The Dating Apps Every Single Girl Needs To Know About

SHIP

BEST FOR: Getting your friends involved

There’s no one better to get dating advice off than your friends, right? Well, think of Ship like an extension of your sacred group WhatsApp conversations – first, you set up your profile, then you can invite your friends to join you ‘crew’ to swipe on your behalf. A group chat is automatically created for each ‘crew’ so they can have in-depth conversations about each profile and decide together whether you should match with users. You choose your matches, but your crew will be notified (don’t worry – you can turn this feature off if you want).

Visit GetShipped.com

HATER

BEST FOR: The person who hates everyone and everything

‘Meet someone who hates the same stuff’ is Hater’s slogan, and it does exactly what it says on the tin: matches you with a person who hates all the things you hate. The best thing about it is that is allows you to be your horrible self, instead of keeping up some perky pretence that you’re happy all the time. It offers you over 3,000 hand-selected topics to fumes over: tipping, slow walkers and belfies (bum selfies) are all up there. The algorithm then matches you with those in your vicinity who have mutual distastes.

Visit HaterDater.com

DO I DATE

BEST FOR: Rating dates

Described as ‘the TripAdvisor for people’, Do I Date gives you a five-star rating system and allows you to leave an anonymous review of the person you’ve dated. So, if you’ve got a big date coming up, you can search the database to see if the person you’re meeting has been reviewed favourably or not. So, if you’ve found the guy has been sending multiple dick pics to a whole host of girls, leave it in your review.

Visit DoIDate.com

FEELD

BEST FOR: Open-minded singletons 

Whether you’re a couple or a singleton, there’s one thing you need to have in common for Feeld to work for you: a level of open-mindedness. It’s a hook-up app for those ready to satisfy their appetite for threesomes and sexual kinks. It offers over 23 sexualities and lets you find people based on where you are and your sexual preferences. Since it’s conception in July, it has had over 1.6 million downloads.
 
Visit Feeld.co

LUMEN

BEST FOR: The over-50s

Just because you turn 50 doesn’t mean you aren’t interested in meeting eligible bachelors, right? Lumen know that dating apps aren’t always fun places to be for some women of a certain age but aim to make the dating market for over-50s an exciting place to be once again. All profiles are detailed, and pictures must be verified, with matches focusing on the interests that matter to you. And there’s no swiping involved – you simply scroll through their Discover page and contact anyone who meets your criteria, and then send a message of minimum 50 words. There’s no vague “Hi” messages here…

Visit LumenApp.com

MUZMATCH

BEST FOR: Muslim singletons

With 500,000 members and over 15,000 successful matches, Muzmatch is one of the leading Arab and Muslim dating apps. Muzmatch understand the importance of finding someone who shares your cultural or religious background, and what makes it unique is their focus on catering to Muslims seeking out dating or marriage while still adhering to their Islamic values and beliefs. And if you’re looking for a cheering up, check out their Instagram – they often post pics of their successful matches, and it’ll bring a tear to your eye.

Visit Muzmatch.com

PICKABLE

BEST FOR: Keeping things private

If the lack of privacy in dating gives you anxiety, you’re not alone. After seeing the need for more discretion in the online dating app, Pickable’s founder Tamara Goldstein created an app that gives women the control to reach out only to the men they want to meet and gives men a pick of women who genuinely want to meet them. This way, you don’t have to give away your name, photo or bio before connecting with someone – so no awkward run-ins with colleagues or friends.

Visit PickableApp.en

THE LEAGUE

BEST FOR: Those who want something exclusive

Launching nearly four years ago, The League is an exclusive dating app that you must apply to through your LinkedIn page. It’ll vet all users who apply to join in an effort to appeal to “successful and ambitious” singles. You can set specific preferences, and you will only be contacted by those people who tick all your boxes. However, matches on The League expire after 21 days, so you’d better get chatting or you could miss your perfect partner.

Visit TheLeague.com

WINGMAN

BEST FOR: Giving a friend the reigns

Exhausted by the dating scene? Not strictly a dating app, but more of a matchmaking one, Wingman lets your good friend take over your love life from their own phone. They can write you an oh-so flattering profile that explains why you’re such a catch – and it’ll let them pick a match for you. Wingman gives users a competitive leaderboard, which means your friend has a great excuse to go hard at finding you some potential dates – which is something that’ll either give you relief or anxiety, depending on how much you trust your friend.

