Many people prefer to flirt online because of the privacy and accessibility technology affords. It’s easier to start conversations on a chat site where people are looking for that type of connection. Whether you’re introverted, nervous, or just awkward when you’re first getting to know a new match, taking things to a text-based format can help you build confidence and establish a rapport with a potential partner. 

Whether you’re looking for someone to talk dirty to you, or just want to keep things light and friendly, the following flirting apps are happy to play wingman.

Overall Best Flirting Apps for Singles

The best flirting apps and sites help a single person get over the initial hurdles of making contact. The profiles, matchmaking features, and icebreaker suggestions can help daters get straight to exchanging banter. 

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★★★★★ 4.8/5.0
  • Discreetly arranges one-night stands and extramarital affairs
  • More than 80 million profiles worldwide
  • Travel-friendly features for seeking matches in other cities

Although Ashley Madison caters to married people seeking outside relationships, the online dating app and site welcomes single people as well and boasts a few key features that make it a valuable platform for flirting online.

Ashley Madison asks every user to state what they’re looking for, and just chatting is a perfectly valid answer. Privacy features like photo blurring, password-protected digital photo vaults, and the panic button mean you can cover your tracks while you flirt online. If you’re a man, you’ll have to pay to chat with other Ashley Madison members by buying credits. Single women get full access for free, so it makes sense that the service a popular choice for flirty people who want to avoid labels or commitment.

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★★★★★ 4.8/5.0
  • A global network of naughty singles over 18
  • Ability to blur nude and explicit content, if desired
  • Advanced search filters and one-on-one messaging

BeNaughty is a playground for sexually adventurous singles and couples alike, and the hookup site welcomes anyone — as long as you keep things spicy. The chat rooms and public areas of the platform feature enough sexy content and banter to keep things lively at all hours of the day and night, and video content and pictures help enhance the atmosphere.

Women get full access to premium features. But men who want to take their flirting to private messages must pay for one of the premium packages.

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★★★★★ 4.5/5.0
  • A massive user base of over 70 million dating profiles
  • Send a free private message or Flirtcast to get something going
  • Exchange nude pics or adult videos with a Flirt member you trust

Flirt.com is all about keeping things casual and fun, so if you’re looking to step up your flirting game, it’s a good resource. Flirt.com hosts several different chat rooms, making it easy to connect with potential matches in a low-pressure setting.

The casual dating site even helps you break the ice with other members with Flirtcast, a feature that sends out a pre-written message to many people at once. To take things one-on-one in private messages, though, you’ll need a premium membership. 

4. Tinder

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★★★★ 4.0/5.0
  • Supports active daters in 190+ countries
  • The swiping system creates over 12 million matches per day
  • Tinder Plus members have unlimited likes and 5 Super Likes

Despite some vocal critics, Tinder remains popular and a dominant free dating app on the market. The online dating app offers unlimited free communication between mutual matches, and matching with another member through the swipe technology is about as easy as it gets.

Tinder has a reputation as a hookup app, but not all its 530 million members are only looking to get laid. Plenty of Tinder users are up to chat and flirt with new people, so even if you’re not interested in meeting up in a hurry, you can find like-minded chat partners on the dating platform.

Best Flirting Apps for LGBTQ+ People

LGBTQ+ people have historically embraced online dating because it offers a quick, safe, and efficient way to find their tribe. We’ve selected the most popular flirting apps for same-sex, polyamorous, and queer relationships – or hookups – no matter your sexual orientation.

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★★★★ 4.4/5.0
  • A massive men-only sex and swinger community
  • Browse profiles and send private messages to your favorites
  • Profiles feature erotic videos and sexually explicit blogs

Whether you’re in the closet or openly seeking a gay hookup, you can find a welcome on MenNation. The hookup site functions as much like a social media platform as it does a dating service, and welcomes all man-loving men, whether you’re questioning, gay, bisexual, cisgender, transgender, or anything else. MenNation isn’t for the faint of heart, however. With tons of erotic content from stories to videos to photos to banter, you’d better be prepared for a sexually charged atmosphere.

6. Grindr

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★★★★ 3.8/5.0
  • Sexually active men can create free profiles
  • Matching system uses GPS information to find local dates
  • Millions of prospects available in 192 countries

Grindr is a staple of the gay community for good reason. The hookup app creates a welcoming atmosphere to make it easy for queer men anywhere in the world  to connect. Grindr has a long history, and the team behind the app puts a lot of thought into what the men on the platform want. The community atmosphere makes Grindr equally good for self-identified straight men who want to explore their sexuality discreetly and out gay men who are fine with meeting publicly. With Grindr Xtra, you can even swipe and chat with men who don’t live in your area, so if you want to keep things casual and virtual, it’s easy to do.

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★★★★ 3.7/5.0

Plenty of Fish is a mainstream dating site, but the platform is very popular with the LGBTQ+ community for several reasons. Beyond showing up in a Lady Gaga video, the POF team constantly works to evolve the tools and features on the site, like free communication, which makes it easy to chat and flirt with a new person without feeling the pressure to move too quickly. Plenty of Fish has had issues with inclusion in the past, but the team continues to work to make the dating service as accessible as possible with updated gender and sexual orientation tools.

