The three best-evidenced ways to get more matches are: add photos, write a bio, and improve the photo you lead with. In the most-cited field experiment on Tinder, researchers ran curated profiles and counted matches. Male profiles matched on 0.6% of the users they liked; female profiles on 10.5%. Taking a male profile from one photo to three raised matches from 44 to 238 in four hours, and adding a two-line bio raised matches from women from an average of 16 to 69 (Tyson, Perta, Haddadi & Seto (2016), A First Look at User Activity on Tinder).
Those are large effects from small changes, and they come before anything about your face. This page goes through what has actually been measured on Tinder-style apps, what Hinge reports about its own product, where the evidence runs out for Bumble, and what part of the photo problem is changeable.
Part of the SoftMaxx facial anatomy glossary — every term, one definition each.
1. The baseline is harsh, especially for men
The 0.6% versus 10.5% gap is the single most useful number to know, because it explains the experience. In the authors’ words, "women attain large numbers of matches rapidly, whilst men only slowly accumulate matches." They describe a feedback loop: men like widely because matches are rare, and women become more selective because almost any like becomes a match. The paper notes these figures are a lower bound, since a liked user may never have been shown the profile.
The practical reading: a low match rate is the normal condition for a male profile, not evidence that something is wrong with you. The question is what moves it.
2. More photos: the largest measured effect
"When increasing the female profile from 1 to 3 pictures, a 37% increase is seen in matches. This is even more significant in male profiles. With a single profile picture, after 4 hours, only 44 matches were made, whereas this increased to 238 with three pictures." The authors conclude that "the need for men to have multiple pictures is far greater than for women." A single photo reads as a risk; several photos read as a real person.
3. A bio: roughly four times the matches from women
36% of the accounts the researchers collected had no bio at all. They recreated their male profiles with a minimal bio — saying hello and where they were from — and found: "Without bios, our male stock profiles received an average of 16 matches from women; this increases four-fold to 69 with a bio." The bio did not need to be clever. It needed to exist.
Hinge reports something similar about its own product: "in 2024, likes on text prompts were 47% more likely to lead to a date than likes on photos" (Hinge newsroom, company-reported, not peer-reviewed). On Hinge, then, the prompts are not filler; they are where dates come from.
4. How much do looks matter? A lot, and it is not the whole story
Across four laboratory studies with 2,679 participants using a mock swiping task, "target physical attractiveness and target race were the largest predictors of decisions", while the swiper’s own personality traits predicted little (Chopik & Johnson (2021), Journal of Research in Personality). Photos drive the swipe.
Two things keep that from being fatalistic. First, rated attractiveness in a photo is partly a property of the photo: expression, sleep, skin and grooming all move ratings (see what a glow-up app should measure). Second, people aim high and it costs them: in messaging data from four US cities, "both men and women pursue partners who are on average about 25% more desirable than themselves", and "the probability of receiving a response to an advance drops markedly with increasing difference in desirability" (Bruch & Newman (2018), Science Advances). Reply rates improve when you message people closer to your own range.
5. Tinder vs Hinge vs Bumble: what changes
- Tinder: the published experiments were run here. Photo count and a bio are the measured levers.
- Hinge: likes attach to a specific photo or prompt, and Hinge’s own figure says prompt likes lead to dates more often. Treat every prompt as a second first impression.
- Bumble: we found no published experiment or company data comparable to the above. The mechanics differ, but there is no reason to expect photos and a written profile to matter less. We will add data here when it exists rather than guess.
6. The part of the photo you can change
You cannot choose your bone structure, and nothing here suggests you should try. What is changeable is measurable: in one experiment the same people were rated less healthy and less attractive when photographed sleep-deprived than after a normal night (Axelsson et al. (2010), BMJ), and a happy expression can outweigh a less attractive face in direct comparisons (Golle, Mast & Lobmaier (2014), Cognition and Emotion). Lighting, a recent haircut, clear skin and a real smile are not hacks; they are most of what separates a good photo of you from a bad one.
That is where SoftMaxx fits, and where it does not. It measures a face photo and ranks the changeable areas — skin, grooming, hair, expression — so you know what to work on first. It does not choose your photos, write your prompts or predict your matches, and no tool can.
7. What this page cannot tell you
The Tinder experiment dates from 2016, used a small set of curated profiles in two cities, and measured matches, not dates or relationships. The swiping studies were laboratory tasks with students. The research is overwhelmingly about heterosexual matching. Hinge’s figure is its own, unaudited. App algorithms have changed since and none of them is public. Treat the direction of these effects as solid and the exact numbers as historical.
None of this is a statement about anyone’s worth, and an appearance score is not a diagnosis. If thinking about your looks is taking over your day or making you feel worse, that is a reason to talk to a doctor or a mental-health professional, not a reason to optimise harder.
8. Common questions
How do I get more matches on Tinder?
The measured levers are photo count and a bio. In a Tinder field experiment, going from one photo to three took a male profile from 44 to 238 matches in four hours, and adding a short bio raised matches from women from an average of 16 to 69.
How do I get more matches on Hinge?
Work on your prompts as hard as your photos. Hinge reports that in 2024 likes on text prompts were 47% more likely to lead to a date than likes on photos. That is company-reported data, not a peer-reviewed study.
How do I get more matches on Bumble?
We found no published experiment or company data specific to Bumble. The Tinder findings on photos and a written profile are the closest evidence; there is no reason to expect them to matter less.
Why do I get so few matches as a man?
Because that is the normal condition. In the Tinder experiment male profiles matched on 0.6% of the users they liked, against 10.5% for female profiles. A low rate is the baseline, not a verdict on you.
How many photos should a dating profile have?
More than one. The experiment tested one versus three: a 37% increase in matches for female profiles and a rise from 44 to 238 for a male profile. Nobody has published a test of the ideal number beyond that.
Do looks matter most on dating apps?
Photos drive the swipe: across four lab studies with 2,679 participants, the target's physical attractiveness was among the largest predictors of decisions. But rated attractiveness in a photo also depends on sleep, expression, skin and grooming, which are changeable.
Can an app tell me which dating photo is best?
A face-analysis tool can score a photo and show which changeable areas are weakest, which helps you choose and improve a lead photo. It cannot predict matches. SoftMaxx's front scan is free and does the first part.