What are Rules 1&2 of Tinder?
You might come across these rules rather often if you frequent the r/Tinder subreddit. They stand for
- Be attractive
- Don’t be unattractive
Quite simple, and yet being attractive doesn’t just refer to your looks but how you present yourself in your profile.
Is Tinder the best dating app for you?
Statistically speaking, probably not. People who follow our app recommendations have 2 times as many dates on average compared to using Tinder.
SMS Verification Failure. How do I get it to work?
Solutions that have worked in the past as a result of random fiddling around, in order of convenience:
- Add, or remove a 0 before the carrier prefix.
- Add a 0 or random number at the end (making the number too long)
- A combination of the above
- Use a different number, for example by asking a friend for help and having them forward the code to you.
- Reinstall the app, making sure to unlink the app from the Facebook apps page before opening it again (see proper reset procedure).
- Create a new Facebook account and use that one to log in (follow proper reset procedure, even though you don’t technically have a working Tinder account yet).
Do people outside of my set age parameters see my profile, and vice versa?
No. You can only see each other if you are both within each other’s parameters.
Do people outside of my set maximum distance see my profile, and vice versa?
Yes and no.
With 99% certainty, the rule is: You can see everybody within your set range, regardless of whether you are within theirs. If you swipe right on them and you aren’t within their range, they will never see your profile, unless they change their location, or settings later on. Or, unless you super like them. This seems to ignore their range settings.
However, there is an exception: Once you swipe right on somebody, you stay in their deck, even if you later on don’t fit their parameters anymore. Example: Somebody came within your range while say traveling, swiped right on you, and moved out of your range again. Another exception is the use of the passport feature. You can passport to a location thousands of miles away and Tinder will treat your profile as if you were there, except it still shows your actual distance.
“I’m on vacation/Passing through/Visiting – and wow, the folks here LOVE me! I’m getting so many matches! I should move!” Well…
…Sorry, not necessarily. While it *is* possible, nay, probable that you are differently well received in different parts of the world, in most cases (especially if we’re talking about different cities in the same country/state) the following is the actual explanation for your success:
When you use Tinder in a new location, a boost not unlike the noob boost for new accounts is applied. This is also true when using Passport. If you stay in that new location for longer than a few days, your match rate will normalize, and you might not see a big difference to back home anymore.
How do Super Likes work?
When you super like somebody, Tinder alerts them with a “Somebody super liked you” notification, provided they have notifications turned on. It also loads your profile card near the top of their deck and changes its white border to a blue one, so it’ll be hard to miss.
When you receive a super like yourself, you have to start swiping to find out who issued it. Their highlighted card should be within the first ca. 25 in your deck.
While super liking makes it a lot more probable that the recipient will check out, or even see your profile, whether it increases or decreases the likelihood of them swiping right on you – versus coming across your profile naturally – depends on the person in question. Some think it’s sweet, some see it as desperate, some don’t care either way.
Why did I get a lot of matches when I first signed up, but now almost none?
The short answer: Tinder boosts the visibility of new accounts. For approximately two days, your profile is shown to many more people than later on. This is normal.
For the long answer, see this guide on Tinder’s algorithm.
I get predominantly instant matches, and almost never passive ones. Why?
“Instant matches” is my chosen term for the matches you get directly by liking a profile, because they already liked you. “Passive matches” is what I call the matches you get via notification a while after swiping right, i.e. when they got an instant match with you.
This is normal if you live in a somewhat densely populated area with lots of active Tinder users, and your internal score lends your profile decent visibility.
Think of it like this: Assuming you’re a free user and maintain a 50% right swipe ratio, you get to see about 200 profiles a day and like about 100 of them. In the same time, your profile is shown to thousands of people to swipe on. The ones who see your profile before you see theirs and swipe right on you, are placed near the top of your queue the next time you open Tinder. If you like them back, you get an instant match.
So in this scenario, it is just way more likely for a certain amount of people to see your profile and swipe right, than it is for you to find that group of people first. Ergo, you get lots more instant matches than passive ones.
This is especially true if your account is still fresh, or you started swiping in a new location, because that means your account is being boosted by Tinder for a couple of days, showing your profile to many more people than later on.
I almost never get instant matches, only passive ones long after swiping. Why?
