‘Forgive me, Reader: I ghost him.’ The best dating apps, tested

I spent two months testing the most popular dating apps, from those for hookups to the best for relationships. Here’s what happened

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If you want to make a single person angry, ask them about dating apps. Chances are they’ve tried using them at least once – just under 5 million adults in the UK visited an online dating service in May 2024, according to Ofcom’s Online Nation report – and will have a diatribe ready to go.

They might lament how the apps have gamified dating, turning us all into Charlie Brooker-engineered ciphers playing aimlessly with one another until we get bored. Perhaps they’ll carp on about how vacuous it all feels, making snap judgments about whether or not someone is a potential life partner depending on their “typical Sunday afternoon”. Or they’ll complain about how the apps have plagued the dating landscape with callous cruelty, giving us myriad new methods to hurt one another. There’s no shortage of complaints.

Best dating app overall:
Hinge

Best for casual dating:
Tinder

Best for inclusivity:
Feeld

Best for relationships:
Bumble

Best for beginners:
Breeze

Best for older daters:
Happn