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Read our full review of Tinder Platinum.
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If you’re in the market for a straightforward approach to online dating, and your goal is to get laid, Tinder is the app for you.
While Tinder may not explicitly label itself as a hookup app, it’s built up quite a rep for being one. It’s true that plenty of people meet their long-term partners on Tinder (including among the Mashable team), but the app is built so that it’s undeniably easier to swipe your way to a short-term fling.
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Love it or hate it, Tinder remains one of the most popular dating apps for a reason. It’s fast, easy, and reliable, making it an easy choice for our top pick.
“Tinder, hands down, is the best app for hookups,” Michelle Herzog, LMFT and AASECT-certified sex therapist, tells Mashable. “Over the past decade or so, it’s morphed from being the early 20s hookup central to a place for adults of all ages to go for a quick one-nighter.”
Profiles with a blue checkmark indicate that the person has been verified with a video selfie, so you can stay safe while swiping for something not-so-serious. The app also rolled out a community guidelines update early in 2024 to help combat users who take the casual nature of the app as an excuse to send inappropriate messages.
Tinder made good on its AI experimentation claims this April by launching “The Game Game.” This feature lets you practice flirting by chatting aloud with an AI voice bot (OpenAI’s GPT-4o advanced voice tech) through various “meet cute” scenarios. Tinder execs say this isn’t meant to replace real human interaction but is designed to help build confidence for actual conversations (you’re even limited to five games per day). They call it a low-stakes, playful “warm-up.”
Unlike text-based AI features on other apps, the goal here is to reward sounding engaged and curious — essentially, helping you practice being a better human chatter, not just spitting game. Though, the jury’s still out on whether practicing on a bot actually translates to more real-world success.
Though its free version will offer more than enough for most users, Tinder offers three upgrades: Tinder+, Tinder Gold, and Tinder Platinum. These include extras like the opportunity to undo a left swipe (bless), send “Super Likes” to people you’re really into, see who has swiped right on your profile, and, in the case of Tinder Platinum, message users before they’ve even matched with you.