When Tinder Platinum was first discovered by a SwipeHelper Subreddit member before Tinder themselves announced it, I wasn’t exactly convinced by the new features it offered and instead saw it as just another cynical cash grab by the match.com overlords.
Now, nine months later and after its official release in the US, I still see it as a cynical cash grab, but that doesn’t mean its features are (all) useless.
Is Tinder the best dating app for you?
Statistically speaking, probably not. People who follow our app recommendations have 2 times as many dates on average compared to using Tinder.
What Does Tinder Platinum Offer?
Tinder Platinum basically offers three features in addition to all the Tinder Gold Features:
Attaching Messages to Super Likes, seeing your sent likes, and prioritizing your profile in potential matches’ decks.
Attaching Messages
Whether or not you would want to attach a message to your super likes comes down to whether or not you think it will increase your chances of matching with the recipient, and on that one, opinions differ about as much as on whether super likes themselves are a good idea.
It will certainly make you stand out, and maybe you have a killer opener ready that will tip the scales in your favor, but also, your potential match will know you’re paying for Tinder Platinum and that might make you seem desperate.
I think it will increase your chances in some situations or with some people, but decrease them with others. It’s a gamble.
Seeing Sent Likes
You get an extra tab where you can see the likes you’ve previously sent, apparently in case you want to super like them retroactively (as Tinder will hint at with an annoying pop up every few seconds). But like, why would you want or need that?
This feels like an afterthought. Like they needed to add another feature and had no good ideas.
Prioritizing your Profile
This is the big one. The one selling point that makes Tinder Platinum an option to consider, even if you don’t need any of its, or even Tinder Gold’s other features. But just how big is the effect?
Well, it seems to differ a bit, but reports range from a modest 10% increase, to 10x more matches than before the subscription. In a recent broad dating service test of my own, using completely fresh (“untainted”) accounts, I saw a modest increase in first likes received, but a whopping 241% increase in average matches per day, i.e. 3.41 times as many matches as with Tinder Gold, which in turn does not increase matches at all vs. free Tinder. Those still aren’t exactly 2015 values, but it’s the most matches I’ve gotten in the last two years for sure.
Also of interest to me was the fact that those matches started coming from mainly “delayed” likes, where my match liked me after I’d already liked her. The reason this is interesting to me, is that with (and since the introduction of) Tinder Gold, I got almost exclusively “first Likes”, meaning I was always the second one to swipe right to produce a match. You could almost think they did something to the algorithm to make sure your “likes you” tab gets as much traffic as possible, to entice you to buy Tinder gold. Almost.
Now with Platinum, not only am I getting at least a facsimile of the match rate of old, I’m also getting delayed matches again instead of only likes. I’m even matching with more attractive profiles again, though the profiles I’m seeing in my queue haven’t changed much on average. It makes Tinder feel a bit like the free version of 2015 again, except it’s not free. At all.
How much does Tinder Platinum Cost?
Tinder’s prices vary a bit depending on your age and location, but if you’re younger than 30, you can expect to pay around $20 per month for the monthly subscription. Less if you sign up for a longer duration. If you’re 30 or older, you can double that number.
How Do I Get Tinder Platinum?
It’s sometimes not immediately obvious how to even get Tinder Platinum, or it might not seem to be an option at all. What you need to do is sign up for Tinder Gold first, then you’ll be presented with the option to upgrade to Platinum. If you’ve already been a Gold member for a while, you’ll pay the prorated difference for the remainder of the Gold subscription, then you’ll be billed the Platinum rate at the next renewal date.
Is Tinder Platinum Worth It?
It’s no big secret that match rates (for guys) have dropped severely within the last few years. Basically every time Tinder comes out with another feature to increase matches, organic, free range matches seem to drop about 20-30% for absolutely innocent, completely unsuspicious reasons, of course. *Cough*. So the need to increase matches by paying for boosters is very much engineered, allegedly, but that doesn’t change the fact that the average guy needs to do something if they’re not content with their one or two matches per month.
(It should be mentioned that part of this decrease is of course due to the fact that when some people pay to be prioritized, others are in effect de-prioritized. And yet match numbers seem to already start decreasing shortly before the feature is implemented, which is suspicious.)
As such, you may not agree with Tinder’s/Match’s business practices (I sure don’t), but there’s no denying that Tinder Platinum does indeed make a profound difference, and it’s still a better deal than constantly buying boosts.
If you’re not that worried about the cost, and if you’re getting some matches and likes currently, but you’d like to get more, then I’d give Tinder Platinum a try. If you’re not getting any matches at all, something may be wrong with your profile in a way that even Platinum can’t fix. Check this post first and consider resetting properly before paying for a service you won’t get any use out of.
Either way, you’re going to want to read our Ultimate Guide to Tinder to make the most of your Platinum subscription.
How Has Tinder Platinum worked for you? Share your experience in the comments below, or on our official subreddit. See you there 🙂
