The good old days may be gone but surely, this is the sweet new age. Finding a person to go out on a date with either for a short time romance or a long time relationship has never been a walk in the park. Whether it is physically meeting a person or sliding into his or her DM, starting a journey with another person was not always that easy. However, the emergence of dating apps has ameliorated the situation to a decent degree.
With the advent of dating apps, it is apparent that the once complicated task of finding a date has become an evening stroll. However, the difficulty in finding a date is not all gone. This is because finding a romantic date is much more convoluted than scrolling past profiles on Grindr or Tinder. Some of these apps require setting up a profile or perhaps not; and requires a particular group to make the first move and possibly connect to platonic friends or career friend.
Results and statistics show that dating apps have been a good source of connecting people for either romantic relationships or platonic ones. But there is a small challenge any observant person can easily notice. Most popular dating apps are flooded with fake profiles or saturated with people who are tired of mismatches and disappointments. As a result, more and more people are drifting towards newer alternatives where the atmosphere is relatively warm and where users are generally positive.
If you are one such person, consider these not-so-popular yet pretty effective dating apps.
- Tastebuds
Are you a lover of music? Would you like to date a person who has the same taste in music as you? Look no further than this app. This app connects people with cravings for the same type of music from which a match is made and a romantic relationship can be built. In addition, it helps connect people as gig-buddies.
- Muddy Matches
There is love for everyone, including those in the rural areas or farm settlement. If you live in the countryside then this is the app for you. This app connects people in rural areas and aids then in finding a date and maybe building a relationship.
- Bristlr
This is for “beard gang” lovers. If you have a crush on men with beards then download this app. This app connects bearded men to beard lovers and when a match is made, a relationship isn’t far. If you don’t love beards, don’t bother. It is that simple.
- Pickable
This is also another app wherein women take the lead. If you are a woman, all you have to do is download the app and scroll through profiles and pictures of men, then, send a picture to anyone that catches your fancy. If he accepts, then either of you can send a message to kickstart the conversation. So women select and men accept. Easy right?
- Shoot Your Shot
Pretty straightforward. Member profiles will be displayed to you according to your interests and when you view a user who shares similar interests, you shoot your shot at them. It’s that simple. So what’s the difference between this and most other apps at its level? The app eliminates racial, religious, and political biases. People connect exclusively based on the fact that they fancy each other. 
Dwayne Foreman, the app’s founder, says that he the “Shoot your shot” concept will allow people to attempt to start up relationships with other people without having to deal with the fear of rejection and discrimination every time. This goes without saying that the rejection rate is very low as people tend to shoot their shots at people who are very likely to accept them. The app hasn’t even launched yet but has already gained decent traction as it appears people are loving the concept behind its way of operation.
- Raya
This is like the exclusive club app open to members only. It is an iOS dating app and is considered “bourgie” because of the conditions of its membership. To become a member, you must be recommended by an existing member and voted in by the membership committee and members pay a monthly fee of $10. News is that only 8% of the applicants get in as members, and screenshot can cost you your membership.
- Happn
This is an online app for dating based on location. This app helps you to initiate that conversation with that your crush within your area or neighborhood. It is a location-based app. Like Tinder, when you like a person’s profile and the person likes your profile back then you’ve gotten a Crush and can now chat the person up. This crush is like a match in Tinder. Therefore, if you are the shy type and can’t talk to that your crush in your area, get this app and let it do the work for you.
- Her
This is a dating app for lesbians, bisexual and queer women all over the world. Let’s just say that HER is to women what Grindr is to men. The app is for non-binary people and bicurious women. This app is strictly everything LGBTQ+ and it is for same sex relationships amongst women. If you are a cisgender man please look away from this app. It also has features for event hosting and news platform.
- Hinges
This app is the app for those who want to get off dating apps due to its nickname as “designated to be deleted”. A millennial dating app focuses not only on profile pictures but also on the personal prompt. The personal prompts are personal details obtained from answers to questions and quotes and these reveal a person’s likes and pet peeves. This app does not require a match before you can send a message and it is for both straight and queer folks alike. If you love sarcasm and believe you are incredibly witty, then this app is for you.
- Bumble
This app is somewhat referred to as a feminist app as women take the lead and it emerged to relegate the archaic patriarchal dating norms among heterosexuals. In this app, a swipe to the right means “like” while a swipe left means “reject” and when a person you like likes you back, that’s a match.
However, when there is a match, it is the woman who has to initiate the chat within 24hours of the match or it is voided. However, if it is a homosexual match anybody can initiate the conversation. This app also has features like Bumble Bizz and Bumble BFF for career or platonic friends respectively. Bumble is not really “less known” but noo were in the league of Tinder and OkCupid but is the king in the category nonetheless.