Women Seeking Women: Hinge
Designed to be deleted, this is the tagline for Hinge and I couldn’t agree more though perhaps not for the reasons they hope. Hinge is a dating app that’s yet another cross between Twitter and Instagram (yes you can link your Instagram to Hinge).
Similar to other apps I’ve reviewed, Hinge has a clean interface and a good mix of cute quotes nested between your best selfies. Where do these quotes come from?
Prompted to succeed
When you set up a profile on Hinge you get to answer a few prompts, similar to OK Cupid’s question system but more lighthearted. Usually, they’re some version of ‘I’m weirdly attracted to…’ or ‘A shower thought I recently had…’ and you supply the rest. It’s a fun way of getting some unconventional info onto your profile and makes for a light conversation starter if you take it at face value. The key here is to be uniquely yourself, aka your most interesting self. So now is not the time to provide clinical responses to the prompts, but you already knew that!
Variety is the spice of likes
We’ve all absently liked a profile based on an attractive picture, Hinge knows this and asks you to be a little more specific in what it is exactly you like. Sure you can still shower your lady with a like of her glam-life selfie but you also get the option of sharing an essay’s worth of pining over the color of her eyes. Yes, it means you can send comments alongside your like of a specific picture or quote. But as with many other apps, you only get one like. So choose wisely and don’t squander the opportunity. Try to keep the conversation going if you’re sending a like+comment, for example, if she posted ‘I geek out on British bake-off’ send her a conversation that’s flirty but carries an invitation. ‘I would love to sample the goods. ;) which do you recommend?’ some variation of this gives her a chance to see you’re interested in more than just the show, paying a compliment and open to what she has to say. These are wins, ladies! Wins!
Kiss and Tell
This feature is called ‘we met’ and basically if you’ve been on an in-person date with your match, you get to tell the Hinge overlords if you’d go on date #2 with this woman. It’s advertised as a metric that helps Hinge provide better matches for you, and who knows maybe that’s true in larger metropolitan areas but if you’re in a town below 3 million people chances are good they’re really just gathering more data on the kind of person you are since more matches are not something they can guarantee or even provide in smaller cities. This is why being on more than one dating app is a plus, ladies!
Most Compatible
This is another feature unique to Hinge where they blow up your phone with a profile they think you’re most compatible with. This is where their data really falls apart since I’ve noticed I was being recommended to people who were not looking for the same things I was and made it clear on their profiles. It’s possible that Hinge labs are still in it’s infancy and the cold machines need more precious data before recommending more compatible matches. But ‘Most Compatible’ at the time of this writing is more of a gimmick and used as an excuse to send you notifications in case you’ve forgotten about the app.
Abandoned High Seas
So imagine this, you download Hinge, match with the woman of your dreams, go on a few dates and decide to ditch the app. It’s designed to be deleted, after all, so happy ending, right? Well if you take Hinge’s slogan literally and delete the app, that still leaves your profile intact and actively circulating the stacks (not a situation unique to Hinge). I continued swiping through profiles of women I could see were already in relationships based on their Instagram updates, so why are inactive profiles still presented as ‘most compatible’? I’m not sure. But going forward it would be nice if Hinge stood behind their slogan and deleted your profile if you delete the app. I know other apps have a similar issue of inactive profiles clogging up the matching algorithm but Hinge has an opportunity to capitalize on its slogan and quit taunting hopefuls with 2-month anniversary pics on a profile’s Instagram feed. A clearer playing field might also improve their match recommendations.
Verdict
Do your chances hinge on answering a few prompts or taking a spectacular photo? Maybe, maybe not. If you’re using Hinge, don’t be discouraged if you have the fewest matches/conversations on here. I’ve used this app before the pandemic and recently (virtual dates only!) but really don’t see a lot of engagement as I do in other apps. Unlike Tinder which remains the king of most active users on avg, Hinge is a small glimmer of hope that the best is yet to come someday.
