Don’t Make This Common Mistake With Your Dating App Profile

It’s a fresh year, folks. And that means we’re leaving all the dating troubles of 2022 behind us. So much so, in fact, that the internet has dubbed the first Sunday of January ‘Dating Sunday’. This year, Dating Sunday falls on January 8, and Tinder predicts that the date will be one of the busiest on the app – perfect if you’re keen to get some swiping done.

Prepare your profile for Dating Sunday

Now, before you dive into Dating Sunday with vigour, you might be considering an update to your dating app profile. It’s good practice to refresh it every so often, after all. Dating expert Samantha Jayne shared over email that simple changes you can make, like swapping out older photos for fresh snaps, adding in any hobbies you’re loving, and maybe updating your favourite songs on Spotify, are always worth a shot.

But there was one suggestion she made that really stood out.

“Don’t focus on all the things you don’t want in your bio.”

A common mistake people make on dating apps is thinking that listing out everything they dislike is useful information. It really isn’t. According to Jayne, it’s best to “keep your profile positive and keep your negotiables and non-negotiables to yourself.”

And I tend to agree. Writing that you’re “not here for pen pals,” or that you’re “not interested in ‘hi, how are you’ as an opening message,” or that “people who like star signs can swipe left” doesn’t really achieve anything aside from annoying potential matches.

You’re entitled to have your preferences, sure. But making your profile a list of pet peeves and deal breakers doesn’t leave much room to show off what you do enjoy or what you might offer as a partner.

And this is hardly a new idea. Speaking with Glamour mag a few years back, Dylan Thrasher, a life coach and author of How to Find and Create Lasting Love, shared that “with the proliferation of online and now mobile dating, an interesting byproduct from the vast accessibility to so many people has been the growing sentiments of defensive, bitter behavior (sic) up front.”

Thrasher’s suggestion is to consider bringing up any stories you might want to share once you’ve built a deeper connection with a partner, “but in the beginning, always keep it positive”.

And if you’re worried about matching with someone whose values or goals don’t align with yours, you always have dating app profile features to fill out. Here you can list your political views, intentions regarding kids and even things like how often you like to drink. Tinder has also announced it has added relationship goals to its profile settings (like Hinge and Bumble) so you can be clear about what it is you’re looking for from a date, too.

You can now choose from: Long-term partner; Long-Term, open to short; Short-term, open to long; Short-term fun; New friends; or Still figuring it out on Tinder.

Trust us; this is a more effective way to specify dating preferences than a passive-aggressive-sounding line in your bio.

Overall, when changing up your dating app profile ahead of Dating Sunday, Jayne suggests that you “stand out by having an engaging bio that reveals enough about you to paint a picture, but also creates an element of intrigue and mystery. Make your profile fun, light-hearted and approachable so that it’s super easy to strike up a conservation with you”.

If you’re looking for more dating profile tips, we’ve got a guide to avoiding a vanilla presence on the apps here.