Is Hinge a good dating app?

Hinge is a dating app that has been growing in popularity in recent years, and for good reason. I recently surveyed my YouTube community about which dating app they prefer, and Hinge safely took the #1 spot. I am going to show you how it works, what makes it popular, and common pitfalls you need to avoid

How to use Hinge?

One thing that makes Hinge stand out from most of the other apps is that there is no swiping on someone’s profile. You can either like a specific photo or send a message with your like. The ability to send a message with your like can make a big difference in terms of your response rate, so unless you’re drowning in matches, I recommend you take advantage of it

Then, if they like you back, a conversation begins. There are also some very interesting things Hinge does at this stage that encourage real-life meetups. Primarily, if you have 8 or more unanswered messages, you cannot match with new people. This incentivizes women to respond to the guys they matched with rather than just swipe endlessly

In addition, Hinge only gives you 8 likes a day if you are a free user. Since hot girls almost never pay for dating apps, it means that they are not able to match with a whole bunch of guys like they can on other apps. This means that if you match with a girl, she is more like to be responsive and down to meet up.

What kind of girls are on Hinge?

On average, Hinge girls tend to be more attractive than the ones on Tinder (more on par with Bumble). Out of the big 3 apps, Hinge is probably the most relationship-oriented. So if you’re looking for a girlfriend, this is a great app to be on. That being said, there are plenty of girls who are down with hookups on here as well. Here’s an example of a dtf hinge girl

Point is, like with any app, you can find all sorts of girls on Hinge. But they tend to lean a bit more on the relationshipy side.

Should I get Hinge Premium?

Hinge is probably one of the very few dating apps where you can still have a decent user experience with the free version. Unlike Tinder and Bumble, Hinge, in the free version, will show you the girls who liked you (it’s just one at a time). This may seem like a small thing, but it makes your dating experience A LOT easier when you can see the girls who already picked you. You don’t need to swipe endlessly to get a match. Plus, you have the ability to message her as soon as she likes your profile and strike while the iron is hot.

However, there are still many advantages to getting a premium version of Hinge. The main one is having unlimited likes. They have two premium tiers, Hinge+ and HingeX. Here is a chart that breaks down the differences

Common issues with Hinge

On the flip side of the coin, there are a few common issues that you’re bound to encounter at some point during your Hinge experience. We are going to analyze them along with potential solutions

Hinge bans

All dating apps are fond of randomly banning their users with zero explanation, but Hinge tends to do it most frequently. You can be super careful and follow every single rule and still lose your account. Or you might be fine, it’s just luck. To make matters worse, their customer support is non-existent, so it’s very unlikely that someone at Hinge will help you reverse your ban.

Also, to add insult to injury. Hinge will sometimes email all your matches and let them know that your account was banned. This doesn’t happen to everyone, and I think it just depends on what reason they believe they are banning you for. As far as I know, no other dating app does this. Here’s an example

So what’s the solution to a Hinge ban?

There’s really only one, and that’s to create a new account. In order to pull this off, though, you will need a new device (you can get a burner phone on eBay or Amazon for $30). Then you will require a new phone number (Google Voice or some other phone app). If you want to really be on the safe side, then get new photos as well. However, most of the time you can get away with using the old ones. Just crop them by 1% so the AI doesn’t pick up on it being a duplicate.

What to do if Hinge is only showing you ugly girls?

Yes, this is a real problem that a lot of people encounter. Sometimes, it’s just simply a matter of your own photos sucking, so Hinge is matching you up with other undesirables. If that’s the case, then you need to improve your profile photos). However, it can also happen to guys who have great pics due to a bug some people experience. There is a pretty easy solution,n though.

All you have to do is set your distance to 1 mile and your age radius to something very narrow, and then simply swipe through all the ugly girls. Eventually, you should start seeing attractive ones again, and then you can change your settings back

Conclusion

All dating apps have their issues, and Hinge is no exception. However, there is a reason why it’s becoming more and more popular every year, while Tinder is losing users (despite both being owned by the same company). For a lot of people, Hinge has become their favorite dating app, and when you combine attractive girls, a decent free version, and incentives for people to respond to each other, you can see why.

So if you haven’t already, I recommend you add Hinge to your Dating App arsenal. Just don’t rely on it alone. You always want to diversify among multiple apps. After all, you never know when one will randomly ban you.

If you want to learn more about being successful on dating apps, check out our Tinder profile guide. Yes, it applies to all other apps as well. Or check out a video breakdown of what the best dating apps in 2025 are?