About 30 percent of adults in the United States have, at one point or another, turned to a dating site or app on their quest for love, according to the Pew Research Center. Most of those love-seekers say using a dating app has generally been a positive experience, and 12 percent even end up in long-term relationships with someone they met online. But others’ experiences have only led to feelings of frustration, pessimism, and insecurity. To help you avoid becoming one of the latter, Best Life set out to uncover the worst dating app out there that you need to avoid.
To figure out which dating apps should be best avoided, we first compared four best-of lists. We used CNET’s list of “Best Dating Sites for 2021,” PC Mag’s “The Best Dating Apps for 2021,” Mashable’s guide to dating apps, and “The Best Dating Apps for 2021” by Digital Trends. These lists featured two apps, which we excluded: Facebook Dating because the social media platform doesn’t actually have a separate dating app, and Tastebuds, which is only available on iOS.
Once we established our list of 20 dating apps, we pulled together each one’s overall customer rating on both the Apple App store and Google Play store. We also factored in the app’s rating from review site Trustpilot, though a few apps had yet to be rated on the site.
We then gave each of these metrics a weighted value and plugged them into our exclusive algorithm to see how each app scored on our Dating App Disaster Index, a 100-point scale where 100 signifies the worst dating app and 0, the best. Read on to discover which ones to give a try and the ones you’ll want to avoid at all costs. And for other businesses people don't like, This Is the Most Hated Restaurant Chain in America.
20 | Plenty of Fish
Pe3k / Shutterstock.comApple App store rating: 4.2 out of 5
Google Play store rating: 3.7 out of 5
Trustpilot stars: 4 out of 5
Dating App Disaster Index Score: 0.00
19 | Her
ShutterstockApple App store rating: 4.4 out of 5
Google Play store rating: 3.8 out of 5
Trustpilot stars: 3 out of 5
Dating App Disaster Index Score: 14.58
18 | Coffee Meets Bagel
Koshiro K / Shutterstock.comApple App store rating: 4.5 out of 5
Google Play store rating: 3.9 out of 5
Trustpilot stars: 2 out of 5
Dating App Disaster Index Score: 27.08
And for the place shoppers like the least, This Store Has the Worst Customer Service in America.
17 | Zoosk
Koshiro K / Shutterstock.comApple App store rating: 4.3 out of 5
Google Play store rating: 3.6 out of 5
Trustpilot stars: 2 out of 5
Dating App Disaster Index Score: 39.58
16 | Happn
malazzama / Shutterstock.comApple App store rating: 4.3 out of 5
Google Play store rating: 4.0 out of 5
TrustPilot stars: 2 out of 5
Dating App Disaster Index Score: 43.75
15 | The League
Postmodern Studio / Shutterstock.comApple App store rating: 4.2 out of 5
Google Play store rating: 2.8 out of 5
Trustpilot stars: 3 out of 5
Dating App Disaster Index Score: 43.75
14 | Hinge
Ascannio / Shutterstock.comApple App store rating: 4.5 out of 5
Google Play store rating: 3.5 out of 5
Trustpilot stars: 2 out of 5
Dating App Disaster Index Score: 54.17
13 | OkCupid
PREMIO STOCK / Shutterstock.comApple App store rating: 4.3 out of 5
Google Play store rating: 3.8 out of 5
Trustpilot stars: 1 out of 5
Dating App Disaster Index Score: 54.17
And for a key tip to find a match, This Feature in Your Profile Picture Will Get You More Dating Matches.
12 | Bumble
natmac stock / Shutterstock.comApple App store rating: 4.2 out of 5
Google Play store rating: 3.4 out of 5
Trustpilot stars: 2 out of 5
Dating App Disaster Index Score: 58.33
11 | PURE Hookup
klevo / Shutterstock.comApple App store rating: 4.5 out of 5
Google Play store rating: 4.5 out of 5
Trustpilot stars: N/A
Dating App Disaster Index Score: 64.58
10 | Tinder
BigTunaOnline/ShutterstockApple App store rating: 3.9 out of 5
Google Play store rating: 3.4 out of 5
Trustpilot stars: 1 out of 5
Dating App Disaster Index Score: 70.83
And for more exclusive rankings delivered to your inbox, sign up for our daily news letter.
9 | Clover
Clover Inc.Apple App store rating: 4.7 out of 5
Google Play store rating: 3.9 out of 5
Trustpilot stars: N/A
Dating App Disaster Index Score: 72.92
8 | Grindr
Koshiro K / Shutterstock.comApple App store rating: 4.2 out of 5
Google Play store rating: 3.2 out of 5
Trustpilot stars: 1 out of 5
Dating App Disaster Index Score: 75.00
7 | Match
Vladimka production / Shutterstock.comApple App store rating: 3.8 out of 5
Google Play store rating: 3.5 out of 5
Trustpilot stars: 1 out of 5
Dating App Disaster Index Score: 75.00
6 | Kippo
KIPPO BY COVALENT INCApple App store rating: 4.3 out of 5
Google Play store rating: 4.1 out of 5
Trustpilot stars: N/A
Dating App Disaster Index Score: 77.08
5 | eHarmony
Vladimka production / ShutterstockApple App store rating: 4.0 out of 5
Google Play store rating: 3.0 out of 5
Trustpilot stars: 1 out of 5
Dating App Disaster Index Score: 83.33
4 | Ship
Koshiro K / Shutterstock.comApple App store rating: 4.2 out of 5
Google Play store rating: 3.6 out of 5
Trustpilot stars: N/A
Dating App Disaster Index Score: 89.58
3 | XO
ShutterstockApple App store rating: 4.1 out of 5
Google Play store rating: 3.6 out of 5
Trustpilot stars: N/A
Dating App Disaster Index Score: 91.67
2 | NUiT
nuitapp.comApple App store rating: 3.6 out of 5
Google Play store rating: 3.8 out of 5
Trustpilot stars: N/A
Dating App Disaster Index Score: 97.92
1 | EliteSingles
AlamyApple App store rating: 3.0 out of 5
Google Play store rating: 2.3 out of 5
Trustpilot stars: 2 out of 5
Dating App Disaster Index Score: 100.00
And for more dating tips, be warned that This Is the No. 1 First Date Dealbreaker, Research Shows.
