As a guy with confidence on the lower end of the spectrum, the odds were always against me. Never really popular in school, stayed within my group of friends in college, and when I got a job, it felt like the possibility of meeting new people just vanished.
When my relationship ended and I thought about starting dating again, it felt like being in high school all over again. I went out to clubs and bars only to feel like I was ignored by the popular kids.
But dating apps gave me hope. Perhaps I can find that person who can appreciate my kindness, my loyalty, my weird sense of humor and my passion for silly nerdy things.
I downloaded the free version of all of them. Put up my best profile pic and spent a considerable amount of effort in writing down an interesting profile..
And after weeks of swiping right, all I got was… crickets. I matched with a few people on Hinge but they never texted back. I matched with women on Bumble but they never texted. And somehow I only tend to match with OF girls and bots on Tinder.
The worst feeling was when I got just one word response even after I put a lot of thought and effort into the conversation.
Meanwhile, my colleague from work was matching with girls and going on dates every other day.
If I were to compare dating apps to the real world, dating apps make it easier to approach people, but they also make it easier to get rejected.
Then months later, when I had given up on dating apps altogether, I struck up a conversation on Hinge and met my now wife. She said she liked how much effort I put in my profile and that I matched her “no red flags” criteria.
My point is, dating apps are a bit of luck. It can work great for you but there are no guarantees. But if you want to try, the best thing to do is keep an open mind, be hopeful, and put your best foot forward.
I still wonder if I had not put in the effort in writing a profile, my wife would have swiped left and matched with someone else.
Like I said, it’s luck. But it only works for you if you make an effort.
And according to my wife, the best way to use these dating apps is the “No red flags” method, also known as the “Burn the haystack” method.
Essentially, you don’t swipe right on anyone who doesn’t match your criteria. If there are any red flags or even a hint of one, you swipe left or block them. This trains the algorithm to show you more suitable matches.
Best Dating Apps in 2026
I’ve tested a lot of these dating apps myself when I was dating back in 2024. But we also run a pool of testers who make sure these dating apps are worth it.
Remember, a dating app is only good as the people over there and the algorithm it uses to match you with them.
In my opinion, to make a dating app work for you, you need to be true to yourself, know what you want and be honest from the starting. I knew I wanted a serious relationship and I knew I wanted someone who liked me for who I was. So I put the most honest version of myself upfront.
For someone looking for a casual relationship or who is not ready for commit, the criteria may be very different.
This is why I think the best way to approach online/app dating is by selecting at least two apps and focusing on creating a profile that accurately represents who you are and what you want from a relationship.
I will get into how to do that later. For now, let’s just go over all the apps in the market briefly.
According to my experience and the experience of our pool of testers, these are the best dating apps in 2026 –
1. Hinge – Usually has a lot of people. Allows you to see who liked you. The algorithm works great if you train it to show you the type of people you want to be matched with. It’s famous for it’s tagline “dating app that’s meant to be deleted.” A lot of our testers found it to be true as they met a match. It’s online sentiment is similar. However, it limits the number of likes you can have in the free version.
Hinge works via an algorithm that tries to show you the best matches, and it uses prompts that makes it easy to break the ice. They require at least 6 photos. To be successful with Hinge, you should take some time and effort when you set up a profile.
Like I said before, I was successful finding my wife at Hinge because I put a lot of effort into making my profile be true to me and I consistently liked at least 30 profiles in a day. My wife, on the other hand, put a lot of effort in training the algorithm (by consistently rejecting anyone who had any sort of red flag).
2. Bumble – Great for women’s safety. As a woman, you get to message first. It has a lot of prompts to help you start a conversation.
But, and it may be a hot take, the amount of likes a decent looking woman gets on Bumble is overwhelming. One of our female testers who lives in a major city had more than 5000 likes in less than a month. If she swiped right on a guy, there was an 80% chance he would match. If she messaged them, there’s a 60% chance they will ask to meetup within the first 5 messages.
This is where Bumble’s paid feature, Incognito mode, comes in. It hides your profile from the general dating pool. And your profile is only shown to men who you have liked. This really reduces to noise of the thousands of likes a woman can get.
3. Tinder – The most popular dating app with the biggest number of users. In my experience, it’s very superficial and people don’t read the profile much. Great for hookups if you consider yourself traditionally attractive. I had a negative experience with Tinder as I only tend to match with OF girls. But some of my friends have had good luck with this. One of the testers found a serious relationship with Tinder. While another tester regularly has casual hookups with it.
