"We met on Hinge"

On the miraculous moment when dating apps work

Hello! This is the last newsletter in a series I’ve been writing about online dating. You can check out the first three here. This one is all about the miraculous moment when online dating works, and you actually meet a partner! If you’d like to read about my experiences meeting someone on Hinge, you can do so in my last newsletter or in this Guardian article (lol) which came out today. Otherwise, kick back and read some stories from a couple of my pals! 

Happy Valentine’s Day! 

Mbiye :) 

I met my partner of 3.5 years on a dating app! We were both in college, and he was in a comedy group that I’d go see with my best friend because our mutual friend was in it. I always thought he was really cute but was too nervous to talk to him, so I was so excited when I saw him and immediately swiped right! From there, we matched and had some good text chats, and I told my friend in the comedy group that I was planning to ask him out. She told him I was going to ask him out soon, so then he decided to beat me to it!

From the first message, my partner and I had an immediate connection. His opening line to me was, “Who is your favorite Roosevelt? Franklin, Teddy, or Eleanor?,” which I thought was amusing and definitely different from what I was used to receiving. Something about him drew me in. He gave off this feeling of home and coziness that I am still trying to learn how to describe. I felt something in my gut telling me that this was going to be a long-term thing before we even went on our first date, and once we went out for the first time I knew I wanted to keep seeing him. He has since told me that the feeling was very mutual!

However, there was a catch: We matched at the very end of the spring semester, and my partner told me from the start that he would be studying abroad in the fall. At first, this made me wary: I wasn’t sure if this meant he wanted something casual, and I don’t really do casual dating. But we both quickly realized how much we enjoyed each other’s company and decided to take the plunge and do a long distance relationship. Our friends totally thought it was a terrible idea, doing eight months of long distance after only dating in person for two weeks. Honestly, writing it down now does sound risky! But when you know, you know. We’re still going strong and plan to move in together once I finish graduate school!

I think what was unique about our situation was that I had already seen him in person and had a little crush before we matched. We also had a mutual friend relaying little messages to each other encouraging us to make a move and reassuring us that the feelings were mutual! My partner has since told me that he was always a little nervous to talk to girls, and is not sure if he would have had the courage to ask me out if our friend didn’t blatantly tell him I wanted to go out with him."

-Kelsey 

“I met my current boyfriend through Hinge! I was drawn to my current partner's profile because the photos that he had of himself were flattering, yes, but they were also very honest photos of him living his life. No heavily posed or edited photos. Once we began talking, I liked how he texted me. Like he wasn't concerned about trying to impress me or to hit me with a pick-up line, but like was truly interested in answering my questions and asking me more about myself. I hadn't had this sort of experience before on a dating app, and I had a feeling that if we had come across each other in our day to day experience, that we would have hit it off. I feel lucky to have had met someone as wonderful as my partner on Hinge!”

-Anne 

I found my partner on Hinge! We have been dating for a little over 5 years and have been living together for 2ish years. We were on Hinge back in 2015 when the whole idea was that it matched you with people that you had mutual friends with. After I "liked" Charlie's profile and saw we matched, I noticed we had a couple of mutual friends, including one of my close coworkers at the time. So, before I agreed to go on a date with him, I was able to "vet" him with my coworker. Even if I hadn't checked with her, I would have gone on a date with him anyway! First and foremost, he looked (and still looks) super cute, had a super cute dog (classic bonus on dating apps), and had a good variety of photos that highlighted his interests: video/art/sports etc. His first message to me was really sweet and stood out to me among all the messages I received "You seem like the best kind of person." That just really struck me and still makes me all warm and fuzzy :) Anyway, I'm rambling, but the rest is history! —Randi

I met my current boyfriend on Hinge in 2019! I had been on the app for a few months and wasn’t having much luck with the in-person possibilities, though I was having a lot of fun conversations. When I was in the online dating scene, it was so important to me to feel really, really comfortable with a guy before I met up with him for safety reasons — I just didn’t want to risk an unsafe situation if I had any doubts at all. I messaged my boyfriend (well, then-Hinge match) a response to one of the question/answer sections of his profile that had to do with loving party games, and we pretty much immediately hit it off. What drew me to him immediately was that his profile was goofy, made me laugh, and he had a really nice smile, and what made it work long-term for us is how well we mesh conversationally, our similar values, bonding over our religious upbringings, and that we had really wonderful and deep conversations right off the bat. The care and thought he put into to his messages, as well as the fact that he didn’t jump the gun to meet up before I was comfortable (I made the first move there), AND the extent to which he made me laugh just through text, indicated to me that he is a really good person and a date with him would be super fun. We’re approaching 2 years together in March!

-Dani