So if you had to describe your experience the Tender app out of two choices (or perception, if you’ve never used it) what would you say? If you’re so inclined; give your age in the comments. “I think of Tender as a dating app” or “I think of Tender as an app for hooking up”
Never used it, but I consider it a dating app.
Early 30s male
I’ve never used Tender, but I know people who have. My impression has always been that it’s an app for hooking up; and therefore probably not a good choice for someone actually looking to meet someone to date. I’m 55 by the way.
I’m starting to change my opinion on that though as 3 or 4 of my friends that are in long term relationships met on Tender.
According to WIkipedia, 84% of the users are under age 35; so it makes sense that I’m clueless about it all. As one example; I think I need to realize that millennials are probably going to blast me because hooking up and dating may not be mutually exclusive events. 
It’s called Tinder.
- My impression, via social osmosis, is that it’s for hooking up. I’m married though so never used it.
- Otherwise, same as this.
I have used it successfully and I consider it a dating app. A family friend met his (very pretty and classy) wife on it. I am 44 and I don’t do hookups.
Dating usually involves hooking up, on date number 3.53 (average). I imagine the Tinder crowd trends earlier because of the demographic. So can’t the answer be both?
If you’re looking for someone to have anonymous sex with at the drop of a hat, you’re probably going to be disappointed with Tinder. Likewise, if you’re looking for someone to court you for 6 months before proposing and have good post-martial sex, you’re probably going to be disappointed.
Hey Enright3, you got your first guy! 
Bolding mine.
That’s the kind that comes after the blasting I take it. 
Same here, though 42. I even photographed a wedding where they met on Tinder, but the groom told me that it was just supposed to be a hook-up for both of them
That just went really well, I guess.
I think of it as a dating app because that’s how I use it. The real answer has nothing to do with the app and everything to do with the user base. If everyone who ran the app was looking to hook up, daters wouldn’t use it, and vice versa.
It’s genesis was a hook up app, there’s no debating that.
It may have evolved since then and now people are also using it as a dating app as well.
Dating and hooking up are now the same thing. Whether you are looking for a relationship or a one-nighter, the process is the same. You meet someone, sleep together, and then later you decide whether you want to keep them around (and vice versa). Whoever doesn’t just stops responding to the other’s texts.
Booty call for sure!
IME, Tinder originally was more of a hook-up app than anything else but has since broadened to a more traditional dating/relationship app. I don’t even know how many profiles I have read than preface everything with some version of “No hookups!” (usually in bold type).
That is not true although I wish in some alternate universe it was. It isn’t that easy to get hookups unless your standards are way less than average (I have a Nigerian friend that does that but he has absolutely no standards; but hey, he gets a whole lot more than I do). I have much better luck with Bumble. That is the feminist version of Tinder and has strict rules about women picking everything even though the basic app is the same. I like playing with it and I have had good results but they aren’t consistent.
Match is the best by far in my experience. I have hits come in many times a day and it is hard to keep track of them. I am a fast mover so, if someone can’t commit to a date in a few hours, I just move on because there will be many more the next day. OK Cupid isn’t bad for a free site but the women don’t have any skin in the game. I have gotten a couple of decent dates off of it but their pictures weren’t accurate and I wanted to take them straight to the gym because they could be pretty. POF is just worthless. If I wanted something like that, I would just head down to the local crack house with a $20 bill.
There is an exclusive strip club not 35 minutes away from me in Rhode Island. For $35 - $140, you get a private session in a mini-hotel room with some of the most beautiful women in the world. I don’t go often but it makes me wonder what normal women are willing to add. I look at things at a transactional level and it makes a whole lot more sense to spend money on a stripper than a true girlfriend or wife. I am doing my part to keep up international relations with the Russians.
Late 40’s, and my impression has been that it is primarily an app for hook-ups and casual relationships.
Are you missing a word in that last sentence or am I being dense? Or is the subtle punch line that these are chubby chix with a thinner woman maybe hiding inside somewhere?
It is the latter even though I know it sounds terrible. On all dating sites, people (men and women) often try to do the old bait and switch. They put up pictures that were taken 10 years and 50 pounds ago. It doesn’t mean they are bad people but a key part of dating relationships is sexual attraction. It is a bad strategy because you are going to have to meet at some point and the other person is going to be disappointed when the person they are with doesn’t match the photos presented.