How to Get More Matches on Tinder

Co-authored by Lisa Shield and Jack Lloyd

Last Updated: May 13, 2022 References Tested

If you have used Tinder, you may be frustrated by not being able to get as many quality matches as you want. Thankfully, there are several ways to increase the appeal of your profile and get more people to swipe you in the right direction. By taking extra steps to promote your profile, changing your written profile, and choosing the right pictures, you’ll be able to get more matches.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Optimizing Your Settings for Matches

1
Search a wider area for matches. Generally, Tinder settings are tailored to people who live in big cities, and want to meet people in the same neighborhood or community. By enlarging the geographical area you’re willing to make matches with, you’ll probably get more matches.^{[1]
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- Open Tinder on your iPhone or Android.
- Tap the profile icon in the upper-left corner.
- Tap SETTINGS
- Slide the "Maximum Distance" slider to the right.
2
Expand your age range. A larger age range will open many more possible matches. You can expand your age range by opening your profile on your phone, tapping Settings, and sliding right the far-right "Age Range" slider.
- Start by expanding your range a little bit. For example, if you originally searched for 25 to 30, expand that range to 20 to 35. You might find you have a lot in common with people that are younger or older than you.
- Think about your comfort range. For example, if you’re 25, will you be comfortable dating someone that is 7 years younger or 7 years older? A 14-year range might provide you with many matches.^{[2]
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3
Use your super-like boost. Swiping up on a profile (or tapping the blue star icon at the bottom of the screen) will push your swipe through to the account in question, allowing you to bypass anyone who simply swiped right on the account.
- Super-likes are limited to one per day, but you can quality for 5 per day by signing up for Tinder Plus within your Tinder settings.
4
Pay to boost your profile. Tinder Boost, which is a service that allows you to pay a fee to temporarily put your profile toward the top of the swipe list, is available for free once per month for Tinder Plus users; you can also buy one boost for $3.99, 5 boosts for $15, or 10 boosts for $25. By paying this fee, more people will be able to see your profile, thus increasing your potential matches.^{[3]
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- Tinder Boost moves your profile up for 30 minutes at a time, and Tinder has said that their service may increase your views by 10 times.
- Avoid using Tinder Boost during periods of low Tinder activity (e.g., 2:00 PM on a workday).
5
Consider signing up for Tinder Gold. Tinder Gold includes all of the profile-boosting features listed above, but it also alerts you when someone swipes right on your profile, making it easy to match with them immediately rather than having to wait to come across them later.
- Since Tinder often encourages short attention spans regarding potential matches, this feature may help you match with someone quickly enough to avoid them losing interest.
- Tinder Gold's price may vary in your region, but it should cost around $5 per month in addition to the Tinder Plus fee.^{[4]
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Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Making Your Written Profile More Attractive

1
Craft a good tagline. A good tagline can sometimes pique the interest of people who may not otherwise match you. By crafting a unique, thoughtful, or interesting tagline, you might lure in people who would otherwise pass you by.
- Be honest about who you are and what you like, and include some specific detail that might be interesting. Try to sum up everything in a line: "Outdoors lover, Columbia graduate, writer, and into the finer things in life."
- Avoid being dishonest. Unless you go sailing a couple of times a month, don’t say that you sail all the time.
- Don’t use overtly sexual references.^{[5]
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2
Complete your profile in full. By completing your profile in full, you’ll give potential matches the minimum amount of information they need to assess you. At the same time, Tinder may sort incomplete profiles down to the bottom of the swipe list.
- People might pass you by if you skip the bio section.
- Use this as an opportunity to give readers a glimpse into who you are. For example, if you volunteer at animal shelters on the weekend and work as a whitewater rafting guide during the summer, let people know.
- Make sure to fill in your education qualification. This is important, even if you don’t have a degree from Harvard Business School. It gives people – and Tinder – a sense of your experiences.^{[6]
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3
Reduce your text, if you need to. Just as not having any info in your bio will hurt you, having too much text will also hurt you. By providing too much, you’ll provide potential matches with information that might lead them to move on.
- Tinder has a 500-word limit. Try to come in well under that limit. Anywhere between 100 and 300 words is ideal.
- Only use as many words as you need to describe yourself and give others a sense of who you are. Your description of yourself might be as simple as "I'm an introvert who enjoys the arts, classical music, and the outdoors."
- Avoid long words or wordy or run-on sentences.^{[7]
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4
Avoid sharing too much. While it may be beneficial to provide insight into your personality, you’ll likely lose matches if you share too much information. Ultimately, less is often better when you’re trying to get matches with people you’ve never met.
- Don’t talk about your health, any conditions you may have, or fun facts about you losing part of your index finger when you were twelve.
- Avoid writing anything about previous relationships. For example, don’t say “I’m looking for love after a bad divorce.”
- Try not to be negative in any way. For example, don’t write “I’m on Tinder because the dating scene is hard.”^{[8]
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5
Rewrite your text if you appear too into yourself. When rewriting the text for your profile, make sure you don’t appear like you’re bragging about yourself or your accomplishments. Ultimately, you need to write carefully so you balance confidence and modesty.
- If you’re monetarily successful, don’t flaunt it by writing about how you make $200,000 a year and need the right person to complete you.
- If you’re very well educated, don’t say you need someone super smart. Instead, write about how you need a witty companion to match your own sensibilities.^{[9]
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6
Add humor. Humor is an excellent tool to put prospective matches at ease and to get them to swipe you in the right direction. By using humor in your profile, you'll give people who view it a better idea of who you are. You might also make them smile or laugh.
- Consider self-deprecating humor. If you're generally a confident person, you may be able to include a joke about yourself. For instance, if you're tall, make a comment about how the air "up here" is thinner.
- Make sure your humor comes across right. While you may think your joke about dogs is really funny, others may not. To avoid this, have friends review your joke before you post it.
- Avoid off-beat humor and jokes about race, ethnicity, religion, or politics.^{[10]
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Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Selecting the Right Pictures

