I was killing some time the other day, scrolling through social media, when I was hit by three different ads for the dating app ToChat within around 15 minutes. The ads all featured women in different elf and anime-inspired costumes claiming that this is the app to join if you are a nerdy guy in search of love. Thinking back on how I started my first conversation online with my wife by asking her about Star Wars, I was definitely a little curious to see if ToChat was really the good dating app that the ads claimed it to be.
Is ToChat a Good Dating App?
So, should you use ToChat to meet someone a little bit on the nerdy or geeky side? No.
Should you use ToChat to meet anyone? No.
Should you even bother downloading the app onto your phone? No.
There are thousands of good dating apps out there, and many of them are spending big money to get your attention. Unfortunately, ads are rarely accurate to the experience that you can expect on the app. I didn’t have to spend more than a couple of seconds on ToChat before I could tell that it was garbage. Now I want to take a few minutes to show you what I saw, so that you don’t waste your time on that app, and you are a little wiser when you try any new dating app.
Using ToChat to Recognize a Bad Dating App
If you are joining an app because it is promising you access to a particular niche or interest of singles, take a quick look around to see if anything about the app caters to that niche. In this case, ToChat advertised a good dating app for nerdy and geeky girls who like video games, cosplay, and anime. Here is what I saw when I got onto the app:
You don’t have to look around long before you realize that the app doesn’t deliver on its promise at all. What you see here aren’t nerdy and geeky singles. You are seeing cam models, international daters, and bait profiles designed to lure vulnerable people. Look at the photos and notice how none of the pictures look like they could be taken locally to… well, to anywhere really. They look like they are all taken in hotel rooms or non-descript buildings. At the very least, that lets you know that these people aren’t local, but the reality is that is shows that they aren’t “real people looking for real dates.”
Now, let’s take a look at a couple of profiles to see what we can find:
Here are seven of the first profiles I encountered. Not only is there not a single person here that matches what was advertised in the commercial, but these profiles are the kind of hyper-generic, bot-written non-profile text that pretty much guarantees the people you are looking at are not actually real. In fact, the only one that actually says anything about themselves is the one who tells you that she is a “spicy content creator.”
*Protip: If you ever come across a profile where someone talks about being an “SW” or a “Spicy Content Creator,” they are not there to find a relationship. They are advertising what they do so in an arena filled with single men. It is smart marketing on their part, but do not be mistaken. They are not talking about what they do on a dating site because they are looking for someone to love them. I have known several people from that industry, and I can tell you that many of them do actually use online dating to find love… but none of them mention what they do in their dating profiles.
Features of a Good Dating App vs. What This App Does
If everything I’ve shown you isn’t enough, I have one more thing for you to consider regarding what you want out of a good dating app and what I found here. I wanted to share the ad with you that made me download ToChat, so I went looking for it on YouTube. While I wasn’t able to find it, I was able to find something else that was much more in line with the quality of the profiles on the app.
The first two videos that come up on YouTube when you type in “ToChat” were both about how women could use the app to earn money by getting men to send them gifts through the app. If the first videos that appear on YouTube about an app focus more on how to monetize other members than on meeting them, you are fishing in the wrong pond.
I hope that this post helps save you from wasting your time on bad dating apps, whether it’s ToChat or something that hasn’t even been released by the time I’ve published this article. Online dating can be challenging enough as it is. You need to write a great dating profile, excellent photos, and you have to know how to message people in a way that makes them want to respond. The last thing you need is to be tricked into wasting your time and energy on dating apps that aren’t worth the trouble.
I’ve been helping singles to be better online daters for almost 20 years, and I want to help you. If you aren’t sure if the dating site you are on is the right one for you, or you have questions about what could be keeping you from finding love, give me a call at 888-447-7634 ext 1. and I’ll do whatever I can to help.