“Instant matches” is my chosen term for the matches you get directly by liking a profile, because they already liked you. “Passive matches” is what I call the matches you get via notification a while after swiping right, i.e. when they got an instant match with you.
There are a couple of likely explanations for this.
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"Serious Relationships" | "Discreet Hookups" | "Best Course for Men" |
"Quick Flings" | "Normal Hookups" | "Our Quiz" |
- You are using Tinder in an area with comparatively few active users. Relative to the above scenario, it is far more likely for you to see all active people before all of them see you. Unfortunately, there isn’t much you can do about this, apart from moving, or using passport in a nearby city and hoping the people there will be willing to date someone outside of their set distance (you should probably be willing to do all/most of the required traveling).
- Your account’s visibility is very low, i.e. Tinder has decided to almost never show your profile to someone, unless you already swiped right on them. This is unfortunate, but not necessarily a comment on your real life attractiveness.
Tinder could have crippled your visibility because of certain behaviors, a malfunction, or you might need better pictures and/or a better bio to convey how awesome you really are. In any case, resetting your account and trying again (with new pictures/bio) might very well improve your experience.
Do I have to use pictures from my Facebook account?
This used to be the case, but since a few updates ago, you can upload pictures directly from your phone. This carries the benefits of both not having to upload your dating profile pictures to Facebook, and the image only getting compressed once instead of twice.
How does the “smart photos” function work?
The short answer: It doesn’t, as far as I can tell. At least not for people who don’t get tons of right swipes already (i.e. men.)
Once again detailed official information on how exactly it works is hard to come by. The way it appears to be supposed to work is to put your pictures in “test mode” to see how many right swipes they receive individually. I.e. smart photos takes your pictures and creates one-pic profiles without your bio, Instagram or any other context. These bare bone versions of your profile are then shown to people to swipe on in order to rank your pics.
What I have now been able to confirm thanks to my big “Tinder around the Globe” experiment is that
- even if you swipe right or left on a smart photos test picture, the full profile can still show up later (or vice versa).
- those right swipes count. If you don’t have a subscription, you are wasting right swipes on smart photo tests.
So the smart photos “feature” is wasting your time, daily likes, or even superlikes.
Personal Opinion: I’d rather choose my main picture myself, as appealing to the masses is not always my highest priority. Combined with the function seemingly not doing anything at all except waste other people’s likes, this means I keep it switched off.
Why do I keep seeing the same profiles over and over?
This is a frequently reported problem, and there are many speculations as to why you may be seeing the same profiles multiple times, even though you are certain you already swiped on them. You may be wondering whether a left swipe is really the final word, or if Tinder gives people a second chance by smuggling in their profiles once more. The most plausible explanations:
If this happens sporadically:
- The people in question may have deleted their account and started over again. Since deleting your account also clears your match history, all the people who already swiped on you may see your profile again if you recreate your account.
- “Smart Photos” may be the cause of this issue. The way it appears to work is to show people individual photos out of your profile’s selection to compare their respective amounts of received right/left swipes. You might be seeing the same person in (slightly) different pictures many times over because of this. See above for more information.
If you’re seeing the same few profiles over and over again almost every time you open the app and start swiping:
- You may have run out of active people to swipe on. The cards you keep seeing again and again may be spam bot profiles, which get deleted and recreated regularly. Some also suspect Tinder of maintaining shill accounts to feign a larger user base in low population density areas, and/or for research/testing purposes. Having run out of active profiles to swipe on in your area would explain why you’d run across these profiles more frequently, as they aren’t mixed into a larger pool of real people anymore.
- There may be a problem with your account. Many, myself included, have suspected that Tinder is failing to register most of their swipes all of a sudden at one point or another. Resetting your account has proven to be a valid fix for this problem, albeit a temporary one in some cases.
I got a match and/or message notification but there’s nothing in my match list. What happened?
I’m sorry, but this most likely means they unmatched you in the meantime, or they were a bot profile that has been banned since.
There is a chance: If your match list extends beyond your screen, try scrolling down, looking for said message. There’s a weird bug that sometimes causes new messages to appear in a random position of the list, instead of at the top.
When does Tinder update your location? I.e. if a match’s distance changed, does that mean they were online?