4. eHarmony – A decent app with a great algorithm and good number of users. But it’s paid and pretty much useless unless you pay for it. eHarmony uses a completely different mechanism for online dating. Instead of letting you swipe on a variety of options, it makes you fill in a questionnaire and then uses it’s advanced algorithm to find the perfect match for you. It will send you a number of matches everyday based on your account level that you can approve or reject.
5. Zoosk – Another old app. But it’s great for international matches. I used it once while in Europe and found a date. One of our tester found a date in the US but it didn’t lead to a relationship.
6. Facebook dating – A great free app often overlooked by people. We found that a lot of people find great dates with facebook dating. Our testers were amazed by the quality of matches they got here. Online sentiment for Facebook dating is also great.
7. DateMyAge – We recommended this app in a earlier version of this article. But we do not recommend it anymore as we got a lot of negative feedback from our testers which corroborates with it’s forum reviews.
8. Kippo – Dating app made specifically for gamers. Has some cool feature if you are big on gaming. I used this app just to test it (my wife knew that I was testing for this article) and I made some good friends for gaming. I, of course, made it clear that I am only looking for friends. I imagine it would be great for gamers who want a shared activity to start building a connection.
9. Match.com – A decent app. Match.com owns most of the dating apps on the list. Our testers found it to be the best bet for people older than 50. It’s the most popular dating website for people older than 50.
10. OKCupid – Another old app which is really not worth trying anymore. Our testers found mostly bots and scammers over here. We don’t recommend it but it’s free so there is no harm in trying as long as you are cautious with your matches.
11. EliteSingles – A very solid app if you satisfy their criteria to join. You are less likely to find bots and scammers because they don’t let people join without verification.
12. Raya – The same as Elitesingles. A great app if you can get in.
There you have it. The list of the best dating apps right now in the market.
You can see in the detailed review below that some of our testers found great matches on Hinge, Bumble, Tinder and eHarmony. eHarmony was a surprise and the tester who found a match on eHarmony ended up marrying their match. So that’s one more anecdotal evidence that dating apps can lead to a healthy relationship and a marriage.
But it’s still a lot of luck. And luck starts working when you figure out what you want in a relationship, what you want in your partner, and who you are as a person.
I hate to say it because it’s been said probably a million times already, but before you can find love on these dating apps, you need to start loving yourself. You need to accept yourself for who you are, be proud of yourself and build a life that you can be proud of.
Almost all of these dating apps will start working for you once you are in a place in your life ready to receive love.
With that being said, here’s my recommendation for the top 2 dating apps one should download based on their needs and where they are in life.
1. Top 2 Dating Apps if You Want a Long Term Healthy Relationship and Marriage
For me, the best dating app to find a long term healthy relationship is Hinge. I say that because I found my wife there. But a close second is eHarmony. Because it uses a completely different mechanism than the swiping mechanics of today’s dating apps, it attracts people who are serious about dating and marriage. Instead of showing you a constant feed of singles in your area, it gives you curated matches every day based on a questionnaire you take on signing up. It’s less noise and more signal. And by signal, I mean meaningful matches, genuine compatibility, shared values, and people who are serious about relationships
If you want a serious relationship and marriage, I recommend setting up the free version of both Hinge and eHarmony. Once you get a feel of both the apps, consider paying for the one that seems to have more potential in your area. Note that eHarmony has considerably less users than Hinge because it’s not as popular as it used to be. But it does have more motivated users.
One of our male testers said that he had almost 20% reply rate on eHarmony as compared to a 0.5% reply rate on Hinge. He was an average looking, 35 year old, 5 ft 10 inch male, in a medium size city. He found dates on both the platforms but prefers eHarmony because of the better success rate.
But if you are looking for marriage, that 0.5% can still lead to the love of your life than the 20%. Which is why I recommend keeping a profile on both.
A few other considerations –
Tinder – If you want a serious relationship but don’t mind a casual relationship in the meantime, then Tinder is a great place. I’ve known many friends who started a casual relationship or situationship that turned into a serious relationship and marriage. Sometimes, starting a relationship with low pressure and no expectations allows people to be themselves and that leads to a strong connection that can turn into an amazing relationship.
