What Is Hinge?

Pros / Cons
  • Aimed at authentic matches
  • Wide user base
  • Open to all sexualities
  • Fairly detailed account information
  • Flexibility in what information you choose to share
  • Messaging is free
  • Very responsive to messages
  • Some fake accounts to watch out for
  • Only available as a mobile app
  • Most subscribers are from the United States
  • You can only message mutual connections
  • Visibility is restricted to people who have liked you back
  • Mandatory photo uploads
  • Phone verification required

Membership Base

The Hinge membership base is somewhat focused on professionals aged around 24-32, so if you don’t fall into this category, you might not find too many matches. While the app is growing in Australia, most of the 5 million users are in the US so for the time being it may not show as many matches as you might find on more established Aussie platforms.

We found an even gender split, so there are as many men as women on the platform, but there are some reports of fake users, so it’s best to be as cautious as you usually would be when dating singles online.

Hinge is all about serious connections, so isn’t suited to more casual dating, flirting or friendship.

Profiles

Creating a Hinge account takes a lot longer than on most sites since you’ll need to go through the phone verification process, answer questions about yourself and what relationship you are looking for, and fill in other details like ‘About Me’.

What we found a little frustrating is that, unlike most dating sites, you can’t just scroll through pages and check out singles nearby to decide who to message. You must go through your matches, and indicate who you like, and wait to see whether that person likes you back.

You can’t start chatting, flirting or messaging until you have a mutual dating match, and until then the information you can see on users pages is minimal.

Search Features on Hinge

Our Hinge review found that searching is a little different from what we’re used to, and it isn’t particularly easy to run a search and browse through users. Instead, you have to work through your matches and choose who you like.

It is possible to see who has liked you or sent you hearts, but if you’re a free member, the profile photo is blurred out, so it’s not likely to help you find authentic connections with other singles.

While Hinge will recommend matches, these are always based on the information you gave when you signed up, so if anything changes or you’re not happy with the match suggestions you’re receiving, you’ll need to edit your profile. There isn’t an option of running your search, and playing around with locations and criteria, so you are reliant on the suggestions being compatible.

Messaging

Hinge’s free contacting features include the option of sending a like or a comment to other subscribers – anything else you will need to have a premium subscription to be able to access.

You can visit profiles, but only those of other members who have liked you, so you can’t find out much about anybody before you need to decide whether to like them and see if you have a mutual match.

Once you do have a dating match, you can message each other for free, but you cannot message anybody else, even if to introduce yourself or to find out more about them. There is no option to send photos or videos, so the messaging is restricted to text only.

Free vs Premium

Free Hinge services:

  • Downloading the Hinge dating app and setting up a Hinge profile
  • Viewing profiles of matches
  • Sending restricted hearts and comments
  • Seeing who likes you

Paid Hinge services:

  • Sending unlimited likes and swiping
  • Better app experience
  • Visibility of your likes in one place
  • Advanced preferences
  • Higher account visibility

We’re not convinced the account upgrade is worth it; you still can’t view, message or interact with anybody before you have a mutual match. So, unless you are having no success with your matches and want to pay for a chance of more people swiping your page, it’s probably not worth the cost.

Hinge App

Our Hinge review looked at the app functionality, how well this works, and whether your dating experience can be just as good through a handset as on a desktop.

The Hinge app is designed to be deleted; this is part of the Hinge marketing, whereby daters are encouraged to delete the app once they have found a suitable match. Overall, the dating app is functional and easy to use – but it’s a shame that there isn’t a desktop alternative, so your only option as a member is to use the app through your mobile.

VERDICT

Australian members of Hinge are reliant on the suggested dating matches, and given the roulette-style, we’re yet to be sold on how good a feature this is to find a genuine relationship. If there were a search function, this would make the app far more user-friendly, since you’d be able to browse and look around yourself.

This does mean that your results are limited, and given that most of the daters are in the US, may find little use for the app in Australia.

Our verdict is that Hinge could do better, with more features and games, and more flexibility for daters to be able to control their own online dating experience.