Hater Review in 2024 – Can You Love and Hate at the Same Time?

Now and again, a dating app comes along that’s nothing like Tinder, Bumble, and all the other commercial online dating sites you’ve used before.

The Hater app is one of those, that’s for sure.

Founded by Brendan Alper, you’ll still be swiping through profiles found for you by the matchmaking algorithm.

The difference is now that the potential matches you will see will appeal to you based on their hatred for all the same things you detest.

And that’s where you have something in common with them.

It’s a mad concept but one that saw Alper find backing from Mark Cuban on the reality TV series Shark Tank.

In this Hater review, we assess and evaluate it in great detail, helping to provide you with everything you need to know about this new dating app with a difference. 

This review will enable you to find out:

So let’s jump straight in and see if Hater is just another swiping app or the real deal where a swipe right could bring you love. 

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Ratings

• Ease of Use – 4/5
• Effectiveness – 2/5
• Key Features – 1/5
• Pricing – 5/5

Pros and Cons

Pros

• A dating app with a difference
• Ease to use
• Matchmaking based on dislikes you share with others

Cons

• The app crashes from time to time
• You might not find users near your location

Who’s It For/Demographics?

This is an app for anybody looking for real dates with people who share mutual hate for something, just like they do.

You could bond over your hatred of broccoli, Donald Trump, democrats, or the New York Yankees.

This is a dating app where people’s compatibility comes through the things they hate. 

And the possibilities are endless really.

It’s certainly wacky but also pretty cool.

My research indicates that to date, around 500000 people have signed up for Hater, which isn’t bad considering that this is still a fairly new app. 

When you compare it with other apps, it has a very high activity rating amongst users with around 10000 of those users logging in each day.

That’s over 300000 every month!

Gender ratio and user age ranges

It seems that Hater has drawn both men and women to it since it started in 2016.

There are more males than females, however, but the ratio isn’t very far apart.

In fact, my research indicates that on  Hater:

• 60% of profiles are male
• 40% of profiles are female

As it’s an Android and IOS app only, you’d probably guess that Hater is more popular with younger people looking to hook up (like BeNaughty or Ashley Madison) or for serious relationships (like eHarmony or Tinder).

Yes, it is.

Around a third of all users are between the ages of 25-34 years old.

Despite that, people aged 55 and older almost make up 10% of the user base, so no matter your age you are likely to find potential matches here.

Here is a breakdown of all the age ranges from most to least popular:

• 25 to 34-year-olds: 33% of all users of which 18% are male and 15% are female
• 18 to 24-year-olds: 25% of all users of which 14% are male and 11% are female
• 35 to 44-year-olds: 21% of all users of which 12% are male and 9% are female
• 45 to 54-years-olds: 13% of all users of which 8% are male and 5% are female
• 55 and older: 8% of all users of which 5% are male and 3% are female

Ease of Use

As Hater is app-only, you are going to have to download it off the Apple App Store or Google Play depending on the device you have.

When registering for a profile, you have a few options.

You can either use social media, in this case, your Facebook account or if you’d prefer not to, you can use your phone number as part of the process.

When I evaluate dating apps, I generally don’t use my social media accounts to sign up but it does speed up the process a little.

The regular signup process itself doesn’t take long, even if you don’t use your Facebook account.

You will be expected to provide certain information which I have highlighted below:

• Name
• Date of birth
• Your gender
• The gender you are interested in (with LGBT options)
• The age range that potential matches should be

You can also upload up to five photographs for your profile. 

Your profile on Hater

As Hater does things a little differently, the same can be said for your profile on this app.

Once you’ve registered, the first order of business is to take you through a variety of subjects and topics.

This is to help identify things you hate.

Don’t worry, I can clarify that this is loads of fun and I just kept scrolling through topic after topic to pick out those that really get my goat, so to speak.

Find something that makes your blood boil and swipes left to add it to your list of hates.

If you aren’t too bothered by the subject, swipe right to move on to the next one. 

As I said, it’s loads of fun!

But there is a purpose here as well.

It’s important to take this seriously as if you want to use Hater as a dating app, this is the bare bones of how it finds a potential matchup for you. 

Once you’ve completed finding all the things you love to hate, you can go back to your profile and add a few more details.

There isn’t much really.

Profiles here are not packed with information at all.

That’s because, as we will see later in the review, there isn’t a specific search engine that allows you to search for matches based on profile parameters.

It’s about what you hate and that only.

Navigating the app

If you’ve used dating apps like Tinder before, Hater will have a very familiar feel to it. 

The overall design is pretty slick too but there’s nothing you wouldn’t have seen before.

I do like the color scheme with orange been the predominant color.

I suppose with all the hate going around, they could have chosen red.

No, just kidding, the orange works perfectly. 

You will notice just a few menus at the bottom of the screen on the Hater app.

These are:

• Person icon (Profile and settings): Here you can access your profile as well as update various settings when it comes to matchups, for example, the age range of people you want to meet as well as their gender.
• Card icon (Matches): This is where you will see potential matchups to browse through based on your mutual hates.
• Speech bubble (Messaging): If you match with someone and you start messaging each other, this is where you will find those messages. 