1
Choose good quality photos. One of the best ways to lose matches is to upload photos that are low quality. Thus, make sure you choose photos that are clear and are taken under circumstances that frame you as an attractive person.
- Everyone looks better in black and white. Try using black-and-white photos for your first one or two photos.
- Be careful when posting ultra-high resolution photos, as they may capture skin imperfections and other issues that could turn people off.
- Don’t upload any photos taken with cheap webcams.
- Avoid blurry photos or photos taken in mirrors.
- Focus on photos that are taken in good and flattering lighting. For example, stay away from photos taken under florescent lighting.^{[11]
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2
Reduce the number of photos you make available. The number of photos you upload to Tinder correlates directly to the number of matches you get. This is important, as the more photos you upload, the largely the likelihood that you’ll turn someone off.
- Provide between two and six photos.
- If you must include a photo of a pet, dogs may help you get more matches than other animals.
- Avoid uploading pictures of you as a baby or a child.
3
Include an attractive headshot. An attractive headshot should serve as your main photo. It will give viewers an idea of what you look like in ideal circumstances. This is important, as potential matches will want a clear view of your full face before swiping you.
- Make sure your face is clearly visible in your pictures.
- Avoid mugging or duck-face. Keep it natural.
- Your potential matches likely won’t take a chance on someone who’s hiding their face or doing something goofy.
- Emphasize your best features. Studies show that men most regularly choose women with larger eyes and lips, while women choose men with beards and masculine features.^{[12]
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4
Use a full-body date night-ready photo. By including a photo that shows you dressed up and ready to go out on the town, you’ll give potential matches an idea of the person they’ll encounter on a date. Without this type of picture, they’ll be left wondering about the person they might meet up with.
- This picture should show you dressed up and looking your best.
- Consider using a photo of you strolling under a street light in a nice part of your city or town.
- You can use filters to alter date-night ready photos.
5
Pick photos in which you are alone. While it may seem like a good idea to upload photos of you with others you care about, you have a much larger chance of alienating potential matches than winning people over.
- Don’t post pictures of yourself with children.
- You don’t want potential matches comparing you to someone else or scrutinizing the situations you’re in.
- If you must use a group photo, it should be your final photo.
6
Maintain positive body language in your photos. Positive body language is key in getting more matches on Tinder. Not only will positive body language make you look more attractive, but it’ll help people get the impression of you as a friendly and likable person.
- Don’t slouch.
- Avoid crossing your arms or posing in a defensive or threatening way.
- Smile! It may increase your appeal to others.^{[13]
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7
Change your pictures if they're not working. If you're not getting matches, change your photos around. By rotating or using new photos, you’ll get an idea of what photos work and which ones don’t.
- Look through your existing photo library for possible photos.
- Take new photos, if you need. For example, get a friend to follow you around for an hour and take photos. Then go through them and see which ones might work.
- Ask friends which photos they think are best. In fact, you might want to ask others who are successful on Tinder what photos they think will work for you.
- If you have any professionally taken headshots or solo portraits, those are usually a great choice.^{[14]
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Expert Q&A

Question

What is the trick to Tinder?

Lisa Shield
Dating Coach
Lisa Shield is a love and relationship expert based in Los Angeles. She has a Master's degree in Spiritual Psychology and is a certified life and relationship coach with over 17 years of experience. Lisa has been featured in The Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, LA Times, and Cosmopolitan.

Lisa Shield

Dating Coach

Expert Answer

One of the best things you can do is, if you're a woman, have a trusted male friend read over your profile, or a female friend if you're a male. Men and women think differently, so this can be a great way to get input on some of the things on your profile that might be an immediate turn-off to a potential match.
Question

Why don’t I get matches on Tinder?

wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer
This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

While there are no simple answers to this question, here are a few possibilities to consider. First, you might not have enough information in your bio to get people’s attention. Make sure you at least fill in a couple sentences about yourself! Add at least 2-3 good pictures of yourself too, since this will be the first thing that catches a potential match’s eye. A profile that seems too generic or intimidating can also scare people off, so keep it low-key and friendly, but make sure it reflects your true personality.
Question

Is swiping too much on Tinder bad?

wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer
This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

Tinder Plus users report that swiping too often in too short an amount of time (e.g., doing something like 2,000 swipes for hour) can get you marked as a bot, which will result in getting your account locked for 12 hours. Your score might also take a hit, resulting in your profile becoming much harder for other users to find.