Niche Apps – Niche dating based off on religion, hobbies or social status can provide a better match. Similar to eHarmony, they provide less noise and more signal (meaningful matches, genuine compatibility, shared values, and people who are serious about relationships). But a lot of it depends on the userbase of the app in your area. You can see the list of niche apps below.
2. Top 2 Dating Apps if You Want a Casual Relationship or Situationship
Tinder stands out to be the best app for a casual relationship, one night stands and situationships. The next best app for this is Bumble.
The reason why Tinder and Bumble are the best apps for Casual relationships is because of their huge userbase and their algorithm that has been getting more and more sophisticated over time.
But both Bumble and Tinder have a distinct disadvantage for men. Essentially, the top 10% of men match with 80% of women. While both Tinder and Bumble have taken significant steps to make the interactions more meaningful, added more profile features to display user personality better; the biggest factor to match on these apps remain to be your body and your looks.
So if you are a single man, looking for a casual relationship, give these apps a try. Put your best foot forward and give the apps a fair chance for a couple of months. If you don’t match with someone, don’t be disheartened. These apps do not define your self-worth. Consider a more serious app, or better yet, build a social circle and learn to approach to girls in real life. You will have much better chance over there.
On the other hand, if you are a single woman, looking for a casual relationship, Tinder and Bumble can be a great place for you. But understand that you may get overwhelmed by the amount of likes you receive. So much that you may become desensitized to it and start treating matches as disposable. The paradox of having too many options is that it can make it harder to appreciate any one person.
Take your time. Be selective. Focus on quality conversations rather than chasing validation through matches. Even if you are looking for a casual relationship or a one night stand, you should choose someone who is worth your time.
Other Considerations –
Adult Friend Finder, Nymph, and Feeld can also be a good app for short or casual relationship. Nymph and Feeld are built on ethical non-monogamy while Adult Friend Finder is mainly a hookup app.
3. Top 2 Dating Apps if You Are New To Online Dating
One of our testers, was a man only 20 years old who never dated in his life. He started on Tinder, Hinge and Bumble. But he found Hinge to be the best.
Another one of our testers was a 19 year old girl who had a boyfriend in high school, but has been single since. She is socially shy and wanted to try online dating to boost her confidence. She also started with Tinder, Hinge and Bumble.
The young man did not find any great matches on Tinder. He said he mostly matched with bots or OF girls (just like it happened to me). In fact, he almost fell victim to OF girl who convinced him to spend money on her OF account. Luckily, he didn’t go through with it. The few matches that felt genuine quickly stopped responding to him 3-4 messages into the conversation. For him, Tinder was disheartening and actually made him less confident about himself. That’s the reality for young average looking guys out there. They swipe a 1000s of times only to be matched with bots, OF girls, or girls who lose interest faster than a Netflix Intro gets skipped.
His experience on Bumble wasn’t great either. While he got considerably less bots and OF girls, he also got significantly less matches than Tinder. And none of the matches led to a date either.
Finally, Hinge worked best for him. He used prompts to start conversations and had much better luck with speaking to women. He also matched with real women who would try to talk to him. But he did not match with anyone his age. He only matched with women 3-4 years older than him looking for a casual relationship. He successfully went on a few dates and Hinge did boost his confidence a bit.
But ultimately, he failed to find a long term relationship on any dating apps. But the fact is, he is young, and he was on dating apps for only a few months. As he explores his options, learns more about himself, and speaks to more women, his luck might change.
For our female tester, she was not ready for dating. Being a young woman, she got plenty of matches on Tinder, Bumble and Hinge. And here’s her feedback for all of them –
Tinder – Men usually expect a quick hookup. They would ask to meetup early into the conversation and lose interest if you say you don’t want to meet yet.
Bumble – She found Bumble to be the best place for her. She could choose who she wants to start a conversation with a lot of men put in effort into talking. While she did not go on a date with anyone (because she felt she was not ready yet), she made some great connections and it helped build her self-esteem knowing that some men put in the effort into trying to know her.
Hinge – While she did find more quality matches on Hinge, she felt the prompts were too overwhelming for her. She was not looking to put in so much effort into building a profile for herself at this point in life.
Verdict – For a young person who is just starting online dating, Hinge and Bumble are the best apps to try.