8. OkCupid

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★★★★ 4.0/5.0
  • A wide range of sexual orientation options available
  • Use the search filters to find nearby lesbians
  • A savvy system leads to meaningful relationships

OkCupid launched in 2004 with the basic premise that every core feature of the platform should be free, and even through leadership changes, that core tenet holds strong. Although OkCupid is a mainstream dating site and app, the service led the charge in offering inclusive gender and sexual orientation identification options, making it beloved in the LGBTQ+ community.

OkCupid also makes it easy to identify what you’re interested in when it comes to relationship types. So if you want to just meet new people and chat, you can make that clear from the very beginning and chat to your heart’s content without ever paying a single fee.

Best Flirting Apps for Senior Singles

Senior daters can sometimes feel lost in the swiping shuffle on a mainstream dating app. Fortunately, certain platforms have appealed primarily to older singles and allowed mature romances to blossom. Here’s a rundown of our favorites.

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★★★★ 4.3/5.0
  • Mature membership base in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, and Australia
  • Free members can browse and favorite profiles
  • Compatibility ratings on intellect, altruism, romance, social values, etc.

Although eharmony doesn’t cater solely to mature singles, the dating site and app tend to have an older membership base thanks to the emphasis on people seeking long-term love. The dating service pairs members based on deep compatibility and encourages users to communicate as much as possible before getting to the relationship stage. That increases the odds of a successful match.

In addition to sending text-based messages, eharmony users can opt for voice chat and video chat options, so your digital flirting opportunities are varied. You’ll need a premium membership to get the most out of eharmony, but basic members can still take Icebreaker quizzes and send likes to their potential matches.

10. OurTime

Category Rating
★★★★★ 4.9/5.0
  • Thousands of success stories from all over the world
  • Find senior dates using advanced search filters and match suggestions
  • The Help Center offers quick tips and guidance

OurTime has been around since 2001, so the senior dating site is experienced in helping older singles connect and get to know each other safely. Seniors are a major target for romance scammers, so OurTime works hard to remove fake profiles before they even appear. At the same time, it’s easy for even the most technically challenged senior to sign up thanks to step-by-step assistance.

Membership on the OurTime app or site comes with several options for contacting your potential matches. OurTime even offers a private phone number to use to send a text message or make a phone call, so you don’t have to reveal sensitive personal information to get in touch.

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★★★★★ 4.5/5.0

SilverSingles takes a broader approach to online dating compared to most dating sites and apps, in that users can seek out the type of connection they want, without any pressure.

While you’ll need a premium membership to get full access to communication features, SilverSingles offers several different methods for getting in touch with a potential match, from private messages and email to a private phone number for phone calls and texts. The senior dating platform also takes the safety and security of its members seriously, so you can avoid fake profiles and scammers. 

FAQs: Which Dating Apps Are Owned by Match Group?

Match Group owns and operates a lot of dating apps and sites that cater to people around the world with different interests and dating goals. The most prominent member of the Match Group family is Match.com, which launched in 1995.

Category Rating
★★★★★ 4.9/5.0
  • In-depth matching appeals to women with high standards
  • Video chat tools help online daters establish a rapport
  • An established singles network in 50 countries worldwide

The Match Group runs many popular online dating apps, including Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, Plenty of Fish, OurTime, and BlackPeopleMeet. All told, Match Group is home to more than 20 dating platforms that create meaningful connections all around the world. 

Do Online Dating Apps Allow Video Chat Conversations?

Some dating apps offer video chat options, and even some dating sites offer the tool. The ability to set up a virtual date with a smartphone camera or webcam became especially popular during the Covid-19 quarantines in 2020. Apps like eharmony and Hinge rushed to launch video dating options for users trying to date during social distancing, and for a while, it seemed like this feature would become the new normal.

However, many platforms began rolling back the video chat option as lockdowns and quarantines eased. Some platforms decided to stick with the tool and continue to foster video dating. The League offers a video speed date feature that creates matches in real time.

Match still offers its lockdown-inspired Vibe Check feature to all users, and Snack app users can exchange short videos as part of the core premise of the app.

Is There a Hookup App for Open Relationships & Poly Dating?

Although apps with sexual content face challenges in both the App Store and Google Play store, hookup apps are available for anyone who prefers a mobile app. Polyamorous people and folks in open relationships even have a few platforms to choose from that cater to the specific needs of the ethical non-monogamy community.

OkCupid logo
OkCupid is an open-ended dating platform for people of all stripes.

OkCupid isn’t specifically designed for open relationships, but the dating site and its companion app offer plenty of tools for polyamorous daters to find potential partners. OkCupid users can identify as in an open relationship or interested in poly dating upfront in their dating profile. No need to play coy here!

While OkCupid doesn’t offer joint profiles for couples, it is certainly a poly-friendly dating app worth exploring. Polyamorous daters can always exchange phone numbers to open up a three-way chat if desired.

Feeld launched specifically for couples interested in exploring non-monogamy, to help them connect with singles interested in the same thing. Feeld CEO Dimo Trifonov created the app as a love letter to his partner Ana, and the open, honest approach that the app encourages makes it a strong choice for people interested in exploring sexual and romantic liberation through non-monogamy.

Up Your Flirting Game on a Popular App

If you’re single and eager to mingle, you don’t need to elbow your way through a dive bar or muster up the courage to approach a woman at the grocery store. Flirting apps are an easy way to step up your dating game and find a potential partner. The chat apps on this list keep the atmosphere friendly and create a fun space where you can flirt without worries or insecurities.

Online dating has opened a world of opportunity for modern singles, and it’s free to get started. Now find the flirting app of your choice and chat people up to your heart’s content!

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