As 2017 is coming to a close, I wanted to round up the best dating apps of the year. I’ve personally continued using dating apps to try to meet potential matches – BUT – I pair it with the Aste service to do a full digital search on my matches to make sure I’m dating smart and safe. (Hint: You should too!)
Friendly Reminder: None of these apps vet their users! It’s so easy to create a fake profile and their only safety tips say to do your due diligence. So remember to research your date or have us do it for you so you don’t end up in a dangerous situation.
Without further ado… here are four of my favorites:
Bumble – Date, Meet, Network Better: “The Dating App Where Women Call The Shots”
Bumble is the fastest growing dating app (it’s worth over a billion dollars) where you can find dates, friends, and now even expand your professional network.- Pros: Over 21M users are on the app, it’s free, as a woman you don’t get bombarded with creepy messages, as a man you know she wants to talk to you if she messages you, photo verification, and for some reason people seem to appear more attractive on this app.
- Cons: Photo verification isn’t mandatory, 24 hours to talk or you lose your match, and there’s no algorithm – it’s “swipe based” on looks only.
- OkCupid – Free Online Dating: “You’re More Substance Than Just A Selfie”
OkCupid is an app that matches you on common interests from quizzes and multiple choice questions.- Pros: Over 40M users, it’s free, you can check out you and your dates common interests, upload more photos than other apps, and you can search users by specific keywords.
- Cons: Lots of unwanted messages and the algorithm doesn’t filter out bank robbers.
- Match.com® | The Leading Online Dating Site for Singles & Personals : “It Works So Well – We Guarantee It!”
Match.com is an online dating service with web sites serving 25 countries in more than eight languages.- Pros: It’s the largest player in the online dating market, the company sends matches daily based on algorithms, you can filter by who/what you’re looking for in a partner, and supposedly they guarantee their service.
- Cons: It’s expensive compared to free, there’s no difference of people on the platform than on others platforms other than these people paid to join, scammers run rampant, and you have to remember to cancel your membership or they won’t refund you if you lapse.
- Hater App: “Meet Someone Who Hates The Same Stuff”
Hater is the app that matches you based upon what you hate.- Pros: It’s fun!, meet someone with the same mutual interests on what you *don’t* like, and you can check out your dates answers ahead of time.
- Cons: It’s new so it doesn’t have the user numbers as others and it feels more like a game than a way to form a real relationship.
The online dating space is extremely crowded these days (there’s like 10,000+ sites!) but remember that the same people are on the same popular apps and that no one is being vetted for sex offender status, arrest records, or anything else. Though some sites (like Tinder) let you connect an instagram account, most people don’t. If you hire a third party service (hi!!) you’ll find out everything you need to know about the people you’re meeting on any of these popular sites.
And we all know that knowledge is power.
Run A Report On The Person You Met Online
Love and light.