Inside Hinge: A Deep Dive into the Dating App Meant to Be Deleted
The State of Dating Apps presents: Hinge 🥀
Tagline: “The dating app meant to be deleted.” Hinge is designed specifically for people looking for love. Hinge prioritizes monogamous relationships.
Target Audience: “We want anyone looking for love to be able to find it.” What was difficult for me to find was their stance on LGBTQ+ connections. They’re there, but I shouldn’t have to dig through links in terms to find them.
User Statistics: Over 20 million users (~800,000 pay for premium) with over 94% of users in the US. 90% of users are between 23-36. While Hinge has a non-binary option, there is currently no data available at the time of this post.
Community Guidelines: Hinge expects users to abide by their company values of Authenticity, Courage, and Empathy. Hinge believes that consent is critical and also places a value on “meaningful relationships.”
Similar to other apps, Hinge prohibits nudity, pornographic content, racism, sexism, hatred, and content that “could reasonably be deemed to be offensive or to harass, upset, embarrass, alarm, or annoy” someone. I appreciate this addition since I believe it may make blocking/reporting more easier for moderators to identify (unfortunately, we know that’s not always the case).
Hinge offers “Safe Dating Advice” which includes info about sexual health and consent. It should be noted that Hinge, a part of Match Group (which includes apps like Tinder and OKCupid), uses experts to create these. Fun fact: Tinder has an identical page.
I love that Hinge is backed by research and focuses more on users getting quality dates rather than quantity, as well as their appearing commitment to educate people about how to have stereotypically “hard” conversations
But it falls short of appearance. The language beneath the headings of STIs/consent needs a refresh. Information regarding LGBTQ folks’ safety was there, but not conveniently stated (I had to look). Their NFAQ (not-so-frequently asked questions) is labeled for LGBTQ+ Users, but I think it should be for all.
I know some of you reading this have shared your experiences and thoughts on @hinge already but I’d love to read more.