It really is that simple to use.

Effectiveness

So how does Hater work then?

We already know that matches are based on mutual hate of something.

But can you search for a potential matchup?

Well, the answer there is no.

Hater is like many other dating apps in the way that it helps to provide users with someone that they might be interested in.

This is only done through matches.

You cannot search for them yourself.

To be honest, I prefer it when you have both options available to you but as I mentioned earlier, dating apps often only use matches to hook people up.

It’s dating sites that will provide search engines so you can look for yourself.

Perhaps when Hater offers premium subscriptions at some point in the future, a search option will be added.

For now, however, it’s the matches the app provides for you that you are going to have to rely on. 

Don’t worry, as long as you took the time to identify all those things that you hate, you shouldn’t have problems finding a potential matchup.

Because Hater is still a new app and the user base is building, where you live is going to play a big part in whether those matchups are near your location or not. 

Finding a potential matchup

To find matchups, simply click on the Matches menu (the card icon).

Now Hater will show you people that have shown similar hates to what you have and you can freely look through their profiles.

Hater operates just like a normal dating app here.

Swipe left on those you don’t like and right on those you do.

Of course, you can see what hates you share with them on various topics.

This is shown as a percentage because clearly, not everybody hates something to the same degree as another person, right?

But it will give you a good idea if you are compatible with them or not, from a hating of things perspective.

Other than their age and location, there is very little else you can find out about someone.

That comes back to the fact that profiles on the app are extensive at all.

From my perspective, what’s the harm in adding an About Me section to the profile, just so people can fill in little tidbits of information about themselves.

Now, all you have is mutual hate of things that you share in common. 

But I guess, overall, that’s the point of the app, right.

How to reach out to someone on Hater

Well, it’s all about matching up, just like other dating apps.

Say you’ve swiped right on a profile of a gal or dude you like.

Should they do the same to you, a matchup is created. 

The app will inform both parties that this has occurred and now communication can happen in the form of in-app direct messages.

This is unlimited, so matchups are what you are aiming for at the end of the day.

But can you send a message to someone you haven’t matched with but really fancy based on your shared mutual hate?

Well, the answer is yes, it’s just limited.

You can send one message every 12 hours to a non-match.

This isn’t something that other dating apps allow and the advantage here is the fact that if you message someone and they like your profile based on that, that will create a matchup.

And that means unlimited messaging. 

A highlight of messaging for me is the icebreakers that the app provides.

These are based on the mutual hate that you share with someone and a great way for you to ease into a conversation with them. 

Key Features

As Hater is completely free, there aren’t any key features that a paying membership brings to the party.

I would like to highlight some things that I feel make the app unique. 

1. Matching through shared hates

Every time I think about it, I marvel at the left-field thinking that’s involved with Hater.

Dating apps are all pretty much the same in the way they operate.

But now and again, something unique comes along and I don’t think I have ever seen something as out of the box as Hater, that’s for sure. 

2. Direct messages to non-matches

I love the fact that you can message someone you haven’t matched with.

Sure, you can only do some every 12 hours but if you do message them and have liked their profile before, there’s a big chance they will now swipe right on your profile too.

Then you can message each other without having to wait for half a day to pass.

3. Submit topics

Hater is obviously driven by the topics that people can decide they love or hate. 

It’s what makes the app tick, so to speak.

The team behind Hater has done something super clever in my book to help enhance the app even further.

And that’s to let users submit their own topics to either hate or love. 

From my perspective, this is an excellent way to get the community involved and help the app grow. 

4. Matchup ratings

While you can see which hates that you share with someone, Hater will also give you a percentage as to just how much of an overall match you are.

Pricing

For now, Hater is for free.

How long that lasts, well I am not sure.

There is talk of a premium subscription model to be introduced in the future.

And that’s fine because let’s be honest, not many decent dating apps are totally free these days.

For now, however, you won’t have to pay to make use of Hater. 

Conclusion and Overall Rating

For me, Hater is a breath of fresh air.

It’s an app that takes a totally different take on dating and brings people together thanks to the things they don’t like.

Is it gimmicky?

Well, I guess people might say that but I don’t hold that opinion at all.

For me, Hater is really worth a try although it isn’t without its flaws.

I would love to see more comprehensive profiles, even if that just starts with an About Me section.

That will help you have some idea as to what a person is about other than only knowing that you share a similar dislike of things. 

A real bonus of course is that the app is free but that will lead to some fake profiles.

I can’t say I saw any obvious ones during my time on the app.

That could have been because I live in a small town and there weren’t that many users near my location.

It may become more of a problem if you live in a larger city, however. 

Let’s get to our overall rating then, Hater scores 3 out of 5.

If you are sick of all the old stale dating sites and apps, you should really check it out. 

Methodology

Our Onlineforlove dating gurus registered for and used the Hater dating app for a period of a month to see how it operates and what it offers.

We then scored the site based on a five-star rating system.

This is based on various criteria that all dating sites we review are judged by.

Those criteria are pricing, the matchmaking algorithm, ease of use, member features, and the size of the user base.

FAQ

Facts

Account

Usability