Hinge review: free features, Hinge+ and HingeX, privacy and safety

What Hinge is

Hinge is a prompt-based dating app built around relationships, and its own pitch is that people should leave it. The App Store listing opens with "Hinge is the dating app for people who want to get off of dating apps," under the heading "Hinge, designed to be deleted." The homepage line is "Go on your last first date," and it adds: "Hinge is built on the belief that anyone looking for love should be able to find it."

The terms name two operators. MTCH Technology Services Limited runs Hinge for users in the European Union, the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, and Hinge, Inc. runs it for everyone else. The Google Play short description is broader than the App Store pitch: "The Dating App for Adults to Match, Flirt, Meet and Date New Singles in the USA." Google Play lists 10M+ downloads for the Android app, a band that counts downloads from one store and says nothing about registered or active users. The pages checked give no official user count, gender ratio or age split.

Who Hinge is for

Hinge's pages are written for adults who want a relationship and are willing to say so. Google Play puts it as "start dating with intention" and says every feature is designed to move people "beyond casual chats." Profiles show religion, height, politics, dating intentions and relationship type, so a reader has a good deal to go on before sending a like. The same listing also speaks to people who are "unsure about your dating goals," which makes it the only softer entry point the text offers.

Two audiences are left open by the pages checked. Open relationships are one: profiles carry "relationship type" and "dating intentions" fields, but non-monogamy is not named in the listings, and the open relationship app picks rank apps that do name it. LGBTQ focus is the other. Hinge's listings do not address it either way, so the LGBTQ hookup and dating app list is the place to compare apps on that need.

Dating or hookup

On hookups Hinge's own wording points the other way. "Designed to be deleted" is the App Store's phrase, and Google Play's is "beyond casual chats." Neither listing mentions hookups, and casual dating is not offered as a goal. Whether the app is sex-positive is not addressed in the pages checked, and no casual or hookup mode is advertised.

A Hinge review for hookup readers is short. For a search on hookup apps, sex apps or one night stand apps, Hinge does not qualify on what it says about itself. The best hookup apps list and the one night stand app picks rank apps that describe themselves that way, and the casual dating apps hub covers the middle ground. Hinge sits better in the best dating apps list, where relationship intent is the point. How the whole category works is in how hookup apps work.

Matching and messaging

Every match begins with someone liking or commenting on a specific part of your profile. The app learns your type from your answers to prompts, your photos and your profile fields: the App Store says "We quickly learn your type," and the homepage cites an "acclaimed Nobel-Prize-winning algorithm." The pages checked give no detail on how that algorithm works. HingeX adds enhanced recommendations and priority likes on top of it.

Chat opens after a match that started with a like or comment. Convo Starters suggest openers drawn from prompt answers and photos, and a Match Note lets you share information with a date before they match. Voice and video appear on profiles, since the listings describe personality shown "through text, photos, video, and voice." Chat voice notes are not described, and in-app video calling, group chat and disappearing messages are not mentioned.

Whether free accounts hit a message limit is not stated. The listings name only likes and seeing who liked you as upgrades, which leaves free messaging unconfirmed in either direction.

Search and filters

Preferences are set so the app "can help introduce the best people to you," as the listing puts it. The listings, the terms and the privacy policy do not mention advanced filters. Hinge's help center, where plan feature tables would sit, answered with an HTTP 403 error when checked, so which filters exist and which plan holds them is not confirmed. The only feature the pages tie to a paid plan for certain is who-likes-you under Hinge+. Apps that do publish their filters are compared under dating apps with advanced filters.

Location

Hinge is location-based. The privacy policy says that with permission Hinge collects latitude and longitude, and that features relying on precise geolocation are unavailable if you decline. Profiles may show approximate location. The pages checked do not say whether location features need a paid plan, and travel mode is not mentioned. The location-based matching and travel mode feature pages show how other apps handle both.

Privacy and incognito

An incognito mode and private photos are not mentioned anywhere in the pages checked, so Hinge has no confirmed way to hide a profile from the feed. The privacy policy is more specific about the data Hinge keeps. It collects device location with permission, and Selfie Verification collects face geometry data, which Hinge says it deletes within 30 days.

