First we'll look at Tinder, which kickstarted the dating app craze and has had its "swipe right/left" interface copied by most of its competitors. The first thing you should do on Tinder is set your preference for distance, gender, and age range.
Next up is your profile. Tinder recently changed its interface to more prominently feature your job and education, which are pulled from Facebook. You can stop the app from displaying these snippets, but you can't alter them without changing your Facebook. Tinder CEO Sean Rad told me his team added these elements because they rounded out the few basic factors people use in deciding whether to go on a first date with someone. You probably don't want to choose a picture of you and a dog (like me) because my friends say it has become a bit of a cliche.
Now it's time to swipe. Tinder shows you a small clip of "smart text" below a potential match's profile, which consists of whatever the app thinks is most relevant. In the example below, it's showing this woman's work info, but it could also show your education, or things you have in common. Swipe right for "yes," swipe left for "no." You can also "super like" by hitting the blue star. Normally Tinder only notifies the parties if you both say "yes," but with a "super like," it lets your match know no matter what. I have had good luck with "super likes," but my colleague Maya thinks they make you seem a little desperate. Regardless, on the free tier, you only get one "super like" per day, and a finite number of "likes" in general. So choose wisely.
If you match with someone, Tinder sends you both a match notification. As a guy, I've found matches are easier to get on Tinder than other apps, maybe because some people basically use Tinder as a cell phone game to pass the time. But I've also found it's less easy to get people to respond. You have to be creative (or play the numbers game, which can be exhausting and feel lame).
This is what the Tinder matches screen looks like. You can scroll through your matches on the top, while people you have messaged appear in a list. If you matched with someone after you "super liked" them, their name will have a little blue star next to it. The new Tinder interface is a lot clunkier for searching through matches you haven't texted yet, but you can still use the search bar pretty easily.
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