“While I do code-switch as well, I’m still the same person,” Ms. Portee said. “You get the same attitude, whether or not you see me being a little bit more fun and free, or you see me being a little bit more classy and mature.”
“Those are two sides of the same coin,” she added.
The app where a potential romantic partner discovers you first can have an impact on the likelihood of a match. David Coursey, a 29-year-old copy editor at an advertising agency in Baltimore, said that he almost had a missed connection with one woman he first matched with on Tinder — until she found him to be more appealing on Hinge.
“I very recently went on a date with someone who I had matched with on Tinder and we maybe messaged once and never hung out,” he said in a phone interview. “I matched with her on Bumble and she left me on read and then I matched with her on Hinge and she was like, ‘Oh my God, I think I’m in love with you, and this profile is, like, so much better than all of your other ones.’”
Mr. Coursey said the date was fine, but it didn’t lead to another. He said that in some ways the differences in his profile may have held him back, but when it comes to Tinder, he has the perception that no one is even reading his bio.
Some of the apps, he said, don’t leave room for much more than a “quick hit of judgment.”
“I feel like they actually designed the UI to be that way,” he said of the app’s user interface. “It’s difficult nowadays to get to someone’s profile.”
“It kind of rewards you for not doing that and just clicking through their photos,” he added.
It’s understandable to switch it up in order to increase your chances of a match, but there’s still a fine line between simply presenting different versions of yourself and straight-up lying. Strange encounters aside, Ms. Portee said that her dating app experience hasn’t been entirely negative, and having a range of platforms has been beneficial.
