Just joined a dating app? Here’s how to look after yourself and handle rejection |
As the New Year rolls around, dating apps often see a surge in new sign-ups. Some are dipping their toes in for the first time, while others are rejoining with renewed hope of finding love after a break.
The right swipe has undoubtedly led to many success stories – long-term relationships, marriages and babies.
But it has also produced countless tales of the darker side of dating apps. Highlights from my own dating app adventures include the reverse image search that revealed my match’s photos belonged to a Canadian actor, a “single” man who forgot to mention his wife, and the unsolicited dick pics, which I respond to by politely advising that I’m not that kind of doctor.
If you’ll be looking for love online in the new year, it helps to know what may lie ahead.
Rejection is common on dating apps. A 2025 experimental study that simulated dating app swiping found on average, participants rejected about 80% of profiles. Real-world data tell a similar story.
One study using dummy profiles on Tinder found men received as little as 0.6% of matches for every right swipe, compared to 10.5% for women. The same study found even when a match occurs, conversation is far from guaranteed – 21% of women sent a message to a new match, compared to just 7% of men.
A 2019 analysis of Hinge data indicated out of all potential matches (all........