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10 Best Tinder Openers You Need To Try

Matilda Alvarez
February 20, 2024

Tinder is the favored dating app for singletons, with a vast audience using the platform to search for a casual mate or the next lasting relationship. Whatever your preference, the initial approach is awkward for everyone. A Tinder opener needs to capture the intended attention within a few seconds and entice them to respond. 

People today won’t take long to judge the first impression. No one has patience for long dissertations or messages that lack substance. It can take time to learn how to message with flair, time, and much frustration, with many good matches coming and going without any success. The negligible results shouldn’t discourage you.

With life’s hectic pace, the attention span for most users is short. That means openers need to be unique, quirky, and personable to stand out among all the others who might have a similar one-line comment based solely on the photo. How can you ensure you make a lasting impression? 

They swiped right; you need to keep that interest and make them curious. We’ll look at a few opening lines that will entice and excite enough that a response will be inevitable. Follow along.

10 Creative Tinder Openers

When addressing someone you want to meet on Tinder, it’s important to remember the message needs to be personable, relative to their bio, and not self-involved. It needs to be short, only a couple of lines, but memorable, something that drives their curiosity and makes them immediately want to message back.

The ultimate objective is to meet in real time for a casual first encounter leading to a date. For that, you need a brilliant Tinder opener, one that outshines all the rest. Do you need a little help making a good first impression? Let’s see if we can help. Here are some Tinder openers meant to make your dream swipe respond.

1. Is “hey” okay

Many people will advise against using “hey” in the first message to a potential match. That’s not necessarily true. The way you approach the person is more important than the context you use. It’s perfectly fine to say “hey” if that’s the way you normally address people, but how you follow that up will depend on whether the opener is effective.

“Hey, I see you went to the new hiking trail on this mountain. Tell me about it. I’m dying to go.” This shows you read their bio, you have common interests, and you’re interested in what they have to say. You didn’t merely look at the picture and decide to swipe right based solely on appearance. 

While you started with “hey,” you followed with valuable context, showing you put time and effort into your search. The person will believe that you didn’t swipe on a ton of different people but were more selective.

2. Strive for curiosity

Most people are innately curious, and this drives them to find out more. If you can instill curiosity in the other person, you’re assured of getting a response. If the individual doesn’t respond to an intriguing message, somehow, that just doesn’t seem normal for the average person. 

How can you make someone curious? It’s in the same vein as a cliffhanger. Start the message but leave it so they need to respond to find out the rest. Something along the lines of, “I had this idea if we went out on a date, something you might really enjoy based on your profile.”

This is personal, indicating that you read her bio, but you’re not giving any of the details away, that you’ve thought about where you might go and what you might do, so you’re not afraid to make plans, and you like to be impulsive. A natural instinct would be to reply to find out what part of the profile intrigued you and what you would plan.

3. Clickbait is ideal in today’s digital world

Most people today rely on clickbait to attract people in every aspect of life today and that’s true with the best Tinder openers meant to get the most responses. Again, these leave the other person wondering what you’re thinking because you don’t finish the thought. 

Many will review their profile and then look over yours before responding to see if they can figure it out to speak intelligently when they do answer the message. You can leave an opener like “Can you figure out what I enjoyed most about your bio?” or  “You won’t believe the thing we share in common.”

This incites curiosity, again, causing the person to scour the profiles to make sure they can come back with the right answer. If they don’t know, it makes them appear like they didn’t thoroughly review your bio. You’ll also find out if the other person was bluffing in their details if they can’t hold a conversation on the topic.

4. Is this a hookup

If your interest is to have a casual sexual relationship, sort of friends with benefits, you’ll want to get a response from the person you’re interested in, but it will be more to get a phone number and set up a time to meet in person. The priority is ensuring that the other person has the same mindset.

In this scenario, most people will come up with more of a “cheesy” one-liner, which is the best opener for a hookup. You can catch something from their personal interests or their personality to draw from for the message and go with it, like “The artist in you is drawing my interest.” (Cheesy – yes?)

These are solely meant to bring two people interested in a casual fling together for a good time. No one involved in these encounters intends for them to turn into anything lasting. Still, that doesn’t mean that these haven’t ever turned into something more meaningful. That is very possible.

5. What girls like

For girls on Tinder, a primary problem is having guys approach them consistently with messages filled with sexual undertones or based solely on their photographs. While it’s flattering to be complimented on your appearance, most want something much more substantial; they want to know the guy took the time to become familiar with who they are. 

