Tinder Smart Photos, Bumble Best Photo, Hinge Top Photo

Does Tinder Smart Photos Work; Does Tinder Change Your Photo Order? Hinge Top Photo; Bumble Best Photo Feature, How Does Best Photo Work?

Figuring out how to get good dating profile photos is a struggle. Most people hate taking photos, don’t seek out photos, nor have recent photos that look like them. Services like Photofeeler have launched to help people rate their photos through crowdsourced efforts though these services not be that helpful (blind leading the blind).

Many profiles are littered with cliche, cringy photos of shirtless selfies, photos next to cars and Snapchat filtered photos. Some people just toss up any photos, while others use all the ones they have as they don’t have many photos or ones that are somewhat recent.

Even if you have a good handle on which photos to use in a profile, the issue of photo order is crucial. What you put as your first photo can mean the difference between someone swiping left automatically or taking the time to look at the rest of your profile.

Below is an overview of the tool, what it does, what the pros and cons are of activating it and more.

Related reading: Best dating app photos for guys

Do Pictures Matter On Tinder? Are Photos Required For Tinder? Photos For Tinder

Yes, they absolutely do! With limited space for bios, photos are the single most important aspect of a dating profile. For many folks, taking photos can feel like going to the dentist – there are even people who are photo phobic and can’t stand to look at themselves in the mirror.

It’s an unfortunate position to be in but when dating apps are based around appearance and photos (at least in the initial screening process), it’s absolutely imperative to have a solid profile to have any shot of success on dating apps.

How Many Photos Should You Have On Tinder? (Tinder Tips)

Ideally 4 at least but 6 if you want to improve your conversation starters. With that said, you should add more photos for the sake of filling up slots. You are only as attractive as your worst photo.

Which Photos To Use On Tinder

Once photos are attained, it can be a pain to figure out which photos to use in a profile and even harder to figure out what photo to use first as a main profile photo. All too often, people hastily toss up any photos up when they create a dating profile and don’t think twice.

Most people are a little shy and nervous about admitting they are on dating apps and many folks never seek feedback on their app choice, captions, answers to prompts or photos.

What Order To Use Tinder Photos In, Which Photo To Use First Hinge, Bumble

With that much pressure on dating photos, it’s essential to think carefully about which photos to use and what order to use them in. One should assume they will be judged by their first photo only.

Likes and matches mean absolutely nothing as a number of people swipe right on everyone, while others re-evaluate matches and focus on those they are most interested in.

It’s not uncommon to have less than 5% of matches reply to any of your messages. It’s a harsh reality of dating apps but you can improve your situation by improving your appearance and profile.

Related read: Tinder Gold vs Tinder Plus

What is Tinder Smart Photos? Tinder Rearrange Photos, Tinder Change Order Of Photos

Tinder Smart Photos is a tool within Tinder that allows users to A/B test their photos to see which one is the most popular and thus likely to get right swipes. In order to enable this feature, one has to let Tinder randomly select the order of photos to serve to folks for enough time to collect enough data.

After some time, Tinder will tell you which photo is the most popular in your profile. By definition of the testing, it will also test your worst photos and place them first as your main profile photo. Pro-tip: not all photos are transferable across people, profiles.

Your hot friend is able to get away with more cringy photos than you are. Don’t just copy what others are doing. Successful dating photos are profiles are subjective and depend on the people you want to attract.

Does Tinder Change The Order Of Your Photos? What Picture Does Tinder Show First?

It does not unless the Smart Photos feature is activated. Check your settings to see if it is turned on. Tinder let’s you choose what photo to show first unless you activate Tinder Smart Photos.

Turning On Tinder Smart Photos & Turning Off Tinder Smart Photos

Go to ‘edit profile’, scroll down below ‘add media’ and then there will be a slider for ‘smart photos’. Swiping the slider to the right will turn it on. Similarly, sliding it to the left will turn off smart photos.

How Does Tinder Smart Photos Work?

Tinder obtains access to your account and re-orders photos on your behalf for a period of time. The less desirable you are from an age and location perspective the longer it will take to gather enough photos.

It does so by measuring when users swipe right or left on photos in your profile and by constantly re-arranging the photo order in your profile.

By definition, the worse photo you have in your profile may be used temporarily as your main photo which is an awful idea. You always want to lead with your best photo first.

Engineers love this tool because they think it’s a perfect way to measure success across photos and use data to help with their underperforming profile.

Tinder Top Photo – Tinder Photo Order: How Does Tinder Choose Your Best Photo

After enough time and testing, Tinder used to label the best performing photo as Top photo. This in theory is the photo people viewed most right before swiping right.

Tinder changed their tool and just re-adjusts photos randomly. This creates confusion as one cannot tell if the app is still testing photos or if the top photo is indeed used first.