Tinder updates your location when you open the app. As long as you are inactive on Tinder, it will use your last known position. So if a match’s distance changed (and your location didn’t), that means they opened the app in a different location.
Does Tinder show inactive profiles?
I.e. If I come across someone’s Profile while swiping, does that necessarily mean they are active on Tinder?
It’s highly likely, but not 100% certain. Usually, Tinder shows you the most recently active people first (apart from certain other criteria). If you live in an area with lots of active users, it’s all but certain the person in question was recently active on Tinder.
If, however, you have run out of active profiles to swipe on, you may encounter people who have been inactive for weeks or even months. They may even have deleted the app, being unaware of the fact that their profile doesn’t get removed from the pool unless they delete their account.
I saw someone I know on Tinder. Will they know if I swipe left/right on them?
Only if you swiped right and they did too. Just because you see someone’s profile, that doesn’t mean they saw-, or will see yours too. If you swipe left, they will never know with certainty whether you even saw them.
If I send someone a message before I unmatch them, do they see it?
No, unless they read it in the short time between sending and unmatching. When you unmatch someone, the conversation gets deleted on both ends. They’ll see a notification for a new message, but when they open Tinder to check, nothing will show up (which is kind of cruel).
Do my boost-matches see that I was using boost?
Tinder attaches a little icon to matches that resulted from using the boost feature, but don’t worry: Only you can see it and unless you tell them, your matches won’t know you were using (and paying for) a boost.
It’s just Tinder’s way of shoving your face in the fact that boosting yielded results, enticing you to pay again in the future.
Do my gold-matches see that I paid for Tinder Gold?
As is the case with boost, your matches resulting from using the “Likes Me” feature will not be the wiser until you tell them.
If I reset my account, do I lose my Tinder Plus subscription?
No. Don’t worry, after deleting and recreating (resetting) your account, you can get your subscription back by tapping “Restore Purchase” in Tinder’s settings. The subscription is bound to your Google Play, or iTunes account, not to your Tinder or Facebook account. Luckily, Tinder doesn’t remember you by those credentials. Yet. You will lose your matches, however.
Update, September 2018: Restoring your subscription breaks your reset, harnessing an elo score punishment since version 9.0.0
If I reset my account, can I keep my boosts and superlikes?
Unlike your plus subscription, “restore purchase” will not restore your purchased boosts and superlikes, as Tinder views these as “consumables” which somehow makes it okay for you to lose them irredeemably upon account deletion. So, best use them up before resetting.
Does deleting my Tinder app delete my profile?
No, that only deletes the app. To delete your account and thereby profile, you need to be logged in, then select “Delete Account” in the options. If you only delete the app, your profile will remain visible, though less so the more time has passed since you were last active. If you want to avoid a potentially very unpleasant conversation with an SO down the line, I would recommend deleting your account properly. If necessary, by reinstalling the app first
If I swipe in one location, and then change location, will I still appear to the people I swiped in the previous location?
Yes, with a caveat. Whether you actually physically changed your location, or you’re using the “Passport” feature of Tinder Plus, Tinder keeps your profile in people’s stacks if it was already loaded, for example by swiping right on them. However, once you leave their maximum distance, your profile will be treated as if you were inactive, thus becoming less and less visible as time passes on.
If I hide my profile, will the people I’ve already swiped right on still see my profile?
Yes. Similarly to changing locations, people you already swiped right on will still be able to see your card.
Can I only see people who have not yet swiped left on me?
From a consumer point of view and for the sake of efficiency/not wasting anyone’s time, it would make sense for that to be true. Unfortunately that is not the case. Many of the people whose profiles you see have already swiped left on you. Presumably, this is to keep you engaged with and/or paying for the app longer. Imagine how fast most people outside of huge cities would run out of potential matches otherwise.
Tinder keeps on “Finding people near you”, or saying there is “No one new around you”. What gives?
This is a frequently reported issue and seems to have become more prevalent again recently. Unfortunately, there is not yet any conclusive answer or pattern that can lead us to the culprit, except if you have actually run out of users to swipe on in your area. It seems to simply be a bug. A bug that can often been fixed by resetting your account.
Tinder is telling me to “Check back later for new people”. What gives?