Other considerations –
For young gamers, I also recommend the dating app Kippo as it can lead to a pressure free way to meet new people. In addition, I also recommend joining Discord servers and subreddits of your interests and talking to people with similar interests/hobbies online. I’ve known many people who found their partners on Public Discord servers or Reddit through mutual interests. But remember, there are a lot of scammers and predators out there so be very careful when meeting people through public forums.
4. Best 2 Dating Apps for Men Who are not Millionaires or a 10
So you are an average looking guy and you are not loaded with cash. You missed the Bitcoin Boom, never bought Nvidia shares, and couldn’t cash in the AI wave. On top of that, your parents never really gave you the genes that could give you the Ryan Gosling look that every girl wants.
Can you ever find a partner on dating apps?
Yes. I can say that because I did. If you didn’t read the intro, I am an average looking guy who was never really confident in himself. And I found my wife on Hinge.
But I admit. Things are tough out there for guys. The competition is intense. Doesn’t matter which app you choose. The dating market is such that girls get a thousand times more matches than boys. And as such, they feel they can choose the top of the crop for themselves. This has created a disharmony where it seems like the top 10% of men date 90% of women.
But that’s not true. The above infographic is not a true representative of today’s dating market. The truth is, women looking for a meaningful relationship find it just as hard to find a good relationship. They just have a different problem. They get overwhelmed by the choices and end up feeling desensitized to matching with men online.
In my experience and the experience of our testers, the best thing one can do is create a profile to the best of their ability, make it accurately represent themselves and keep your expectations to a minimum.
The last part is the most important one. Keeping your expectations to a minimum. If you are an average guy looking for a serious relationship, you should not put all your eggs in the online dating basket. In fact, it should only be 10% of your effort. The rest of your time and energy should be spent on building a social circle, pursuing hobbies, staying healthy, grooming, building your career, and, if it floats your boat, approaching women in real life.
In fact, just doing all of the above will increase your chances by a lot. To give you an example, here are some photos of what some men look like after losing weight, getting a decent haircut, and overall just becoming a better version of themselves –
As you do all of the above, you will meet a woman sooner or later. It can happen through a dating app, but you must not think of it as your saving grace. Dating apps are not going to work for you if you don’t have a life your ideal woman would want to be a part of. On the other hand, if you are living a life your ideal woman would want to be a part of, they will find their way to you somehow – perhaps through a dating app.
As for the top 2 dating apps for an average guy, I recommend
- Hinge – An app that is marketed as the app designed to be deleted. It works by swiping and training the algorithm what you like and usually attracts people who want a serious relationship.
- eHarmony – An app that works on the old school principle of filling up a long questionnaire and letting an algorithm find your match for you. Once you sign up, they send you curated matches every day based on your membership level.
The reason I recommend these two apps is because you are most likely to find almost every eligible single in your area using this. In addition, both these apps work on completely different mechanics (swiping vs algorithm matching); maximizing your chances of finding someone. Hinge is the most popular app right now so you will find all types of women over there looking for a casual hookup to a serious relationship. Whereas eHarmony requires commitment and a membership fee; so it only attracts people very serious about finding a good relationship.
If you are an average looking guy who has got his s*** together and lives in a big city, I would expect a 1 in 60 match to like ratio. That means expect to match with someone after around 60 likes. And expect a reply rate of 2-3%. That means expect about 3% of matches will be willing to actually talk in the app and meetup if you both connect.
The numbers look bleak, but that’s the reality for men out there.
Most importantly, don’t swipe blindly hoping that the more you swipe the more you are likely to match. Take your time to look at the profiles and only swipe the women you actually like. The algorithm of these apps are constantly working to find you the best match and the more you say no, the better it will get at showing you people you will match with.
If you go for Hinge, here’s my recommendation –
- Don’t skip on voice prompts – Hinge recently shared in a post that voice prompts are 32% more likely to lead to a date. When someone hears your voice, they can see you are real person and can get a feel of your personality. And if you get to talking, send them a voice note whenever appropriate.
- Put Long Term Relationship in Your Description – You want to instantly repel anyone who is not looking for a serious relationship.
- Tell a personal story or specific things – Write something very specific about yourself or share a story that would attract someone who genuinely likes you.
- Don’t get oneitis – If you match with someone and have a few good conversation, don’t start imagining and happily ever after future with her. 90% of matches end up ghosting. So don’t fixate on any girl unless she has proven she is invested in you.
