Lifestyle

Top 4 best dating apps/sites in Nigeria

Online dating is the new way to meet people. Back in the day, a man has to ride on horseback for hours just to go see his woman. In most cases, the man goes through all these trouble without even the possiblity of touching his woman’s hands or even knowing what she looks like before hand.

Thank goodness for technology, all that has changed, now you get to choose the physical qualities you want, ethnicity, religion and even social orientation before approaching to say hello.

It might seem dating these days is much easier than it was years ago, still you’ll need the right app/site to meet the right people. And as you can imagine for all the positives these modern dating methods bring, they come with an equal amount of nagatives too.

Before you decide to meet a partner online, you have to weigh the negatives as well, from hookers to fuckboys to less than honorable married folks who won’t think twice before breaking you. If you still want to explore, here are the top dating applications in Nigeria

Tinder

this app is by far the most popular dating app not just in Nigeria, but all over the world. The way it works is simple, the app suggests profiles of people near you based on information from your phone’s gps. The profiles are pretty basic, just a few photos and one or two lines of description. You swipe right if you like what you see and would like to match with them or swipe left if you don’t find their profile interesting.

You will also be suggested to the other person and if you both swipe right, then it’s a match where both of you can send private messages to each other and potentially arrange a meet.

Tinder also has some paid features, like the premium package that allows you to swipe unlimited and shows your profile to a lot more people. The premium package also allows you to see people who swiped right on your profile and decide if you want to swipe right on their profile and match.

There are plenty of Nigerians on tinder which makes the app a good place to meet people from diverse background. This also makes the app a breeding ground for hookers and fuckboys. You have to lookout for redflags and be responsible for your own security on this app.

Bumble


Bumble is another popular dating app in Nigeria just like tinder. Tho not as popular as tinder, Bumble also works in a similar way. You swipe right on your potential matches and wait for them to swipe too. The premium package on Bumble also gives you access to a lot more people and allows you to check out people who liked your profile to decide if you’ll like to match with them.

One unique feature of Bumble whoever is that only the woman can confirm a match and start a conversation. If you both swiped right the woman has to make the first move by sending the first message which can be tricky here in Nigeria where women don’t culturally make the first move on men.

Another disadvantage of Bumble is that the gps locator on the app is not efficient at all. Unless you’re living in a major Nigerian city like Abuja and Lagos, most of your suggestions might be at far away places.

For instance, when I tried using the app most of the suggestions I get are for people 100-300 kilometers away in Osun, Ogun, Ondo while am in Ilorin. Long distance relationships are not really my thing so I didn’t match with a lot of people.

Badoo

Badoo has been around in Nigeria for a very long time. The first time I tried using the app was back in 2012 while I was still in the university. And that is the problem with Badoo, because it has been around for so long most of the people on there are mostly old.

Badoo mostly functions like tinder and Bumble in that you swipe right on profiles you like and left on the ones you don’t. But unlike tinder and Bumble, Badoo has a feature that allows you see all the people near you on one screen. You can navigate to any picture that sparks your interest and view their profile, go back and forth to compare profile. This is a premium feature on both tinder and Bumble.

The premium package on Badoo also allows you to see people who liked your profile and decide if you like to match with them.

Badoo also has a fairly good gps locator that will enable you see people near you, but the app contains intrusive ads which does not make for a good user experience compared to others.

Telegram

Technically, Telegram is not a dating app but you can very much use this app to meet people and ask them out on a date.

Telegram works mostly like Whatsapp, but has a feature that allows you to locate people and groups near you. You can use this feature to send people near you a direct message or better still there are public groups for like minded individuals you can join. The app also gives you the ability to see the group participants and you can send anyone a direct message from there.

Telegram is not exactly a dating site but you can get lots of potential dates from it. But just like any app with people’s pictures and profiles you can make it work for you, you just have to come correct, choose your targets wisely and make your case calmly.

In conclusion, this is 2020, technology has made meeting people a whole lot easier and smoother even if you’re an introvert or a guy that lacks the confidence to talk to women. Talking to women is not easy, there’s the very real risk of rejection which can sting a little bit less if it happens online, all you have to do is swipe right and say hello to get started.

By far tinder has to be the best dating app in Nigeria. The geolocator allows you to meet more people near you and the app has over 1 billion users with plenty of Nigerians on it. It makes for a very deap sea to catch your own fish.

AfricaExplained

A writer! Columnist and an academic researcher
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