Free Dating Apps

A friend came to me recently asking to recommend some good free dating apps. She is currently going through a separation and didn’t want it to show up on a credit card bill (could you blame her!?)  I posted back in January the Dating Apps to Try in 2017 which included Hinge, Bumble, The League, Happn, and Coffee Meets Bagel. All of these apps you can use for free, but have in-app purchases available. The good news is that these apps don’t have to directly charge your credit card- you can always buy an iTunes or Google Play gift card and load it to your account and then make the purchase!

My friend also doesn’t live in a big city which means that not all of these apps are currently available to her. I’m also going to skip Coffee Meets Bagel because for some reason this app does not appeal to me and I barely use it.

Free Dating Apps With Paid Upgrades Available

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Dating Apps to Try in 2017

Happy New Year everyone! Did you know the New Year, New You vibe makes early January the peak traffic time for dating apps and websites? Everyone wants to start fresh when January comes so now is the time to start (or re-start) using those dating apps! Here’s a few to try that are free: Continue reading “Dating Apps to Try in 2017”

happn Dating App

I took a break from online dating for a couple months so when i returned I wanted to try something new and that’s how I ended up on happn. I’ve previously used OkCupid, Tinder, Dating Ring, and Hinge, all of which I would recommend except for Tinder which I think has run it’s course. Logging on to Tinder now would be like trying to use MySpace again. Hinge is great and I have a few friends that I’ve recommended it to find boyfriends on Hinge. I wanted to try something new (to me) and my friend suggested I “try that app where it shows you the people close to you since you have so many problems with that.”

What is happn?

Happn is a free dating app that uses your location services on your phone (always on in the background) to show you profiles of people that you have “crossed paths with”. It tells you when you crossed paths, how many times you’ve crossed paths, and gives you a little map of the location that you crossed paths at. While all of this can seem very creepy, dating in a big city that takes FOREVER to get across makes dating someone on the other side of town tricky. I don’t know if you non-angelenos have heard about this little rumor, but there is indeed a ton of traffic in LA. This app is nice because it shows you people who are near the places that you frequent the most- for me it’s home and work. Continue reading “happn Dating App”

Tinder in Brooklyn

Yesterday I stumbled upon an amazing Tumblr called Tinder in Brooklyn. It was created by a fellow Lindsay who is online looking for love and finding a lot of… other stuff… and it is hilarious. Here’s one of my faves:

tinderinbrooklyn-sex-and-the-city-blog

 

Here’s a few more gems: Continue reading “Tinder in Brooklyn”

My Tinder Date Left Me at the Bar

Well I had one of my top 5 worst dates of all time last month. The short version of what happened is, as the title says, a Tinder date actually left me at the bar.

So let’s go back to the beginning. We texted for a while and then he told me we should meet up for drinks (I’ve written before about how this is one of my least favorite invitations). He said if I wanted we could just hang out at his place (red flag). I said absolutely not we’re going somewhere public. He said ok great let’s do it.

When he asked me where I’d like to go I told him that I’d like for him to plan it and also could he please pick me up. He said sure no problem. Before our date I briefly Googled him since he is a former model (this is LA after all) so he has some web presence. I find out that he is actually 27, not 28 like his Tinder profile says. This is a trend I have been seeing a lot more lately with people lying about their age. I have no clue why there’s any difference between 28 vs. 27, but when I asked him about it he said he was indeed 27.

The day of the date comes and he asks me if I went to meet him at a bar in Brentwood. As the name of this blog suggests, I live in Hollywood (~30-40 minutes from Brentwood) so I said hell no you as he is supposed to come pick me up as we previously agreed. He said ok sure I can do that.

He then shows up half an hour early (better than late I guess?). I get in the car and we say hello and he starts driving. I ask him where we’re going and he says “I don’t know I don’t really know this area” and I try to keep my eyes from rolling out of my head since hello, use Google or Yelp like the rest of us. He then says we could hang out on his side of town or maybe we could just hang out and have a drink at his place.

