Relationships

Men Reveal How Many Matches They Really Have In Their Tinder Bank

Men can turn literally anything into a contest. Like, how many people they've slept with, the size of their inauguration crowd, the length of certain body parts, whatever. I guess it's only human to want to see how you measure up. So, how many Tinder matches is normal for guys to have at once? I decided to ask around.

I don't necessarily think it works to your advantage to have tons of matches. Have you heard about the jam study? Sheena Iyengar, a professor of business at Columbia University, ran an experiment at a gourmet market in California featuring a booth selling jam. Every few hours, she switched from offering a selection of 24 jams to a selection of just six. Thirty percent of the customers who stopped by the smaller assortment made a purchase — but only three percent of those who saw the larger assortment did the same. Iyengar called choice "debilitating."

Tinder pretty much works the same way. The more matches you have, the harder it is to focus on any one match. But I guess theoretically, you might increase the odds of meeting the specific person who happens to be perfect for you.

Anyway, I asked nine guys to take a look at their dating apps and give me a full report to see how many matches is "typical." It turns out there's no general consensus — so dudes, wherever you are on the spectrum of matches, you're probably fine.

This man has 1844 matches on Tinder.

I started using the app 14 or 15 months ago. I usually don't start any conversations nowadays because I don't have any time to handle that right now. But I've dated two girls from here long-term-ish and I've gone out for drinks at least 40 times.

— Melih, 26

This man has six or seven matches on Tinder.

I've been on here for six months. I wish I had more, but beggars cannot be choosers.

— Matt, 27

This man has 27 matches on Tinder, two matches each on Bumble and Hinge, 12 matches on Coffee Meets Bagel, and 11 matches on OkCupid.

Tinder is the one I seem to have the most success with, and even that's no more than two or three a week at most. Meanwhile, Bumble, which still seems to have the highest quality of women, basically yields zero matches for me. There's no one I've matched with and haven't messaged, and I never remove anyone. But in terms of people I'm currently talking to, it's just zeroes straight down.

— Wes, 27

This man has 381 matches on Tinder.

It looks good on paper, but it's not like I've met any of them. Maybe one or two.

— Spencer, 22

This man has 178 matches on Tinder.

I have 178 matches. It's just a number. It doesn't mean anything. Like, it doesn't mean that I have been on that many dates or have even spoken to that many girls. I've met a few girls here through the app, but a lot of accounts are fake, or scammers, or hookers, and the latest trend is for girls to use Tinder to boost their Instagram and Snapchat followings.

— Sam, 24

This man has 425 matches on Tinder.

It was actually over a thousand, but I got bored one night and cleared out a bunch of them. I was curious to see if there was anyone interesting I matched with but didn't message for whatever reason, or if there was someone I was talking to and then dropped the ball on the conversation. I found a few interesting people that way! It's weird though, people go through phases with these apps and will stop using them for long periods of time, or maybe they enter a relationship but don't deactivate their account. So messaging someone from six months ago might be a total waste of time.

— Ben, 25

This man has 203 matches on Tinder.

I have 203 matches. I've used Tinder on and off for almost three and a half years. I think it's superficial and fake. I think I also suck at conversations and I'm often too forward, either because I'm too horny or I unconsciously just think of the app as a joke and don't take it seriously. I've tried changing my profile several times and getting boosts and stuff like that. I've had a lot of really beautiful matches, but really haven't engaged in interesting relationships. I have one good friend I met on Tinder and that's it. I had one potential girlfriend, but she dipped, and I don't trust her. I kind of hate Tinder but I love it, too. It's so fun and addictive.

— Andres, 23

This man has 156 matches on Tinder.

I made my Tinder sometime late last month and I have 156 matches right now.

— Andrew, 20

This man has 41 matches on Tinder.

But I've deleted and reinstalled this thing probably the same number of times.

— Scott, 27

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