Spring is in the air. I am just out of a fun, intimate, mostly monogamous winter relationship thing. I am feeling light and free and optimistic. And it’s time to get back out there and meet some new men. It’s mating season! And just in time a new article came to my attention, We Tried Out 10 Dating Apps So You Don’t Have To on Refinery29.com. I have been a bit bored with the options on Tinder and Bumble – no one particularly inspiring these days so I dug into the information in the article and quickly downloaded the most promising new dating apps.
The first dating app I downloaded is called Clover. First, I don’t understand the name, but let’s forget that for the moment. The writer at Refinery29 liked this app quite a bit and I was prepared for a fun experience. As soon as I started engaging with the app, tons of suburban men started popping up – like they lived 30+ miles away from me (I live and work in downtown Chicago). I was quickly trying to figure out how to set a radius and men started to message me. There is no need to match (like on Tinder and Bumble) to have the ability to communicate, so messages were popping up like crazy. And I thought I set the age range, but that didn’t work either. Everything from 18-60 years old and anywhere from 15-60 miles away was bombarding my iPhone screen with annoying alerts. I actually chatted back with some 27 year old suburban guy just to see if he knew directions for me to change the settings. I think he was pissed when he realized that I had no intention of meeting him and only wanted his Millennial tech advice. Worst of all this is a PAID app – like $20/month. I had only signed up for the 7 day free trial, thank heavens, and within a few hours I turned off my subscription and deleted the app. Gross. #fail
My next dating app experiment was much, much better. So, it’s called Happn. And it works like this – every time you cross paths with another Happn member, their profile pops up on your timeline. It tells you when and where you crossed paths and over time, how many times you’ve crossed paths. If you don’t want to see someone on your timeline, you press x and they are gone. If you like someone on your timeline you can press a heart but it’s the same brilliant concept as Tinder in that they will never know that you chose them unless they choose you as well. There is an additional option to “charm” someone where you can reach out and let someone know you’d like to connect. For women this is free. For men it costs a token. Disclaimer: I work in one of the hottest, trendiest neighborhoods in Chicago so really handsome, professional men are EVERYWHERE. My timeline is full of lovely, educated men. All of whom I’ve crossed paths with in the last 24 hours. And within a few hours I was chatting with one of them. Fantastic connection. Seems like a good guy. We are meeting for dinner on Sunday. I think Happn is my new favorite dating app!
So thanks Refinery29 for bringing the apps to my attention. I actually did have to try them for myself and I think the functionality of these apps is quite dependent on where you live. For me Happn is brilliant. For less densely populated areas, Clover might work well. Go ahead and try them for yourself. And report back. And have fun!
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What do you think?