- Don’t Get Addicted to Swiping/Matching – The apps are designed to give you a dopamine hit when you match with someone. It gets addictive. Be mindful of it. Be consistent in liking profiles on the app, but don’t get hooked on it.
As for eHarmony, you will get matches every day based on your questionnaire. It takes time to set up a profile but from my experience and the experience of our testers, it is worth it. You can message anyone you match with. The reply rate on eHarmony is around 30-40%. That means 3-4 out of 10 messages will most likely get a reply and the woman will engage with you. Again, this is because people on eHarmony are invested in finding a serious relationship so they take the messages seriously.
But, expect around 10% of your matches on eHarmony to be bots, fake foreign accounts, or scams. A good way to spot a fake account is if they have their phone number in the profile pic, if they have a generic profile description, description written in broken English, or if they ask for a phone number in the first message.
I still recommend eHarmony because it’s the only large remaining website that works on the old school principle of matchmaking rather than swiping. But they need to get better at solving the fake profile problem. The good news is that most fake profiles don’t seem to last long as most of them got deleted the last time we checked. But it’s still something you should be wary of if you go with them.
Other Considerations –
For men who are willing to spend a lot of money to find a match, I also recommend Tawkify which is a personalized matchmaking service. It’s much more expensive but much more likely to find you a match.
If you are in the entertainment industry , I recommend Raya. If you qualify for it’s requirement, I highly recommend EliteSingles.
5. Best 2 Dating Apps for Women Who Are Tired of Not Connecting With Someone
Again, I recommend eHarmony and Hinge for women looking for a real connection and a serious relationship. These two apps offer a completely different mechanism and compliment each other a lot. But if you just have to choose one, I would recommend Hinge.
But before getting the app, you need to work on your online dating strategy.
The biggest issue with women who feel dating app burnout and are not able to find someone they truly connect with is they cast a wide net.
Their strategy is usually to maximize the number of likes and matches. And then filter them out on messages. When they don’t feel a connection in messages, they just ghost them.
This creates a lose-lose scenario for both men and women. While men stop trusting the women they talk with on the messages in fear they will get ghosted later on. Women get burned out by talking to hundreds of men, never really investing in a single conversation.
On the other hand, when women go out with every man they match with, without actually screening them in messages, they end up going on a lot of dates with no real connection in sight.
Here’s what one of my client said of her experience with Bumble –
I went on 6 first “meets”
1. Toronto guy – some in common
2. Country Music guy – nothing in common
3. CA guy – loads in common
4. Portugal guy – some in common
5. Ship Captain – nothing in common, alpha male
6. Social worker – nothing in common, alpha maleAll of the meetings went well. Each meeting lasted about 3 hours. I enjoyed chatting with them. The chats were easy and effortless.
The Portugal guy wanted to take me to his hometown in Nov. Another wants to take me to Dubai because I happen to say I’ve never been to Lisbon before.They all wanted my number and have second dates.
They all said that it was easy to chat with me and time flew. They said it didn’t feel like 3 hours, one guy said it was the fastest 3 hours and another guy said it felt like it was only 20 minutes.
I’m meeting 2 new guys this weekend.
My issue is I didn’t feel any spark with any of them.
Even with the CA guy who I had loads in common with, I didn’t feel attracted to him. He was fit
The only one I felt slightly attracted to was the Country Music guy but we have nothing in common. He lives about 1 hour 15 min away from me. He likes Irish Country music. He lived in ****** briefly but basically only lived in 2 towns in ******. He’s not well traveled. He’s a tradesman in all trades. He doesn’t like to read.
Some of my girlfriends say that you should get the spark on the first meeting and some say spark can develop over time. One friend said she wast; attracted to her husband but he grew on her so they got married.
The first time I met my ex, I liked his eyes. We had 99% things in common but that ended up to be a failure. All my exes were alpha male. They all held high positions and were high earners.
The issue with my client’s dating strategy was that she did not know her deal breakers, and was matching with men based solely on compatibility. She also went on a date with people who she should have ruled out in messages.
Instead, I (and most dating coaches) recommend you rely more on your instincts and be very clear and particular about your deal breakers. In addition, when you speak to them in messages, try to get a sense if they are controlling or manipulative in any way.
To avoid dating app burnout, and maximize your chances of finding your person, you need to cast a smaller net. Way, way smaller.