The policy also says data is shared with advertising partners, and that US users can opt out of targeted advertising. After you close an account Hinge keeps data for a three-month safety window and for up to two years after a ban. Transaction data is kept for 10 years, the longest period the policy names. Anyone who wants a thin trail should read that part first. The wider picture is in the dating app privacy guide, and the apps that keep a low profile rank apps on that need.

Verification and safety

Selfie Verification is the main identity tool. The App Store says it "makes it easier for daters on Hinge to ensure that they are who they say they are." The privacy policy confirms it involves face geometry data and mentions Face Check in regions where that check is required. Whether free accounts can use it is not confirmed. Hinge's Trust and Safety page and the Google Play listing add these tools:

• anonymous reporting, after which reported people never see each other again
• a We Met survey that follows up after two people exchange phone numbers
• Match Note, for sharing information before a match
• blocking of offensive language in incoming likes
• automatic hiding of comments judged disrespectful
• machine-learning and human moderation

The We Met survey is the one tool in the list that acts after two people have swapped numbers. Other apps with profile checks are listed under profile verification. Hinge's tools do not replace ordinary caution with strangers, and the safety guide and the page on dating app scams cover that.

Free version

The App Store listing is direct about it: "The app is free to use. Members looking to see everyone who likes them or send unlimited likes can upgrade to Hinge+." HingeX is the second paid tier and adds enhanced recommendations and priority likes. The App Store in-app purchase list also shows items named Hinge Subscription and Membership, plus Boost and Roses bundles.

What the listings leave out is how far the free tier goes. The like limit for free accounts is not stated, and neither is any limit on messages. So a free account can be used without paying, but the pages checked cannot say how long a day of free likes lasts. Free apps for the same purpose are compared in free-tier dating apps.

Pricing

All prices below come from iPhone App Store listings checked on November 5, 2026, and none states a billing period. On the US App Store, Hinge+ is listed at USD 16.99 and USD 19.99, Hinge Subscription at USD 14.99, USD 29.99 and USD 34.99, and an item named Membership at USD 19.99. No HingeX row appears for the US. The lowest listed price on the US App Store is USD 14.99, for Hinge Subscription.

On the UK App Store, Hinge+ is listed at GBP 12.99 and GBP 14.99, Hinge Subscription at GBP 14.99 and GBP 29.49, and Membership at GBP 17.99. How Hinge Subscription and Membership relate to Hinge+ and HingeX is not explained in the listings. Google Play and web prices are not covered. The country-by-country rows, add-ons and refund terms are on the Hinge pricing page.

Cancelling and deleting

A subscription bought through the App Store or Google Play is cancelled in that store account. A subscription bought directly from Hinge is cancelled in Account Settings, in the app or on the website, by following the cancel instructions. Access continues to the end of the paid term, according to section 8 of the terms. Cancelling does not remove your profile. The steps for any app are in cancelling a dating app subscription.

To delete an account, log in to the app, open the Profile tab, tap Settings (the gear icon) and follow the instructions to terminate your membership. Section 9 of the terms adds that purchases already made are not refunded, and that a subscription bought directly ends immediately on deletion. Deleting the account does not cancel a store subscription, so that has to be done in the store as well. The same topic for other apps sits in how to delete a dating app account.

Platforms and age

The Hinge app comes in an iPhone version and an Android version (package co.hinge.app on Google Play). A web version of the dating app is not confirmed; the terms mention "the Website or App" for purchases, but they do not describe a web dating app. For options that skip the download, see dating sites without an app.

The App Store lists Hinge in 32 of the 45 storefronts checked. It is missing from Romania, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Colombia, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Vietnam. No official supported-country list was found.

The terms (section 2a, eligibility) require you to be an individual at least 18 years old. The App Store page shows an age rating of 18+, and Google Play shows Mature 17+.

Pros and cons

Alternatives

Readers who finish a Hinge review with another app in mind can start with a direct match-up: Tinder vs Hinge, Bumble vs Hinge, Hinge vs OkCupid or Hinge vs Coffee Meets Bagel. The Hinge alternatives page lists other apps for people who want something Hinge's listings do not mention, such as a casual mode.

Hinge review verdict