5 Dating Apps That Keep Harassment to a Minimum

The dating app Siren just announced that users have reported exactly zero harassing messages. How did they do it? It looks like they owe their success to a system that puts women in control. Female users can see male users' photos and responses to a daily question, and male users see the same, except the women's photos are blurred. Only once a woman decides she wants to talk to someone can he see her photo and message her — which means no more unwanted comments from creepy dudes who don't interest us.

Available for iOS and Android

Bumble also puts women in control of their online dating interactions, but its method is a little different. Bumble forces women to send the first message so that only the men whose profiles they like — which typically (though not always) means the ones that convey good intentions — end up in conversations with them. Otherwise, the app works pretty much like Tinder, except only women can start a conversation once there’s a match. This setup benefits men, too, since it saves them the rejection of unanswered messages.

Available for iOS and Android

Forget about filtering out creepy guys after you start swiping.Wyldfire only allows pre-approved men in. Any woman can sign up, but a man needs to be invited by a female user either at her whim or at his request. Wyldfire also limits its message threads to 20 exchanges to avoid dead-end conversations that don’t lead to dates, another frequent problem on mainstream dating apps.

Available for iOS and Android

The "socially conscious dating" app Neqtr was born as a rebellion against Tinder, and its creators started the #BreakUpWithTinder campaign to encourage online daters to seek out more fulfilling, less superficial ways of meeting people. Neqtr’s selection process favors people who are passionate about improving the world or themselves, making applicants write about the causes that matter most to them before they’re allowed on the app. Its profiles also reveal what social causes users are most passionate about, and the app provides dates like Habitat For Humanity builds and yoga classes for people to connect over something more meaningful than sexual attraction. Even when there’s no romantic spark, Neqtr users can always say they’ve done something good.

Available for iOS and Android

The in-beta app The Catch gives women total control of their dating experience by mimicking the reality television of yesteryear. Like the bachelors on the show "The Dating Game," the men on the app receive a question like "What is your favorite man-made landmark and why?" and "Where would you take me out on a first date?" Each woman invites a handful of men to compete and rewards the one with the most compatible response with a date. It sounds like this format provides a much more woman-friendly ratio than many US cities' dating markets, and that can only be a good thing.

Coming soon to iOS and Android