How to get more matches on Tinder in 2026 – 11 expert tips for single guys

For male users, the average number of matches is 0 to 3 per 100 swipes. 

So it’s not surprising that you barely get any. And most of the matches you do get are with women you aren’t interested in. But it’s not your fault. 

Nobody told you how to get more matches on Tinder. 

For over 10 years, I’ve shown single men in my private practice the online dating patterns that really work. And in the next five minutes, I want to share with you some of my best discoveries to consistently get matches with attractive women on Tinder.

So let’s go over the actual things you need to turn your Tinder profile into a Match Magnet.

11 Tips on how to get more matches on Tinder with attractive women

Here are 11 tips on how to get more matches on Tinder: 

1. Share your story

For a woman, it’s easy to get matches. 

All it takes is just one sexy picture. But the Tinder game is different for men.

Suppose you want to have a profile that attracts women. In that case, you want to show different sides of your personality through your images. And I don’t mean showing off your six-pack, sipping expensive champagne, and driving Ferraris. 

The primary purpose is to tell her a story of what it would feel like to date you.

A study from the University of Göttingen asked 68,000 women in 180 countries to determine what women want from men. And what they found is that personality comes out on top by far. 

Make a list of things you enjoy doing and think about how you could take a picture of them. This could be anything:

• A photo where you dance
• Play an instrument
• Travel
• Workout
• Play cards

You name it. 

For the best results: 

Ask a friend to take pictures of you from different perspectives while doing an activity of your choice. Try to be as authentic as possible so it doesn’t look staged. Feel free to do a Google Image search to get inspiration. 

For these pictures, it’s not too important to have the best quality. In fact, it’s even better if some of your photographs are shot on a smartphone. 

I mean, who has perfectly shot pictures of all their hobbies?

Also, mix in at least one group photo. Preferably a mix of other men and women (no drinking benders!)

And last but not least, try picking pictures where your face is clearly visible. Don’t choose photos that show you from behind or from the side. These can work too, but you’re better off showing your face in most cases. 

Plus, avoid blurry photos that are low quality. 

To give you an example of how many matches you can get by letting your pictures tell your story, let me introduce you to my client, Tony:

Tony is a busy businessman in his 30s. Because of his schedule, he lacks time to meet women. So he decided to sign up on Tinder because swiping left and right for a few minutes a day sounded easy. 

Until he realized… it’s not. 

Like most men, he ended up choosing random pictures that he thought looked decent enough:

How many matches and likes do you think he got with these profile pictures?

The gut-wrenching results: 2 matches and 5 likes. 

But can you see the main weakness of his profile based on what I just told you?

Women can’t figure out his personality based on his images. So they swipe left. 

Even using a Tinder Boost or other features wouldn’t save him.

The solution: 

We went through all the pictures we could find and chose those that fit into what I call the Boyfriend Photo Sequence.

Here’s what his new profile looks like:

After just 3 days, he got:

• 13 matches
• 21 likes
• And 3 dates

Of course, a profile alone won’t get you dates… you need to learn how to start a conversation on Tinder. 

But getting 3 dates in just 3 days with his new profile is quite impressive, right?

Now, could he have gotten even better results? 

The photos we picked are far from perfect. But those are the ones he had already saved on his hard drive.

If he had hired a professional photographer, we could have created an even better profile.

2. Use the first picture to spark her curiosity

The first thing you need to accomplish on Tinder is to get her to stop swiping and make her curious.

You want her to check out your other pictures and read your bio. Because the more quality information she has about you, the more likely she’ll swipe right. So how do you do this correctly? 

And what kind of picture is the best to accomplish this?

The picture you should always have at the front is a close-up portrait of yourself. If possible, use a high-quality or professional photo. And don’t forget to use a blurry background (known as the Bokeh Effect).

Why?

The fewer distractions there are in your picture, the more women will focus on you, and the higher the chance of getting more matches. Otherwise, something else could catch her attention at this stage.