As opposed to “Finding people near you”, or “No one new around you”, this relatively new message appears to mean you have gone over the hidden limit of 2000 swipes per hour and your account has been locked from swiping for 12 hours. Allegedly. This change has also been reflected in the relevant section of the Plus Features guide.
I heard I shouldn’t use selfies. How can I take pictures of myself that don’t seem like selfies?
Basically, you can use a smartphone tripod (amazon) with your camera app’s timer, or with a remote trigger, to take a picture of yourself that seems like someone else took it. Depending on your acting and timing skills, it may even look candid.
For a more in depth answer with additional tips, consider this guide.
Why am I not getting any matches?
This could be due to a variety of reasons. Including:
- Your account is bugged. It happens. Especially with Tinder. Try resetting and see if things improve.
- Your profile pictures don’t exactly show you in the best light and are turning people away. Are you following these basic rules for profile pictures?
- Your bio has something extremely controversial in it, or at least it’s turning maybes into nos. If you are trying to polarize on purpose because it works for OkCupid, consider this.
- There are simply not many active users in your area.
- You’ve been swiping right on everybody, trying to be efficient and maximizing your chances. This actually crippled your account because you broke Tinder’s secret rules.
If none of the above solutions helped, try posting your profile for review on r/Tinder, or r/SwipeHelper. The community will most likely let you know what is making potential matches flee in terror, though I cannot promise it will all be polite, constructive criticism.
My “Delete Account” button is gone! How can do a reset now?
Has Tinder deleted the delete button to make resetting impossible? Probably not. It appears to be a bug, affecting many users across devices. You can still delete your account by –
- Uninstalling and reinstalling the app. This has brought back the button for many users.
- Deleting your account from the web-interface at account.gotinder.com
I can’t find any Tinder Gold options. Did they remove the features?
This too, appears to be a bug that currently affects android as well as iOS users. Unfortunately, there is no (known) solution, but the good news is that the problem appears to resolve itself within a few hours according to user reports.
How long do likes last on Tinder?
Or, how long after I like somebody will they have time to like me back before the like “expires”?
The short answer is: Forever.
The long answer: Likes don’t expire as such, but Tinder places the cards of people who liked you closer to the top of the recipient’s deck and it seems evident that they use a last-in, first-out method for this.
Of course, there’s more to deciding your position in your potential match’s deck, but all things being equal, the most recent like climbs to the top and pushes the older ones back.
This means that assuming the person you liked gets liked by others too, your card will sink deeper and deeper to the bottom of their deck the more time passes since you liked them. If they don’t swipe as many times per day as they receive likes, your card will sink further and further out of their reach. The more likes they receive, the quicker. Unless you live in an area with few enough active users that they’ll run out of new likes at some point and eventually find you in their backlog. Fingers crossed.
What happens if I superlike somebody who already liked me?
You will have wasted a superlike.
You will know you wasted one if the match happens instantly, meaning they already liked you and you could have achieved the same result with a normal like.
But the match will still show as produced by a superlike, so if they find that cute, flattering or chaming, you’ve got that going for you. Maybe they won’t even notice they liked you first.
As for wasting the super like, there is nothing you can do. No way of knowing if they already liked you or not, so I wouldn’t worry about it and just take it as cost of doing business. Unless you are using Tinder Gold (and “cleared” your list right before swiping) of course.
Plus, it could make for a decent conversation starter.
Can my Facebook friends see that I’m using Tinder?
Only if they’re using it themselves, and even then not directly. They may see you as a “common connection” on somebody’s profile, if you are a shared friend of those two. They may also notice you on tinder social, if configured incorrectly. They will not, however, see Tinder on your Facebook profile or receive any kind of notification about it.
If you want to avoid that situation, you might consider creating a dedicated Tinder Facebook account, optionally with 100 hand picked likes you’d be happy to share with a potential match.
Even then, they might just see you while swiping, if you’re in their target demographic. To avoid this situation too, you’d have to get Tinder Plus or Gold, as there is a paid option to hide yourself from anyone you didn’t swipe right on. For a complete overview of all the features, see this more detailed guide.
Is there a Desktop, or browser version of Tinder?
