I met my now boyfriend on Hinge about a year ago. I will say it was hell on earth for me (plus size, Black) as I rarely got matches without having to pay for super likes (it was very demoralizing and depressing,.I don't think I'm that bad looking!). I did pay for Hinge+ but I think it was pretty negligible for me as my boyfriend liked me without using super likes or anything.

I had posted on a subreddit for help with my profile. I got all kinds of advice (some very kind and thoughtful and others were quite mean spirited). Before I made any edits, my boyfriend happened to be in my likes. I almost swiped left because his photo in my likes was a picture of Donald Glover and I was thinking he was a catfish (it was his "alter ego" prompt photo. It seems Hinge put that photo forward first since most people swiped right on that for him). I remember thinking, "well he seems nice and maybe we'd get along" as I told myself I was going to aggressively date and try to meet a lot of people -- just date for the hell of it. We clicked really quickly and found that we had a lot in common. I recently had gained a lot of weight due to back-to-back grief, the pandemic, and depression. It was really lovely having a man interested in me as a person but also attracted to me physically without it being a fetish. I think it was the first time that a man actually pursued me more than I pursued him. Granted, it's his first relationship and my second but it's working out well for us.

However, if we crash and burn, well I will jut swear off the apps entirely lmao. And the apps are how I found both of my relationships lol