Tinder in Ukraine has become a widely used tool by foreigners to meet local Ukrainian women, but is it an effective tool for guys seeking a Ukrainian girlfriend or wife?

What is Tinder?

For the uninformed, Tinder is a social/dating smartphone app that was released around 2014. While there are now many similar apps, when it was released it was the pioneer of the location-based dating apps. That means that it primarily sought to connect you with others NEARBY, based on the phone’s GPS coordinates.

Members upload a few pictures and enter a little about themselves, then they are presented with members nearby. For each possible match the user can “swipe” left or right. A left-swipe tells the system you’re not interested and a right-swipe tells the system you may be interested.

For those you swipe right, the system alerts them as to your possible interest. Then THEY swipe left or right on you.

It is the location-based searching that is the active ingredient of Tinder.

Tinder vs conventional online dating

With conventional online dating you search for those meeting your search criteria and vice versa (they search for you). You contact those that interest you, attempt communication, and hopefully meet and find a connection.

With Tinder those you find are ACTIVE and NEARBY. The main effect of this is to cut out the long, seemingly endless searching/writing process and get face-to-face much more quickly.

As truly useful an approach this can be, it has morphed into something a little less useful if your goal is to find something fairly long-term.

Now it tends to serve the “hook up” culture. In other words, it’s the “Virtual Bar”. Many people often use Tinder to find someone with whom to have sex more than to start a potentially long-lasting relationship.

If that’s your thing, then Tinder may be for you, otherwise it’s probably not the best tool for the job.

That’s how it GENERALLY works, but Tinder in Ukraine it has some added twists…

Tinder in Ukraine

All I say above about Tinder is mostly true in Ukraine too, but in Ukraine there are a few additional realities involved that you should know about.

As a disclaimer, I have never personally used Tinder myself, but I have heard many reports and directly observed guys using Tinder in Ukraine.

On Tinder in Kyiv I would estimate that at least 80% of the women you’ll find are either:

• Prostitutes
• Professional daters
• Gold diggers

These are all different, but if you’re looking for a girlfriend or wife in Ukraine they’re all bad deals. Of course if girlfriend/wife isn’t your main goal, then one or all of these categories may not be all bad.

I am planning another page very soon where I’ll go into a little more detail on the definitions of these categories, but for now just know that at least in these three categories (prostitutes, professional daters, gold diggers) you PAY TO PLAY.

The professional dater lives a decent life and scores a little income from dating. A real girl shows up for dates, but the dates are often a bit expensive, and often there’s some kind of shopping involved.

It’s a similar case with the gold digger. A gold digger may really be looking for a real relationship – even long-term – but she has expensive tastes.

For both the pro dater and the gold digger you’ll have real dates, and you MAY get laid, but only if you pass the cash test (spend sufficient money on her).

But if your aim really is the possibility of getting laid, the prostitute is probably your best option! I can’t in good conscience recommend this, but if your plans during a visit to Ukraine are to hit the night clubs and have many dates all with the real hopes that you’ll get some action, the difference between a prostitute and a gold-digger/pro-dater is just the price and certainty of outcome. And the prostitute is the CHEAPEST and SUREST option.

Is Tinder in Ukraine worth it?

OK, so above I said at least 80% of the girls on Tinder in Ukraine are not really good options if you’re looking for a girlfriend or potential wife. But what about the other 20%? Is there ANY possibility of finding something long-term and serious there?

I know one now-married couple who initially met on Tinder, and I’m sure there are others. But the existence of success stories (defined as the couple eventually getting married) from a certain approach doen’t really demonstrate anything all that useful.

It is possible that you’ll find a girl who is just bored and looking for something to do but without any real clear intentions. That could make for an entertaining time and may even lead to more.

But more likely trying to use Tinder in Ukraine to find something serious, or even just someone to have some fun with, is fairly slim.

I suspect that there is a bit of a knack involved in using Tinder effectively such that one can quickly recognize dead ends without wasting much time, but developing that knack would probably take significant trial, error, time, and effort.

If you DO decide to try using Tinder in Ukraine, at least go in with your eyes open… Be on the lookout for the hidden price tags and other pitfalls. It’s probably more true on Tinder than most other places that “if it looks too good to be true it probably isn’t true.”

*** Written April 2019 ***