How to Message on Tinder

Tinder can be a convenient tool for meeting new people. Still, its approach to sending a message to another user is different from how chat is designed on other dating apps. Here's everything you need to know about how to message someone on Tinder.

How Messaging Works on Tinder

Other social media and dating apps let you immediately send a direct message (DM) to another user. In contrast, Tinder requires both parties to express an interest in each other before it opens the lines of communication.

To communicate with another user, you need to swipe right on their profile, and they need to swipe right on your profile. After you and the other user have swiped right on each other, each of you receives a notification within the app about a new match, and you are added to each other's chat tab.

In addition to swiping right, you can tap the heart icon on a user's Tinder profile to express interest. Both actions perform the same function.

Sometimes you might need to wait for the other user to view your profile and like it after you liked them. If they already liked you, you are immediately notified of the match as soon as you swipe right.

Conversely, if the other user never sees your profile or chooses to swipe left on it because they're uninterested, you won't match and can never message each other on Tinder.

Learn five ways to optimize your Tinder profile.

How to Message Someone on the Tinder App

After you're matched with someone on Tinder, you can message each other via the chat tab within the mobile app. These instructions are the same for both the iOS and Android versions.

After you're matched with someone on Tinder, tap the icon that looks like a speech bubble in the upper-right corner of the app.

If you immediately match with another user after swiping right on their profile, you may be presented with a fullscreen message prompting you to message them. If you see one of these notifications, tap it to compose a chat message.
You are shown a screen with your matches listed horizontally across the top with a vertical list of received messages underneath. Tap the image of the user you want to message.
A chat window opens. Tap the text field along the bottom of the screen and type a message.

Alternatively, tap the GIF icon to send an animated gif or the Bitmoji Sticker icon to send a sticker.
Select Send.
Your message is sent to the other person. You can chat as you would on other messaging apps like WhatsApp, Vero, and Facebook Messenger.

How to Send a Message on the Tinder Website

You can also send messages to other Tinder users on the official Tinder website. Here's how.

Like with the Tinder apps, you can only send a message to someone else on the Tinder website if you are matched with one another.

On the left side of the screen, you should see a list of everyone you're matched with on Tinder. Select the profile of the person you want to chat with.
Along the bottom of the screen, select the text field that says Type a message.
Type your message and select Send.

Tinder messages sync between the web version and apps that use the same account information. That means you can start a chat on your computer and continue it on the Tinder app on your smartphone or vice versa.
Your Tinder chat is now active.

Hot Takes Chat

You can also chat with other users through the Hot Takes feature, which can be found in the Explore tab. Every evening at 6PM-12AM local time, users have the option the answer a random question from Tinder. Answers appear in a chat window that everyone can see for 30 seconds. If someone responds, you can view their profile and match with them. That way, you'll get a little interaction before matching, and you'll have something to talk about.