The best dating apps to download now

The most popular dating app in the world, Tinder has a huge number of users worldwide. You'll find just about everyone on Tinder, whatever you're looking for and this comes with pros and cons.

Historically, you'll have found a lot more catfish on Tinder than most other apps, and this is because it's popular, easy to use and anyone can use it. But it was also because the verification rules weren't as strict. Recently, Tinder has introduced new verification tools to eliminate catfish and scam artists, which makes the user process much safer for everyone.

Tinder actually invented the swiping mechanism that we now associate with dating apps, turning the process into something our brains could appreciate as an addictive little game, as opposed to miserable homework for the lonely hearts.

The app has several membership tiers, starting at £8.99 for Tinder Plus up to £105 for Tinder Platinum. The premium versions offer to show you who's liked you and features like read reciepts and extra "superlikes".

Feeld has recently undergone a huge rebrand due to an influx of new users seeking alternative dating experiences, leading us to ask the question: is Feeld a mainstream dating app now?

Feeld calls itself "a dating app for the curious" and differentiates itself from other apps on this basis. It's a favourite for those seeking kinky experiences, non-monogamous dating and likeminded people who share particular fetishes.

If you're in a non-monogamous relationship you can link your profile to your partner's and list your interests and what you're looking for with useful tags. It's much better to be up front if you're looking for a threesome so Feeld is a great app for this – much better than wasting women's time on Bumble unicorn hunting via your partner's profile.

There's a lot more scope to list your gender identity and sexual orientation and interests on Feeld but if it's your first time using the app, set clear boundaries and don't be afraid to report people if they're making you feel uncomfortable. Respect is the minimum requirement.

It's free to sign up but there's also a paid version called "Majestic" membership which offers an incognito mode and more opportunities to "ping" people you like to get their attention.

Thursday is one of the new kids on the block and it really divides the crowd. The app is only available to use on, you guessed it, Thursdays and some people love this, some people find it frustrating. But hey, it does what it says on the tin.

Using dating apps can feel exhausting and the functionality of a lot of them can make using them feel addictive. With Thursday, you're free to do as you please for the rest of the week and on Thursdays, you get to shoot your shot.

The app is free to use, but it does limit the amount of likes you can send – unless you buy a VIP membership for £9.99. Obviously as it's a newer app, the range of users isn't as large and it's mostly popular with Gen Z and Millenial daters.

Thursday also hosts in-person singles events all over the world and yes, they do take place on Thursdays.

Known as "the celebrity dating app" Raya presents itself as an "intimate community" that's home to people in the creative industries. And yes, that does mean famous actors and musicians use it. But a lot of regular people use it too.

The only difference between Raya and other dating apps is that once you've signed up, you'll be added to a waitlist so your profile can be reviewed, and you'll need to ask a few existing users to vouch you in too. So yes, it's hard to get in. You could be on the waiting list for months, if you're unlucky.

Then you have to pay to use the app. Once you're accepted, you can choose to pay monthly or for an annual membership. You'd think that having to jump through so many hoops to join, users would be very active on the app, but because the community is so small and exclusive and its users are pretty busy people, it's not exactly popping off like Tinder is.

Raya also only shows you 10 potential matches a day which slows down your swiping habits but then again, pretty much everyone is hot and successful so you win some, you lose some. We can confirm, all of our celeb crushes are on there but none of them have liked us back.

Pure is another app that prides itself on being a little different. It's a sex-positive app that doesn't promise you your happily ever after, but it does aim to ensure you have a fun experience while you're dating and shows you like-minded people in your area.

It also offers a good range of orientations and identities to choose from when you sign up and then asks you to post your "personal ad". There's a section for listing your "turn ons" and what you're looking for and this specificity is a nice touch.

You can upload spicy photos to your profile, but no nudes, and these will be blurred and marked as "sensitive content". Once you've matched with someone, they can tap the image to unblur it and see what you've shared.

There's an incognito mode, if you're worried about someone from work seeing you on the app, although if they've spotted you it means they're on the app too so pot, meet kettle etc. And self-destructing photos in chats to keep you safe in the app.

As with most dating apps, there's also a paid version of Pure which allows you to send more compliments to get other user's attention and takes some of the limits off how many people you can match and engage with.

As with other sex-positive apps of this kind, if you're dipping your toe for the first time, go in knowing what you feel comfortable with and don't allow anyone to cross your boundaries.