Visit WingmanApp.com

TINDER

BEST FOR: Casual hook-ups

Okay, Tinder might have a reputation for being the bad boy of digital dating (it’s notorious for one-night stands) but it’s simple and easy to use –  swipe right if you like them or left if you don’t. If they like you back you get a match. You just pick a few photos of yourself and base your ‘likes’ on whether you find your potential crush attractive or not. Superficial, yes, but the pickier you are, the fewer matches you get, so if you’re looking for a bit of fun, you need to get swiping.

Visit GoTinder.com

BUMBLE

BEST FOR: Those wanting to be in the driving seat 

With a USP that the woman has to make the first move, Bumble means you’re in control of your dating destiny. Unlike traditional apps, where most women are too shy to make the first move, you have 24 hours to strike up a conversation with your match, or the connection disappears forever. Men can extend this time for another 24 hours if they’re really keen, but essentially, you have to be quick off the mark if you find someone you like. With Bumble, the ball is definitely in your court.

Visit Bumble.com

OKCUPID

BEST FOR: Those with similar interests 

If you’re looking to make a real connection and find someone with similar interests, OkCupid matches potential dates by asking a series of questions to reveal certain aspects of members’ personalities. It works by converting your answers into percentages; the higher your match percentage with someone, the more chance you’ll be compatible. You can feature a series of photos on your profile, as well some generic bits of information about yourself, and if you come across someone you like, you can get their attention by liking them, to encourage them to spark up a conversation.

Visit OkCupid.com

COFFEE MEETS BAGEL:

BEST FOR: Meeting the man of your dreams 

Described as the “anti-Tinder”, Coffee Meets Bagel focuses on quality over quantity, sending you a specific selection of ‘Bagels’ to choose from each week. Rather than trawling through an endless feed of photos, you’ll be offered one match based on your tastes, preferences and hobbies. You can say yes or no and, if you want to, give a reason for your decision, so the app can learn more about the type of person you’re looking for.

Visit CoffeeMeetsBagel.com

MATCH.COM 

BEST FOR: Long-term relationships 

One of the originals, Match.com burst onto the dating scene back in 1995 and over 20 years later it’s still going strong. It’s free to register, and for the first three days you can browse potential matches, but after that you have to pay a monthly subscription, which separates the wheat from the chaff. People on here are looking for the real deal, so there are fewer time wasters. The site asks you a series of questions when you create your profile, so only people deemed compatible will be presented as a potential match.

Subscriptions from £9.99 a month when you subscribe for six months.

Visit Match.com

RAYA

BEST FOR: Dating a celebrity 

With rumours that Cara Delevigne, Zac Braff and Elijah Wood have all had Raya profiles, this is the app to download if you’re hell bent on joining the celebrity dating world. The world’s most exclusive dating app, getting on there might prove harder than finding a date. You have to be successful, extremely beautiful and have 5,000-plus Instagram followers. It’s essentially the Soho House of online dating.

Visit Raya.com

HAPPN

BEST FOR: Star-crossed lovers

The serendipity of dating apps, Happn is a location-based app, which picks up on connections with people you’ve crossed paths with, quite literally, as you walk past each other in the street. It uses GPS signal to track your location, and you can quickly see how close by someone lives, or how many times you’ve crossed paths with each other, then decide whether you want to spark up a conversation with them. You can only start chatting once you’ve mutually liked each other, which is done by tapping the ‘heart’ button on the side of their pic. You can set up a profile by linking to your Facebook account, and you can link photos from your Instagram too.

Visit Happn.com

TASTEBUDS

BEST FOR: Meeting your music crush 

For music fans, Tastebuds is the holy grail of dating apps. It’s basically a social music network that connects you to people who listen to the same music as you (so you might want to delete your secret Bieber playlist). It works by scanning your music library, adding your favourite artists to your account, then matches you with others based on your mutual music likes.

Visit Tastebuds.fm

BRISTLR

BEST FOR: Meeting a man with a beard 

Can’t resist a man with a beard? Then Bristlr is dating app for you. Their strapline, “connecting those with beards to those who want to stroke beards”, says it all. Browse through their collection of beautifully bearded men, and then select the ones you like.

Visit Bristlr.com

HINGE

BEST FOR: Meeting a friend of a friend 

Hinge is much like Tinder and Bumble, but only gives you 20 potential matches a day and each of these are loosely connected to you on Facebook. It takes the old-fashioned concept of meeting through friends into the digital world, by showing you potential dates with people who know your friends. Once you’ve matched you have two weeks to talk to one another before the match disappears.

Visit Hinge.co