How to improve your Hinge profile

To improve your Hinge profile, fix things in this order: your first photo, the order and variety of your six photos, then your three prompts, then your settings. Photos decide whether anyone reads further; prompts decide whether they reply. Most profiles don't need a new personality, just better choices from the material they already have.

1. Your first photo

It should be recent, in daylight, at eye level, with your face clear and nobody else in it. No sunglasses, no cap pulled low, no group. If your current first photo breaks one of these rules, swapping it is the highest-value change you can make today.

2. The other five photos

Each photo should answer a different question: what you look like full length, what you do, who you spend time with, where you like to be. Six photos from the same night out tell people one thing six times.

1

Clear face, natural lightLead photo: you, at eye level, nothing in the way

2

Doing the thingBacks up your pizza-dough prompt

3

Full lengthAnswers the question nobody asks

4

Mid-laughShows you when you aren't posing

5

With friendsOne group shot, you easy to find

6

A place you loveGives them a first-date idea

The Hinge photos guide covers each slot and the order in detail.

3. Prompts with something in them

A good answer has a detail someone could ask about: a place, a name, a number, a habit, a small story. A weak answer is a list or a sentiment. Here's the difference on “I go crazy for”:

Choose three prompts that show different sides of you. Where you're most yourself (“I'm in my element when”), something that shows how you think (“A shower thought I recently had”), and something that invites a reply (“Two truths and a lie” or “The way to win me over is”) is a reliable mix. The best Hinge prompts page has more on picking.

Before you publish, paste each answer into the prompt checker. It flags lists, clichés and answers with nothing to grab onto.

4. Make the photos and prompts agree

If a prompt mentions your allotment, show the allotment. If a photo shows you climbing, a prompt can tell the story behind it. Profiles where the pictures and words back each other up are easier to remember.

5. Settings

Check that your age range, distance and dealbreakers say what you actually mean. Filters set on the first day often end up narrower than intended.

What not to bother with

• Rewriting everything every few days. Change one thing, then wait.
• Clever opening lines that aren't about you. They're memorable for the wrong reasons.
• Edits that change your face or body. The goal is the best side of you, not a different person.

If you've done all of this and it still isn't working, the likes checklist goes through settings and pool size in more depth.