The most “swiped-right” man on Tinder in the UK, Stefan-Pierre Tomlin, recommends that you even have a bright-colored background. So you’ll stand out when the girl shovels through her swiping deck.

You could take such an image with your smartphone by using Portrait Mode. But smartphones can give you these weird fragments around your face and hair. And the depth and look of the blur don’t come close to that of a professional digital camera (DSLR).

So consider taking a portrait with a good camera because this is your most important picture.

3. Hire a professional photographer (optional)

Getting a professional photographer to take your pictures is a worthwhile investment. 

Especially for the first image in your Boyfriend Photo Sequence. Why leave it up to chance if your photographs are good, if you can have certainty by hiring a professional?

It might look like a lot of money, but you can use your professional photos to get matches and dates for the next few years. 

And I should also mention that a good photographer can save you a lot of time and stress:

If you’re like most men, you’re probably not sure what outfit to wear. A good photographer will help you pick the right one.

Plus, a photographer will do all the photo editing. To make you look even better in your pictures. 

But if you’re on a budget, you can easily edit your images yourself.

4. Use editing tools to improve your pictures

Want to know the secret that most women use to get more matches? 

No, it’s not skim bikinis or hot pants.  

They edit their pictures to look better. You can do the same with just the push of a button. Here are some tools you can use:

1. Faceapp
2. Let’s enhance
3. Luminar 

The best part is that you can use those tools to save pictures that otherwise would be unusable. So if you have a hard time smiling or looking natural in front of the camera, don’t worry. It can be fixed in editing. 

Here’s an example of mine:

As you can see, I look rather tired and uninterested in the left image. But with just a few tweaks, I look way more charismatic.

Every woman I showed both pictures to agreed that I look much more attractive in the right one. 

A word of caution: The goal is to improve your images and not completely change the way you look. Sadly, I’ve seen ordinary guys making themselves look like Brad Pitt. 

Will it get you more matches? 

Sure it will…

But to what price?

Eventually, you have to meet her in person, and she’ll simply feel deceived. So you can forget about seeing her ever again. 

And can you blame her? 

Would you like it if she lies about her appearance?

5. Get the female seal of approval

Before you put up your pictures on any dating app…

Ask some women to look at the photos first and give their opinions about them. It’s tough to judge yourself on which pictures you look good in. 

According to studies, we tend to look at ourselves way too harshly. 

So why burn through prospective matches if you can find out what pictures you should use risk-free? 

If you don’t have female friends to give you honest feedback, you can simply sign up for Photofeeler. 

Photofeeler allows you to get feedback from women on the Internet. 

It has a paid and a free version. So even if you’re on a budget, you can still try it.

6. Improve your bio 

Truth bomb: If your pictures are great, you could still get tons of matches, even if your Tinder bio is the most boring thing on earth.

As the saying goes: “A picture is worth a thousand bio lines.”

Still, one university study suggests that a bio can increase the number of matches by up up to 4 times.

So don’t leave your description empty. Instead, share one interesting fact about you. So she can get an even better idea about what it’s like to date you. 

Here’s how to create a simple yet effective bio in seconds:

1. Say you’re not sure what to write since you don’t want to sound like someone who’s bragging
2. Follow up by sharing one unknown fact about you, for example: “I’m afraid of heights, but I still went skydiving once”
3. Tap yourself on the shoulder for writing an effective bio in seconds

That’s it. 

If you think that’s ‘weak’ or doesn’t sound right… think again.

If you believe you need to impress a woman to get more matches on Tinder, ask yourself why you think that in the first place. 

For most men, it’s due to insecurities… like thinking that they’re not good enough, so they need to compensate somehow. That’s often because of past experiences… experiences where they failed with women.

They assume something’s wrong with them (not good-looking, boring, too short, you name it).

But think about it: 

Who’s more impressive? 

A man who lies about his fears and tries to compensate in other ways?

Or a man who admits his fears and then faces them anyway?   

Not sure about you, but I’d like to be the second guy.

7. Show you’re not a hacker

Sadly, we live in a time of online fraud. 