My guess is that Tinder did not want to alert people that their top photo was not being used first or wanted to maximize other photos being rotated in and out of the main slot.

Should You Turn On Smart Photos On Tinder? Should You Use Tinder Smart Photos?

Tinder’s business model is to keep people engaged with the app. To do so, it has to create the illusion of a larger pool of users than it actually does. It has to change people’s photos up so that viewers think there are more people in the area and on the app than appear to be.

Without Tinder Smart Photos, there would be more stagnant, repetitive profile views leading to more displeasure with folks who keep seeing the same profile over and over again. Rotating photos reduces this pain point with users.

Additionally, the tool measures only right swipes. Given the amount of bots and spammers on the app, profiles are likely to get right swiped on the first photo only without the other photos being viewed.

To minimize this, Tinder might do additional testing to collect more data points but that means using sub-par photos for periods at a time as your main profile (remember what I said about being judged only by your main photo)? As a rule of thumb, one is only as attractive as their worst photo. Don’t put your worst photo first.

Lastly, it’s impossible to decipher what photo led to a right-swipe. Maybe the user saw enough photos and decided to right-swipe. Maybe they wanted to make sure your photos were consistent before right-swiping.

Tinder Smart Photo Results – Does Tinder Smart Photo Work?

Men are notorious for swiping right indiscriminately and then re-evaluating profiles after they get a queue of matches (not helpful to this tool). Similarly, some people swipe at the end of the profile (last photo) either way – this is not that useful.

If you are a guy with sub-par photos, most of your profile views will result in a left-swipe. The few right-swipes will be such small data points to draw any meaningful conclusions.

Rotating photos may cause panic in your matches that you are talking to (are they really interested in me? Are they talking to others because their profile photos keep changing?)

The main reason not to rely on Smart Photos is that it only compares your existing photos to themselves, it doesn’t tell you if your photos are not good enough to be on the app. Similarly, the things that trigger right swipes may not be the same things to you getting dates. 

Before working with clients I am brutally honest about whether they should be on apps at all based on their photos. The harsh reality is that your photos could be self-sabotaging your efforts and making you look bad.

It’s important to get unbiased, personal feedback from people you trust.

What Is The Best Order For Hinge Photos? Best Order For Bumble Profile Pictures? 

Typically, your first photo should be your best photo. It should be well lit, clear and show you in a flattering manner.

You should assume that people will make judgments about your profile by only looking at your main profile photo on Tinder. If it’s too dark, distant, hidden, features harsh light or is an ambiguous group photo, people will swipe left.

Avoid selfies, face only photos, sunglasses and photos that no longer look like you.

How To Reorder Profile Photos On Tinder

Tap on the photo you want to move, hold down the photo and drag it to the photo slot you want it to occupy.

Best Photos To Use On A Tinder Profile? What Pictures Get The Most Matches On Tinder? 

Read this guide on the best Tinder photos for guys and girls

Those that are effortless, confident, approachable, show smiles, interest, hobbies, comfort in ones own skin, flattering poses, styles and body language are the ones that get the most matches on Tinder.

Bumble Best Photo: Does Bumble Change The Order Of Your Pictures? 

Bumble recently released a feature on the app called ‘Best Photo’ always checks your first 3 photos and puts your most popular pics first. Unless you select this option, your photo order should not change unless a photo is moderated or removed by Bumble for violating TOS.

Does Bumble Change Your Picture Automatically? 

No, it doesn’t unless you activate Bumble Best Photo in your settings. In that case it rotates all photos to see which is the best one. In doing so, it will show your worst photo first for a period of time.

How Does Bumble Know Your Most Popular Photo? How Does Bumble Determine Best Photo? 

How does Bumble choose best photo? It changes your photo order automatically, and then it figures out which one gets the most likes by seeing which first photo leads to the most right swipes. It claims to keep checking your first three photos which means if you use worst photos in your first three slots, it will be shown first to others at times. 

Most people have no idea which photos are good, let alone best. 

How To Change Photos On Bumble, How Do I Change My Main Photo On Bumble? 

If you have 6 photos in your profile, delete one of your photos and then tap the + in the square to add a new photo. To change your main photo on Bumble, look at the note above and drag a photo to the 1st slot.

Bumble How Many Photos, How Many Photos On Bumble Are Needed? Photos For Bumble

4-6 photos are recommended, more to increase conversation starters but not purely to fill up slots as you will be judged by your worst photos.

Does Hinge Rearrange Your Photos? Does Hinge Change Photo Order? Hinge Top Photo

No, unless your main photo is removed for some reason in which case a new first photo is needed or you activated top photo which rotates photos to see which one performs best.

How Many Photos Should You Use On Hinge?

Hinge recently reduced their requirement for photos from 6 to 4 but you should use more photos assuming they are not redundant nor unflattering.