They want to know someone has learned a little bit about their personality, interests, things they’ve done, where they’ve been, and so on. The best way to show an interest in a girl with a Tinder opener is to compliment these things. If she published a book, compliment her achievement; let her know how much you admire that attribute.

Let her know her achievement leads you to believe she has an incredible sense of humor, and she would be fun to get to know. These things will show that you are different from other guys who don’t take the time to get to know the person.

6. What do guys like

You might believe it sounds a bit too “cliche” to talk to guys about sports instead of letting them know their profile picture attracted you, but most guys are heavily into at least one sport or another. For women genuinely interested in a guy, the best Tinder opener would be to address sports in some manner.

It might sound cheesy, sort of, but you can reference sports by saying, “I wanted to just say hello  and leave the ball in your court.” If that is a little too much, you can go with something more interesting from their profile, like “I saw you were at the last NFL game. I bet it was an incredible game. Tell me about it.” 

That will get a response, probably getting him talking incessantly, and then you can move on to other topics from that point. You might want to brush up on football or other sports if you’re unfamiliar so you can speak about the topic intelligently with him.

7. The animals have it

Many people are animal lovers. If someone posts animal pictures on their profile, they love their pet. When you have furry friends that you think the world of, this can be a common interest that allows for the best Tinder opener. Pet parents can share stories about their fur babies for hours on end.

Sometimes, dog people are strictly dog people, and cat people are all about cats, so you might want to check that, but usually, it’s all fair game. Some openers can reference a play date between the animals or you could reference the other person’s occupation if they work with animals and how that would be a dream for you.

It’s an ideal method for setting up a first-time meet by getting the pets together, a casual get-together that can then lead to a more formal first date. The fur babies will break the ice, allowing for a comfortable, relaxed, and easy vibe.

8. Put up a challenge

Everyone loves a good challenge or dare. When reading people’s profiles, the ones that strike you will invariably have aspects where you can deliver a good challenge to get them to come back with a message. You don’t always have to agree. In fact, sometimes people enjoy debating topics; it’s more interesting.

Perhaps the person says that online dating is always awkward at first. You can challenge that by letting the person know they haven’t met you yet. Maybe they claim to be the world’s best chess player. If you’re good, you can ask for a duel along with drinks at a neutral spot one evening.

This will entice a response. It shows that you hear what they’re saying, but you’re up for the challenge, shows your creativity and uniqueness, and makes you stand out from the crowd. The other person will want to meet you and see what you’re all about.

9. Food is a favored entertainment

Many people enjoy dining as a form of entertainment. Some love to cook, others prefer to go out and try many different restaurants, but most enjoy talking about different foods and their preferences. Some of the best Tinder openers involve discussing food options and what the other person likes or might not.

You can start the conversation by offering two choices to see which they prefer. That can be your opening line. Base it on their profile, of course. The other person will naturally want to share their preference and find out what you think, allowing a conversation to develop. You can learn a great deal about the things you have in common.

You might find you’re incredibly compatible and take these conversations to a date and possibly a new relationship.

10. The GIF

Sometimes, you genuinely don’t know what to say despite reading their profile and trying to come up with the best couple of sentences that will knock their socks off. It’s just not your strength. You want to find a different way to approach them that won’t get tossed to the side but instead grab their attention in a creative way.

A good way to do that is to spend thoughtful time on their profile, really trying to understand who they are. Then, study GIFs, whether funny or cute, that fit their personality or interests the best. This will take time and effort but will be worth it when it strikes their attention. The other person will find the effort creative and unique.

You can then put a message with the GIF asking that they return one to show what they find interesting in a possible mate. The perfect way to break the ice.

Final Thought

The common denominator with all of these Tinder openers is that people take the time to review the other person’s bio. They get to know their personality, their interests, and who they are. They don’t focus only on physicality or photos or send messages with sexual innuendos.

If you’re genuinely interested in getting to know someone to start dating for a longer-term relationship, you have to be precise with your wording. For a casual hookup, you can be a little more laid back, but even then, you don’t know that it won’t turn into the real thing.

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Matilda Alvarez

Matilda Alvarez

I am a professional writer and editor based in Melbourne, Australia. I am a researcher in the environmental sciences and have a passion for the natural world, wellness, and the written word. Through my studies and freelancing career, I have become well-practiced in creating engaging, concise, and digestible prose for readers to enjoy. In my spare time, I enjoy practicing yoga, and meditation, exploring beautiful Australian landscapes, and reading a good book.

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