5 Free Dating Apps for Students in the UK

University should be about making friends, learning new things, budgeting, experiencing, but also dating apps. This is the period of your life where you can try new things, discover yourself and also understand who you want to be. The best part about going to Uni is you gain the independence you have always wanted. If you are not living at home, you are mostly in a private accommodation or halls of residence.

Dating should be an integral part of your lifestyle, no matter if you are too confident or extremely shy. This doesn’t mean you need to get married, hurry to have a girlfriend or be obsessed about it. Millennials are single and so probably are you; so dating can also be just a nice coffee with someone new.

When I went to University, there were a few dating apps we were constantly using. This is a list of those you should try, even though meeting people in person is always better! 🙂

#1 – Tinder

If you don’t know this app, you have probably lived in a really remote region of the world in the past five years. Tinder has set a dating revolution by introducing a swipe gesture. You can either swipe left to like someone or right to dislike. If your counterpart likes you back, a nice chatting interface pops up; otherwise you move on and keep swiping. 😉

Tinder is the most brutal app out there. I know people who have never used it because they fear to be judged or others who just swipe to get the confidence boost (without meeting anyone). In some cases, you may feel like a piece of meat on the market. There is nothing else that matters about your pics and that’s key to make a good impression. I don’t have amazing pics, so this never worked for me.

#2 – Bumble

This is the second version of Tinder, more of a spinoff. It was actually founded by some ex-Tinders. Bumble comes with a different concept, which is more female oriented. The matching system works in the same way, but after you connect to someone, if you are a guy, you can’t send a message. You need to wait for the counterpart to decide if she wants to start a conversation with you.

In my personal experience, this ends up in several different matches, but no conversations. The good thing about Bumble compared to other dating apps is that there is no limit to the number of swipes per day, which now Tinder has. You can swipe as much as you want, just don’t get too obsessed. 😉

#3 – Happn

While the first two are Americans, this is a french company. Happn is a location based app. When you open it, the first thing you see is a newsfeed. It looks similar to a chronological timeline, which tells you when you met someone. The counterpart ends in your newsfeed if you have stumbled across each other in real life, in other words, you were really close. It’s a creepy concept, based on the fact that if you walked next to each other, maybe you want to hang out together.

However, it works and has been around for quite sometime. In a University environment, where there is a huge cluster of people on campus, this can be fun. The results are pretty similar to Tinder, in the sense, you still have to like the person and get liked back. The only difference is the swipe and the fact Happn shows people on the premise you were somehow close in the past.

#4 – Once

This is actually an interesting app. Once uses a completely new system. The app sends you a curated profile once a day, you then can decide to like it or not. If you both like each other, you can start chatting. The nice aspect is that you don’t have to spend your time on the app searching, swiping, waiting or worse hoping. You just open it once a day and if you like what you see, you just approve the match.

I tried to use it for a few weeks, but didn’t have any matches, so I quickly got bored of it. This is the downside of dating apps, they might work in some locations, while not in others.

#5 – OkCupid

OkCupid is not just a simple dating app. This is a dating site, with an app. The four dating apps we have mentioned so far focus on pictures. On the other hand, OkCupid makes you build a profile first. You actually have to type in your bio and details. This is a very long and complex process and there are also some people who write essays, just to make your life easier. 😛

The site has a Tinder-like built in feature, but you can find all the people through the search functionality and send unlimited messages. This is not the best from a male perspective, because each girl usually receives dozens of messages per day. OkCupid also lets you search with different locations, so it’s very likely you will get messages from the other side of the world, if you are a girl.

If you are a guy, you need to be creative enough to get people’s attention through your first message. The more boring you are, the less replies you will receive.

These are five dating apps I have personally used, which I think you should try at least once. If you fear online dating, embrace it and see what other people are up to. This will make you love or hate it.