For eight years, I alternated between many of the best dating apps in a bid to find The One. Yeah, nowadays, dating very rarely involves spotting a hottie across a pub garden. We’ve gone digital, meaning dedicated time swiping is the key to success.
Sadly, 30% of Brits — a whopping 4.8 million — say online dating sites have negatively impacted their self-esteem. Not entirely surprising when, according to the same research by Cherry Dating, another 18% admit to ghosting when they don’t feel an immediate spark.
However, 31% of people in the UK know a couple who successfully met online — AKA it works. In fact, my boyfriend and I are one such couple, having met on Hinge late last year.
So, if you are ready to redownload, the next step is settling on a dating app(s). You’ve got options, with more than 1,400 (!) dating platforms in the UK, including Match.com, eHarmony, Coffee Meets Bagel, Bumble, Tinder and SilverSingles — plus a host more dating sites for people over 40.
Although no one has the time to try them all — except, you know, a GLAMOUR editor. Yep, we’ve done our research, spent hours swiping and have spoken to various industry experts to compile this definitive guide to the best dating apps and trending sites for queer women, heterosexual daters and LGBTQ+ singles.
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Meet the experts:
How we chose the best dating apps:
It is important to us that we provide unbiased, trustworthy and honest reviews of everything we test – from dating sites to sex toys. To compile this guide to online dating, single members of the GLAMOUR team have shared their dating experiences to help point you in the right direction.
We continue to test as many of the featured dating sites in this edit as possible, doing so for at least a month, meeting potential dates IRL and scoring apps based on various criteria. Think: whether they’re suited to all sexualities, how safe they made us feel, whether they offered unlimited messages, the quality of the icebreakers and how appropriate our matches felt. For those we’ve not yet had the chance to test, we’ve referred to experts and user reviews.
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