There is now. Since March 2017, that is. An official version, that is. There have been browser plugins and android emulators that let you use Tinder on desktop broswers for a while, but they weren’t exactly what you would call reliable and comfortable to use.
Nowadays, you do have the option of both using and signing up for Tinder from your PC or laptop, without the need for a mobile app (though I would say it’s more comfortable, intuitive, and fun on the phone). Relevant Link: https://tinder.com/
Which brings us to:
Do I have to use a phone number to sign up for Tinder?
Not anymore. As mentioned above, you can now sign up for Tinder online. Since its release, you have the option of using either your phone number, or Facebook account to sign up for tinder. (In the past, you needed a Facebook account AND a mobile number to receive a confirmation code.)
An advantage of using your Facebook account over your phone number (apart from supplying them with one less data point about yourself) may be that it should make recreating your account later on a bit easier and more likely to succeed, since making a new FB account is easier than getting a new phone number.
Update, 9/2018: A phone number is necessary again to sign up for- and log into Tinder.
Can I use Tinder without a Facebook account?
Yes, with a caveat. Yes, similarly to the above, you can now sign up for a new Tinder account with just your phone number both in the app, or via the web version. It does however force you to accept the terms of Facebook’s “Account Kit”. This will not create or require a Facebook account, but it will give FB some access to your data. I would wager it’s much less severe than what you would provide them through an actual account though, let alone an active one.
Does Tinder remember you if you use the same Instagram, Spotify, Google, or iTunes account after resetting?
Tinder (most likely) isn’t actively trying to keep you from resetting, or to chain you to your score.
It (probably) remembers you by your Facebook account, (and/or by your phone number nowadays) simply because that’s your unique ID. The first piece of unique data it could identify you by. Column A of the spreadsheet.
The fact that it remembers this after you deleted your account, and reassigns you your old score may or may not be unintentional.
Update, September 2018: Since version 9.0.0, Tinder seems to have changed their stance on resetting and are now actively trying to recognize and punish resets (by way of shadowbanning). They will remember you by:
- Phone Number
- Login IP (If static, think campus Wifi)
- Google / Apple account (if subscriber)
- Any linked social media account
- Device ID (rumored, though inconclusive)
- Used Photos (rumored, if true, easily circumvented by cropping pictures slightly.)
Tread carefully.
Who can see you on Tinder?
Generally, anyone who fits the age and distance criteria you set, as long as you fit theirs. The likelihood of you appearing in their stack is governed in part by your and their elo score, or rank within Tinder’s algorithm.
If you have Tinder Plus, or Gold, you can choose to be hidden from anyone on whom you have not yet swiped right by use of the “[Show me to] Only people I’ve liked” option.
What happens if I have Tinder Gold and use the “Only people I’ve liked” option?
If you use the “Only people I’ve liked” option of Tinder Plus’ “Control who sees you” feature, Tinder Gold stops working, and you basically downgrade your account to Tinder Plus for the duration. Tinder alerts you to this by way of a warning message when you try to use the option.
If you turn off discovery, flipping the switch on “Show me on Tinder”, you can still access the “likes me” section and even swipe on those profiles, but otherwise your account is invisible to non-matches.
How long does “Recommend to a friend” last?
Once the recommendation has been sent, the link will stay valid for about two days. After that, Tinder will give you a “User not found” error. Yes, you can use this to recommend a match to yourself to (for example) super like later if you’re out right now.
Will taking a break from Tinder hurt my elo score?
Having read the Tinder Algorithm guide, or heard snippets from it on reddit, you might wonder if being inactive long periods of time will leave you with a tanked score. No need to worry! Yes, you will become less and less visible as time passes, but when you get back, you’ll spring back to your rightful position in people’s deck. Inactivity lowers visibility while inactive, not your score.
How do I request the data Tinder has been collecting on me?
Thanks to the GDPR, you have the right to request any and all data a business has collected on you. In the case of Tinder, the procedure is simple, if not very quick:
- Go to https://account.gotinder.com/login?from=%2F
- Log in with your account credentials
- Enter an email address with which you want to receive the data
- Wait a few days
- Wait some more
- Follow the link in the email
- Download the zip file containing your Tinder data
- Peruse at your peril
Do you have a question that isn’t listed here yet? Ask away 🙂