Here’s how to do that, based on the work of Dr. Jennie Young from Burn The Haystack method, my clients, and my wife’s advice (who successfully found me from all the noise out there).
- Define your deal breakers, harshest criteria, and boundaries. Display them prominently. You want your profile to repel anyone who will not be a good match.
- Hone your instincts, understand traits of toxic behavior from men and try your best vet them in messages. For example, if a man tries to tell you what women should be like, he is controlling and you are better off blocking him. The same if a man tries to “neg” you or insults you only to go back on his words. Any behavior from a man that makes you feel uneasy in your gut, block him.
- Instead of swiping “no”, block the men that you don’t like. This stops the app from recycling the same men and forces it to show you more suitable matches. My wife swears this is the reason she was able to find me.
- Video call Before Meeting – This is very important for your safety and it helps you see if the person you matched with is really who they say they are. Saves you a lot of time and energy.
- Don’t expect men to be a pen pal. A lot of genuine and quality men are also burnt out because women treat them as pen pal and then ghost them later. So either set up a date after 2-3 days of talking, or block them. Communicate your expectations clearly to avoid any confusion.
- Remember, you are better off matching with one right person rather than matching with a hundred wrong ones. As such, don’t let the amount of matches you get define your self-worth or get addicted to the dopamine hit you get when you match with someone. Remember, the apps are designed to give you a dopamine hit when you match with someone. Don’t get addicted to it.
With these details in mind Hinge and eHarmony can both work for you to help you find the right person for you. As I recommend men, dating apps should only be a part of your tool set to meet new people. You should not invest more than 10% of your time and energy into them.
Other Considerations –
As with men, consider a more expensive matchmaking service called Tawkify if you can afford it. In addition, if you meet their criteria, Raya and EliteSingles are also very good apps with good success rate.
6. Top 2 Dating Apps for Hookups
From the experience of our testers and online consensus, Tinder and AdultFriendFinder seem to be the best apps for Hookups.
But, both apps suffer a problem with bots and fake accounts. As such, you should be very careful when you are matching with someone.
For men, you need to be careful about being scammed for money. A common scam in a lot of places is when a girl would be eager to meetup and take you to a shady restaurant. She would order drinks and food but the prices are exorbitant. When the bill comes, you are left with paying a huge amount that the restaurant would later share with the girl. Another common scam is women luring you into their only fans.
In short, if anything feels off, put your guards up.
For women, the most important thing is to set boundaries clearly, manage expectations, and always tell a friend about your date. Here are some points to keep in mind –
- Even if it is a hookup, you deserve respect. If your match is disrespectful, block them.
- Talk about protection early on. Carry your own protection just in case.
- Tell a friend about your date and share live location with them just to be safe.
- Always meet in public first before going to their place. A vibe check before meeting can be life saving.
- You need control of when and how you leave. So make sure you have options to go back home on your own terms.
Other Considerations –
If you want to try a new app, try FEELD or Nymph for a hookup. But still understand that these are online dating apps and you should be cautious when meeting someone new.
7. Top 3 Dating Apps If You Have Money But Not The Time
The top dating app if you have money but don’t have the time to create a profile, and swipe hundreds of profile a day is Tawkify.
It’s less of a dating app and more of a matchmaking service. They work by setting up your profile and matching you with people in their database. Unlike dating apps, they don’t just use an algorithm, they have actual people working for them who do the matchmaking.
Essentially, the matchmaker will speak to you and get your vibe and try to match you with a person who matches your vibe along with your compatibility and criteria. This massively increases your chances of matching with the person who they select.
Of course, it’s very expensive since there is a human doing the work for you. But in the end, it’s worth it.
The other two dating apps if you have the money and not the time is eHarmony and EliteSingles. Elitesingles will match you with people who are also successful and educated. eHarmony has a long sign up process, but once done, you can get a lot of curated matches for you daily to choose from. It does not require as much time as other dating apps and you are more likely to find singles motivated to get married.
8. Top 2 Dating Apps if You Are Newly Single After a Long Time (After a breakup or divorce)
The biggest problem with dating after a breakup or divorce is that the bad experience on dating apps can make it harder to heal and remind you of your ex.
For example, suppose you match with someone, talk for a couple of days, and meetup for coffee. But on the date, you don’t feel a spark and just don’t match their vibe. Your mind will automatically go back to your ex and start wondering if you will never feel attracted to anyone again.
