’s algorithm probably thinks you’re not very attractive. Try to replace the photos you put with better ones.
- Be active. By active, we don’t mean going crazy, jumping from profile to profile. This reduces your success. Log into Tinder a lot but like few profiles and slowly scroll through the profiles. Being active several times a day and evaluating fewer profiles each time will yield better results than logging in a few times a week and liking hundreds of profiles each time.
- Use Super Like. This will put you at the top of the queue.
- Use Tinder Boost. One reason why men don’t swipe right on Tinder is that, due to the high number of men liking attractive women, most men can’t be seen even for swiping left or right. In other words, the queue is long. Therefore, when you boost, the matching rate increases by 8–9 times. If you use boost regularly, your matching rate and therefore your attractiveness score increase, so even when you don’t use boost, your chances of matching increase.
All these methods are supposed to increase your matching rate, and ultimately it’s your decision to see if the app is fit for you or not. In the end, not everyone uses tinder and many girls prefer to meet people the ‘natural’ way. In many cases, meeting people the natural way through friends, mutual interests such as clubs, or mutual activities makes the girl trust you more and you’ll probably find it easier to have a relationship with her than with a tinder match, considering that this is what you’re looking for.
