Despite all of our advances in technology, dating hasn’t changed hardly at all in the 21st century. You meet people, talk to them, and maybe start dating if enough sparks fly. There are some dating apps out there that can help this process along. However, based on our research, dating apps in general still need major improvements. It simply doesn’t have any flagship products that are just really good. Most of these experiences were frustrating, but a few stood out as being usable.
There are few, if any, decent free dating apps. Those that do cost money (most of them) are fairly expensive. We’re just giving you a heads up and helping to set your expectations. Here are the best dating apps for Android. All of these apps are at least usable by you LGBTQ folks out there. Additionally, the prices for dating apps changes a lot with little notice several times per year. Prices are approximate. We still recommend the usual methods of dating, including friend introductions, public places, Facebook, and the other usual suspects.
One more thing. Google banned “sugar daddy” apps in 2021. That removes a significant percentage of dating apps from Google Play. Hit the link for more details.
The best dating apps for Android
The anatomy of dating apps
Almost all dating apps have a few features in common. That includes location-based results, profiles, and some method of communication. All ten of the dating apps on this list have those features. The first feature, location, makes recommendations from us to you a little difficult. Most big cities have a decent supply of potential matches for most types of people. However, your success in any given dating app is ultimately reliant on how popular that app is in your area.
This is why Tinder is so popular. Tinder is popular basically everywhere, so there is a healthy selection of matches in the most well-populated areas. Something a little more niche, like Happn or Bumble, may not have a huge user base in your area and, thus, matches be rarer than you would like.
Before we get started, our blanket recommendation for everyone is to find the apps with a larger user base in your area. That helps ensure you get plenty of matches, and by extension, a higher chance of finding someone actually compatible with you. Additionally, all dating apps have some sort of pay-wall for actually meeting people and that makes the entire segment a little bit seedy. The best way to meet people is still social gatherings and events for the most part. However, some people get lucky with these sorts of apps so we still made a list for it.
Bumble
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Bumble is one of those dating apps that tries to shake things up. It’ll match you like normal. However, women get to initiate chats first. She’ll have 24 hours to do so and then the man will have 24 hours to reciprocate. In homosexual matches, either one can go first. Many have touted this as a way to weed out creepy people. However, we couldn’t verify that one way or the other and it makes things a little difficult for male users. The app does, in fact, show you possible matches and it gives you the opportunity to talk to new people. It has problems, but it’s still a cut above a lot of others. We do like it for non-straight people, though, since they do get the classic dating experience without any bottlenecks.
Clover Dating
Price: Free with in-app purchases / $9.99 per month
Clover is an up-and-coming dating app. It’s a more traditional dating app. You’ll search for people like you and hopefully, it works out. It offers the ability to set up dates, join mixers, find events, and a lot more. Unlike most, this one boasts a free chat. You can also set your profile to just look for friends instead of dating. That makes it somewhat decent for platonic relationships as well. It’s not overly popular so you may not find many results in your area. However, the reviews are more positive than most. This one has a bit of a problem with spambots, though. We recommend some patience if you use this one.
Coffee Meets Bagel
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Coffee Meets Bagel is one of the more popular dating apps out there. Every day at noon, men will get a curated list of women in their area. Women will get a curated list as well, but the list will prioritize men who have already expressed interest. Matches are given a private chat room to get to know one another better. It’s also LGBTQ-friendly for you folks out there. It’s a clean process and perfect for those who have busy lifestyles. No flicking through profiles all day long. Like most, it has its fair share of problems, but most of them are somewhat tolerable. You can also buy in-app currency to get perks like more visibility and other features.
Joe Hindy / Android Authority
Eventbrite isn’t a dating app intentionally. However, it’s a good one unintentionally. One of the best ways to meet new people is to go out and do things. Eventbrite is an app with plenty of things to do in your area. You can find concerts, sporting events, conventions, and other such things. You go there, meet people, and maybe end up with a date. Of course, don’t be a creep about it, and maybe don’t go out with the expectation of finding true love. However, dating apps have a ceiling for most folks and social gatherings really don’t. It’s worth a try.
Facebook Dating
Price: Free
Facebook Dating is, well, dating on Facebook. This actually makes a lot of sense. Everybody on Facebook uses their real names, you can find people in your general area, and let’s face facts, a lot of people use Facebook for this kind of stuff anyway. Facebook Dating creates a profile, shows you nearby events, and shows matches based on things like what pages you both like. The actual dating app is just a segment of the official Facebook app. You create your dating profile and then check in on things in the app itself. We linked the Facebook Dating website so you can check it out and see how it works. However, once the profile is set up, you’ll do all your dating stuff in the main Facebook app.
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MeetMe
Price: Free / $9.99 per month with in-app purchases
Joe Hindy / Android Authority
MeetMe is another one of those location-based dating apps. It features a simple. colorful interface that’s easy to use. It also boasts over 100 million downloads and uses between all the various platforms. Its original intention is to be used as a way to meet people in your area. However, if enough sparks fly, those people can easily become more than just friends. The biggest issue with this one is the fake profiles and it’s a fairly serious problem. Still, we recommend this one for patient people and, by all means, if you can’t find anything in a few weeks, get rid of it. A recent update also added DateNight, a live-streamed dating game. The feature is also available in Scout, another reasonably okay dating app.
OkCupid
Price: Free / Up to $19.99 per month
OkCupid is one of the most popular dating apps out there. It’s also owned by Match Group, owners of Tinder and Match.com. You’ve probably heard of this one before. It boasts over 40 million people although we’re not sure how many of those are daily active users. It uses a more traditional dating site method. It’ll ask you a bunch of questions and try to find matches based on similar interests. It also has some more modern dating apps features, like swiping away profiles you want or don’t want. It’ll ask you to subscribe to a monthly payment plan to unlock all the good features. The app has some strict, ambiguous rules about some things and the app itself is occasionally slow and buggy. Otherwise, it’s actually not half bad.
Plenty of Fish (POF)
Price: Free / $12.90 per 3 months / $81.60 per year
POF is definitely among the best dating apps on the list. It allows you to join for free, message people for free, and engage with the app for free. However, the idea that it bills itself as a free dating app is hogwash because you definitely have to pay money for more advanced features. Anyway, this one seems to work pretty well. The interface is clean and everything is simple to use. There are some issues here and there, but nothing too drastic. It works pretty well, at least for a dating app.
Tinder
Price: Free / $9.99-$19.99 per month
Joe Hindy / Android Authority
Tinder is essentially the modern dating app. You’ve probably heard of this one already. Every time you load up the app, it shows you some profiles. You swipe one way if you like them, or swipe the other way if you don’t. If a match is made, you can converse in a private chat to arrange a meet up. This app can be used for doing anything from finding friends to one night stands and everything between. It has bugs, some spam accounts, and some other issues. However, it’s a good place to get started in the dating apps scene. There are plenty of decent alternatives to Tinder that also follow this same strategy for dating.
Chat room apps
Price: Free / Varies
Chat room apps can be decent dating apps if you’re the right type of person. Some people don’t mind online dating and some people may actually prefer it. Chat room apps give you a chance to join tons of chat rooms, find people with similar interests, and get to know them better. It definitely helps scratch that social itch that single people often get and the online aspect makes it a little easier to manage. Of course, it doesn’t substitute a good cuddle or real human contact. However, we thought it would be a good idea to mention that this is an option to cover every conceivable base. We have a list of chat room apps you can find by clicking on the button above.
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