Or if you download an app, and find that it’s very hard for you to match with someone. And when you match with someone, they either give you one word responses or just ghost you. It’s going to take a toll on your self-confidence and your mind may conclude, falsely, that no one will be attracted to you again.
That is why the best dating apps after a breakup or divorce is not actually a dating app. It’s apps that are not focused on dating. I recommend apps like Meetup, Bumble BFF or Eventbrite. Or if the apps have users in your area, I also recommend Timeleft.
And lastly, search for Facebook groups in your area. Searching “[your neighborhood] social club” or hobbies (e.g., “Houston board games”) yields highly active local communities.
The idea is to go out as much as possible, try new activities, invest in hobbies and make new friends. If you find someone worth dating along the way, then go ahead and ask them out. If not, then continue doing what you love.
If you feel you have truly healed from the breakup and are ready to tread the online dating apps water, then I recommend Hinge, eHarmony or Bumble (in the same order); the same apps I recommend for most guys and women.
9. Best 2 Dating Apps For Singles Over 50
The best 2 dating apps for Singles Over 50 is Match and eHarmony. Essentially, these two apps have been around for more than two decades. And older people tend to go back to them when they find themselves single again.
Our testers also tried DateMyAge but found it to be full of bots and scammers. So we don’t recommend it anymore.
One of our tester tried SeniorMatch and found it to be reasonable. So if you are not lucky with Match or eHarmony, consider trying SeniorMatch.
Understand that even though these are old apps, they still suffer the problem of modern online dating. Too many options, shallow connections and people ghosting each other. eHarmony does a much better job of the ghosting problem as people are more invested in finding a relationship on eHarmony. But still keep your expectations in check and only use these dating apps as a supplement to your dating strategy.
10. Niche Dating Apps
Niche apps sound like a great idea as they will only attract people you want. But in reality, if they don’t get enough people on them, they end up being ghost towns or get ridden with bots/scammers.
So if you join any Niche Dating App, keep your expecations low. With that being said, our testers found some decent matches in the following apps.
Activity & Efficiency Niche Apps
- GRASS: A dating app built for outdoor enthusiasts that skips traditional swiping in favor of setting up group hikes, runs, and open-air adventures. grass.camp
- Timeleft: An app that fights urban loneliness by placing six highly compatible strangers at a curated local restaurant table for mystery dinners every Wednesday night.
- Breeze: A hyper-efficient dating app with no chat function that immediately schedules an in-person date at a local partnered venue the moment a match occurs.
- Firefly: A completely free, paywall-free platform that replaces swiping with a filterable grid view, in-depth personality quizzes, and open support for non-monogamy. App Store – Apple
- Snack: A video-first, social-media-style dating app where Gen Z users match and connect by scrolling and reacting to short video clips of daily life.
Faith & Heritage Niche Apps
- Muzz: A high-intent platform tailored for single Muslims that seamlessly balances modern tech with traditional values through features like blurred profile photos and chaperone options.
- Eden: A Christian-focused dating app that centers on spiritual compatibility and long-term intentions over superficial hookup culture.
- JDate: The classic, premier dating network designed specifically to help Jewish singles find culturally and religiously aligned partnerships.
- BLK: A vibrant, community-centric app built specifically to celebrate Black culture and foster meaningful connections among Black singles.
- Chispa: A dating platform designed to unite Latino and Latina singles by highlighting shared cultural heritage, music tastes, and local roots.
- Dil Mil: A premium matchmaking app designed to help the South Asian diaspora navigate dual cultures and find serious partners using specific community, language, and sub-ethnic filters.
Sexuality & Identity Niche Apps
- HER: A community-first dating and social network created by queer women specifically to provide a safe space for lesbian, bisexual, and non-binary individuals.
- Feeld: An open-minded dating platform catering to the ethically non-monogamous, kinky, and sexually fluid communities by offering dozens of gender options and linked partner profiles.
Conclusion
That’s my view on which dating app you should choose based on your requirement. As I mentioned many times in the article, don’t put all your eggs in the “dating app basket.” Instead, use the dating apps as only a small tool in your arsenal and only spend about 10% of your time and effort into them. Build a life that will attract your ideal partner and your ideal partner will eventually find their way to you.
