Should you always swipe right on Tinder?

You've probably heard conflicting arguments about this topic.

It's a pretty significant question because swiping right is... well, the fundamental action of Tinder.

Here’s what you need to know:

Sometimes You Should Always Swipe Right

Stop!

I know you're tempted to scroll down to the bottom of the article and see the final "yes" or "no" verdict, but frankly, there isn't one.

Like most things in life, there's a "time and a place" for everything.

Always swiping right is usually not a good idea, but sometimes it actually is the right answer.

Let's talk about why.

The Tinder Algorithm and Swiping Right

Tinder has an algorithm that determines how, who, and when you match with someone.

Long story short: you have a desirability score.

And part of this is determined by your Elo Score.

You might think that Tinder works just by bringing you down the list of all the women in the area but this isn't the case.

And when you think about it, that really wouldn't make the best business sense.

Of course, we don't know how the Tinder algorithm works yet - at least until Julian Assange leaks it to Donald Trump:

But we can make some educated assumptions.

Making Assumptions

By always swiping right...

You are communicating to the Tinder algorithm that you'll take anyone.
You're happy to swipe right on women who have the lowest response rates.
You're happy to swipe right on women who get the least amounts of matches.
You're happy to swipe right on women who have the cutest responses.

Most importantly...

You're “happy” for Tinder to give you the bottom of the barrel and reserve the women with:

The highest response rates
Most right swipes (most attractive)
And the most desired…

For with the guys who are not like you.

For guys are selective.

Think about it.

Why would Tinder want to give these unicorn girls to guys who'll accept anything?

It goes against their company's key performance indicator.

If you had a friend over that is 100% perfectly happy with drinking PBR, would you open a bottle of your finest scotch for him to take a shot from?

Or would you save that for a friend who is selective of what he drinks and actually gives a s%!t?

You know the answer.

And that's with your friends.

If this does happen to you, you may have to delete your Tinder profile to recover.

More on Your Desirability Score

Tinder collects many data points on its users.

Here are some I suspect:

The average time it takes you to respond to a message.
The quality of the images you upload?
The % chance you'll write a first message based on the desirability of your match.

Tinder has no reason to match the top-quality women with guys who don't respond quickly (or at all).

Or who use certain language/words associated with men who get the lowest response rate.

No dates on Tinder? Try thinking from the perspective of an Engineer designing their software.

And while we probably shouldn't overthink this:

Tinder does - because that's Tinder's job.

The Takeaway

From our point of view, it's a fun thought experiment.

But the key takeaways here are to not make the same mistakes all other guys are making on Tinder.

Like always swiping right…

And do what makes sense from a commonsense perspective.

We'll get to the key takeaways soon, but first I want to touch on something I mentioned earlier...

When does always swiping right actually work?

When Always Swiping Right Works

There are times when you should always swipe right.

Technically this may be "cheating" the algorithm, but it is what it is.

Don't blame me if this gets corrected and you get shadowbanned (which I proved Tinder does in my Tinder Search article.)

Basically, when you delete your Tinder account and remake it you get a fresh start.

You get a free pass on all of the women who swiped left on you - they are suddenly all on the table again.

You also get something every new account gets... your free super like of the week.

One of the other guys at Zirby, Thijs, discovered this trick.

You can delete your account, create a new one, use your boost, and swipe right on every one.

You take what comes in, message them quickly and get their phone numbers.

Then, you delete your account and use the boost again.

Effectively you lose your algorithm, but you gain a lot of boosts.

That said, this only works in high population areas.

So always swiping right may be worth the tradeoff.

You'll also find that Tinder will withhold matches from you if you have a brand new account.

In the same way, you might withhold your best hand when a new guy joins the table.

So, while this isn't the best way to use Tinder it has its place in the right circumstances.

Still, I'd much rather have a Tinder account that I've built up by following the key takeaways.

Key Takeaways to get more matches

Your goal is to set your profile up to maximize the effectiveness of that algorithm.

That's a little complicated, simply because we can't know for sure what that algorithm actually is.

You also don't want to fall too far down the rabbit hole:

Because at the end of the day you're on Tinder to just meet people in a very relaxed way.

Getting so obsessed with the technical stuff is probably less effective at increasing your matches:

Than spending that time at the gym, losing weight, or getting new hobbies.

After all, you can leave figuring out the Tinder algorithm to us.

(And if you’re interested, you can read about our surprising tests with Tinder passport here.)

Still, there are some very commonsense pointers you can follow to maximize the chances that Tinder works for you, and not against you.

Avoid always swiping right. Be selective and choose the women you're actually interested in.
Message the matches you do get - don't let them just sit there and rot.
Don't wait weeks or months or respond. (Beyond Tinder, it increases the chances you'll meet up if you don't do that... so... )