How many photos to put on Tinder and in what order (the formula we use)
It's not a matter of taste. There's an order that works, and we apply it to every profile we fix. Here it is.
When we fix a profile, the first thing we do isn't retouching the photos. It's putting them in order. On its own, this changes matches by thirty percent. Without touching a pixel.
Because whoever's swiping looks at the first photo for less than a second, and the others only if the first one passed. Every position has a different job.
How many photos
Five or six. Not three: it looks like you've got little to show. Not nine: she gets tired before reaching the end, and the last ones will be your weakest anyway.
If you only have three good ones, three good beats six with three bad. But your goal is to get to five.
The order that works
Photo 1: the clean close-up
You, alone, face clearly visible, looking at the camera or nearly, natural light, simple background. A half smile, not a passport photo. This photo has one job: make it clear who you are in half a second. No sunglasses, no hat, no group.
Photo 2: the full body
Now that she knows who you are, she wants to know the rest. Standing, dressed the way you actually dress, somewhere that isn't your flat. A street, a park, a bar. This is the photo where she figures out if you take care of yourself.
Photo 3: the social photo
You with friends, at dinner, at a party, travelling. It says you have a life and people want you around. Rule: it has to be obvious who you are at first glance, so three or four people max and you clearly visible.
Photo 4: the hobby photo
What you do when you're not working. Mountains, cooking, a dog, an instrument, the sea. It gives her a topic for the first message. Careful: if your hobby is the gym, this is the only photo where it can appear, and with a shirt on.
Photo 5: the photo that makes her laugh or curious
A real moment. A silly face, an odd situation, something that tells a story. It's the photo that makes her write «what were you even doing there?».
Photo 6, if you have it: another close-up
Different from the first. Another setting, another light. It confirms the first photo wasn't a fluke.
What NOT to put in any position
- Mirror selfies
- The cropped-out ex
- Eight-person group photos
- Photos older than two years
- Photos of your car, your bike or your dinner without you in them
The final test
Put the photos in order and look at them one after another in three seconds total. If after three seconds you feel like you understand who that person is and what their life is like, you're there. If it feels like six random photos, start over.
Can't be objective about your own? Normal, nobody can. Send them over: we'll put them in order and tell you which ones are missing.
Want us to do it for you?
Send us your photos. We'll tell you what to keep, what to bin and what's missing. Free, within 24h.