People pretending to be someone they’re not is quite common. And most likely, she already has one or a few bad experiences on Tinder under her belt. 

So to gain her trust and make her swipe right on you faster, show her that you actually exist. Connect your account to Instagram and Spotify. And use the verification option on Tinder. 

Bonus Tip: You can also connect your account to your Facebook. Not only can you use it to prove that you’re real, but Tinder’s algorithm will use your Facebook data to connect you with mutual friends who might have a crush on you.

8. Adjust your Tinder filters to get more matches

If you want to catch more fish, you need to cast a wider net. 

Check the age range and distance settings. Most guys never bother to change them and just stick to the default numbers.

Instead, try to set +-5 years, depending on your age within the age range.

And for the distance, I recommend going for 65 kilometres (40 miles). It’s far enough to get more matches, but not too far to be a hassle to meet them.

9. Swipe at the right place, at the right time

Here are two swiping hacks to show you how to get more Tinder likes:

First, swipe from different locations throughout your city. 

Tinder’s algorithm gives you a higher priority if you live close to your potential match. So swipe on your commute, at home, and in the office.

Second, swipe during prime times. 

Most people are on their smartphones during Weekdays and Sundays at 9 p.m. before bed. According to the data from Nielsen, especially Thursday and Sunday night work very well.

Side tip: Under no circumstances, swipe right on every female profile. The Tinder algorithm doesn’t like this one bit. 

It’s the #1 rookie mistake. And might be one of the reasons why you get barely any or no matches on Bumble or Tinder.

10. Use Tinder Boosts and sign up for Tinder Gold (optional)

I only recommend investing in boosts and a premium membership once you get 1 to 2 quality matches per day. 

Otherwise, you’ll pay to promote a profile that needs to be improved first.

It’s like a restaurant that serves bad food but starts paying for advertisements to attract more customers. Sure, more people will show up, but no one is gonna buy. 

But if you do have a good profile, buying boosts and a premium membership can be an excellent way to get even more matches. 

Take advantage of the best time to use the Tinder Boost – at around 9 pm. 

11. Use the Tinder Algorithm as your wingman

The algorithm decides how many women will see your profile. So you can have the greatest profile ever created, but if the algorithm “hates your guts,” you are out of luck. 

Now, how do we get on the good side of the Tinder algorithm?

The issue is that Tinder’s algorithm is the company’s most guarded secret. But if you follow the money, you can pretty quickly understand how it works. Without knowing how to code or what an Elo score rating is.

Let’s start by asking one simple question: 

How does Tinder make money?

• Selling paid services primarily to its male users
• Generating revenue through ads

So who does Tinder have to make happy to keep the money flowing?

If you thought it must be guys, then you guessed wrong. 

Tinder has a vested interest in keeping its female members happy. Especially since, according to Statista, only 25% of Tinder users are women.

Why? 

If the women stop using the app, all the men will stop too. It’s the same principle that your local bar and nightclub applies to make money. Let the pretty girls in so the guys will buy them drinks. 

So, how do you keep the women happy?

Introduce them to guys whom they would love to meet.

And prevent them from being exposed to boring and creepy dudes.

Does it work all the time?

Of course not. Almost every woman can share a few horror stories she experienced on Tinder. But if you show the algorithm based on your actions, you’re a male user that women would love to meet, then it will introduce you to more women. 

How to do that?

For example, get women to reply to your first message. This shows the algorithm; you’re a guy who can keep women on Tinder. And the longer the women stay, the more money the app makes. 

You’ve got more matches on Tinder, but what now?

On average, a woman receives 7 new messages a day on Tinder.

And the more attractive she is, the more texts she gets from guys fighting for her attention. This is why your first message has to stand out and be interesting, so she wants to reply.

Because if she doesn’t…

Not only will you never meet her in person, but Tinder’s Algorithm will introduce you to fewer women.

So, what should you text to make her and the algorithm happy?

Good thing I’ve already figured it out for you:

Click here to get my proven conversation starter template for free.

Your Efficient Dating Advisor,

Herman The German 

Frequently Asked Questions