Online dating is hard. As a 2017 study points out, we used to end up with people who we were somehow connected to, whether friends of friends, classmates, or neighbors.
Online dating, however, changed the game, and people who meet through tech-based dating tend to be total strangers.
It's not easy to get to know someone through an app, and if you're looking for a relationship, tech-based dating usually means wading through hundreds of profiles looking for a casual fling.
If you're a guy looking for love, here are six dating apps and sites that will help you find "the one" — you just might have to do a lot of searching, first.
1. If you're looking for a relationship: Coffee Meets Bagel
Coffee Meets Bagel may appeal to singles who are tired of endlessly swiping without any feedback or interest from others. The app claims that it'll find you "relevant, high quality matches" without having to swipe through hundreds of profiles.
How it works:
Every day at noon, the app will send you potential matches called "bagels" that are selected based on an algorithm. The algorithm, according to Coffee Meets Bagel, takes basic criteria like age, height, religion, ethnicity, and your interests into account.
If you're a guy, it'll send the potential matches for you to peruse. Then it'll send profiles of women who have already expressed interest in connecting. If you're an LGBTQ person, the app will send you matches based on the gender or genders you've indicated interest in. If there's a match, Coffee Meets Bagel will set up the two users in a private chat and ask an icebreaker question.
What's unique:
You don't have to swipe! You're also less likely to match with "randos," as the app description says, because you can only match with friends of friends. On the downside, though, your potential matches are limited because you can only interact with a certain number of profiles per day.
2. If you hate ghosting: Hinge
Ghosting sucks. When you express interest in someone and make what feels like a genuine connection, having all contact cut off can be pretty crushing. That's why Hinge unveiled a feature called "Your Turn" to prevent ghosting. Hinge brands itself as a "relationship app" and its motto is "dating, not swiping."
How it works:
Instead of competing with freemium apps like Tinder and Bumble, Hinge requires a $7 monthly membership fee. And instead of prominently displaying age, education, and other demographic information, the app highlights more personable traits like "Halloween costume" or "unusual skills."
Hinge prompts users to interact with each other by liking and responding to photos, rather than waiting for matches to facilitate chats. The app's CEO says it's like browsing "through people's stories."
What's unique:
The app tries to prevent ghosting by reminding users when they haven't responded to a message. It doesn't guarantee a response, though — as Mashable wrote last year, there are many legitimate reasons for ghosting.
3. If you're looking for LGBTQ connections: Grindr
Grindr claims that it has "something for everyone" whether they're "queer, discreet, anonymous, twink, geek, daddy, leather, military, rugged, bear, otter, guy next door, college, muscle, bisexual, or trans."
How it works:
Unlike Tinder, Grindr has no filtration system — there's no swiping. The app shows you an array of profiles to choose from, along with demographic information, and each one shows their distance from you. From there, you can message anyone, since there's no swipe right/left for approval.
What's unique:
There's not delicate way to say this, but Grindr was made for hookups. That's why the app shows your distance — down to the number of feet — from other users. You can chat up someone who's literally a hundred yards away from you. There are still ways to find romance, however. As one Telegraph article shows, some married couples met after a chance encounter on Grindr.
4. If you're a hopeless romantic: Happn
Personal ads in papers are a thing of the past, but if you're a hopeless romantic, don't worry! You may still find your true love through missed connections with Happn. Like Tinder, the app relies on location to make matches. Unlike Tinder, it's hyperlocal — you literally have to cross paths to meet.
How it works:
Every time you cross paths with another member of Happn, their profile will appear on your timeline. From there, you can heart react to their profile or cross them off. If the interest is mutual, you can chat with them. You have the option of liking someone's profile or saying "Hi" — likes are anonymous, while saying "Hi" sends the other person a notification linked to your profile.
What's unique:
Happn is cool because it shows the exact location of where you and the other user crossed paths, so if you've been seeing someone cute at your local coffee shop, this could be your chance. It doesn't share real-time locations. The app will even tell you the number of times you've crossed paths with a person. Is this romantic or creepy? You decide.
5. If you're an astrology aficionado: Align
Are you in a perpetual state of Mercury in retrograde? Has your love life been marred by incompatibility? Does your Gemini moon sign / Libra rising self worry about never finding someone with similar emotional needs? The stars may align for you with Align, a dating app that matches profiles based on astrological signs.
How it works:
The app requires you to log in through Facebook. From there, you add six emoji to your profile that each represent different personality traits, like "blunt" or "magnetic." Align will show you a galaxy of profiles of people in your area, and indicate how compatible you are based on your star signs.
What's unique:
Astrology, of course! It may be a pseudoscience, but unlike apps like Tinder or Bumble, you at least have a shared personality trait to bond over when you start talking: your love for the stars. When you view someone else's profile, Align will show you how compatible you are based on your sign.
6. If you're a farmer looking for other farmers, and only other farmers: Farmers Only
Because city folks just don't get it.
This is a dating site for farmers looking for other farmers. Seriously. As their tagline says, "City folks just don't get it." Like Uniform Dating, the site for people to meet other police officers, doctors, and any other career path that requires a uniform, Farmers Only is strictly for rural dwellers who only want romance with others of the same professional background.
How it works:
Like traditional dating sites, Farmers only has both a desktop site and an app. After registering, you can access a discover feature with a "hot or not" type swiping game. You don't have to match to send a message — the site lets you email other people directly from the discover page.
What's unique:
This site isn't for Brooklyn hipsters or LA artists. The tagline makes it pretty clear. But if you're a farmer who's looking for a partner with a similar lifestyle, this could be your chance for true love. Farmers Only lets you specify what you're looking for on your profile, from friendship to casual dating to a long term relationship. It also has FarmPhone, a secure texting service so you don't have to give out your personal number to strangers.
Good luck dating!
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