He then says “but you already said you don’t want to do that so..” that’s right buddy. His next idea is that he’ll drive down Fairfax because there’s “a group of bars and lounges and we’ll just go to one of those.” He’s not sure exactly where they are and when I ask for more information he has none. He then proceeds to pass every single bar on Fairfax and points to some place I’ve never heard of when he realizes we are practically in Little Ethopia and says “what about here?” I tell him no and suggest we go to a great date bar called The Woods which is back by my apartment. He agrees and we drive back there. Continue reading “My Tinder Date Left Me at the Bar”

Tinder While Traveling

With spring break upon us and summer time coming up I thought it was a good time to bring up a very important topic which is using the Tinder app while traveling. This can mean using Tinder while on vacation, Tindering at your parent’s place for the holidays, or even swiping right while on a business trip. So why would you want to meet up with a stranger in a strange town? Well here’s a few reasons to try Tinder while traveling:

Tinder isn't just for at home! Find out why it's awesome and you have to try it while traveling for vacation, on business, or when home for the holidays.
Love at first swipe?

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New Tinder Plus App Costs Money

I had heard rumors here and there about Tinder possibly charging for features over the last few months and those rumors are true it appears! Tinder Plus is an in-app purchase add-on with four main new features: You can change your location, rewind your last swipe, get unlimited likes, and turn off ads for $9.99-19.99 per month in the US (the prices vary in other countries). Tinder Plus has decided to charge different rates for different ages so if you’re in the US and under 30 you pay $9.99 per month and if you’re over 30 it’s $19.99. I read a tweet that said over 28 and almost had a minor melt down (I am 28), but the 28 year old cut off appears to be in the UK . They decided this after a bunch of testing in various countries showed them that people under 30 are more broke/cheap and over 30 are more desperate for love and booty I suppose. You can still download Tinder and use the features you’ve come to know and love over the past couple years for free, but more ads are coming so get ready. Let’s break down these 4 new features: Continue reading “New Tinder Plus App Costs Money”

Texting Etiquette for Dating

To text or not to text? There’s a lot of conflicting advice out there when it comes to texting etiquette and after thinking about it and discussing it with some friends I have come to the conclusion that if you want to text someone, just go ahead and do it. Don’t over think it, don’t try to cleverly craft a the “perfect text” that takes an hour, several revisions, and at least 3 friend’s approvals. Just send the text you were thinking of and be done with it. Now let’s address some fears: Continue reading “Texting Etiquette for Dating”

Tinder Tips Tuesday # 5 – Take the Shame Out of Your Game

tinder-tips-online-dating-shame

One of the many trends that turn me off of someone’s Tinder (or Okcupid) profile is when they post something like “don’t worry I won’t tell anyone how we met it can be our secret ;)” or “we can tell everyone we met at IHOP”. Ok, thanks bro. I am truly not interested in anyone who is ashamed to be online dating. Are you better than Martha Stewart at thinking of good ways to do things? No? Well she online dated and if she’s not too good for it neither are you 27 year old guy who “has a real job, not in the BIZ” with pictures of you surfing and with your boys at da club in Vegas and a car selfie with sunglasses on. You can be good looking, charming, successful, and still want to try online dating. The guys that say these things never seem SO good looking and SO successful and SO amazing that no one would EVER believe they’re looking for love on the internet either. The other part that annoys me is they’re throwing shade at me by saying these things. They mean it as a cute little compliment, but the underlying thing they’re saying is oh how could I bring myself to this low point and actually send my computer signal to space to try to find a man?? #shadyboots

The other ways guys (I guess there’s probably girls out there that do this too) let their shame flags wave high is not having a profile picture. It really cracks me up when they try to give reasons why they couldn’t possibly put their pictures up. “I’m in med school I’m not allowed.” Really? Why are there like 20,000 other med students on dating websites showing their faces? “I don’t want people at work to find me” Jesus Christ please get over yourself. If you are that powerful and important you would post yourself online with pride realizing that no one is going to say shit about it. Same thing goes for writing in your profile “wow I never thought I’d be online dating I can’t believe I’m on here”. Girls want a strong man that will stand behind their actions. They also want someone with enough humility to realize that doing something like dating online does not even matter in the slightest in the grand scheme of life. Check your ego little Kanye. When everyone on Earth says they’re looking for someone who is confident, this is not what they mean.

What do you think? Do you have a theory as to why people are still ashamed to date online in 2014?