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There are a lot of dating apps out there these days, which can make choosing the right app extremely difficult—especially with relatively new apps like DOWN. You only have so many hours in the day, and spending all your time on the wrong app can be extremely frustrating. Fortunately, I have done the hard work for you by creating this DOWN review.
But before we get into that, let’s first talk about what DOWN is up against. Here’s how DOWN stacks up:
There’s no denying the popularity of online dating these days.
Around half of Americans under 29 have tried online dating according to data published in the International Journal Of Sexual Health. Statista data says that there were 366 million dating app users in 2022 and that figure is only predicted to grow. Meanwhile, data from wedding planning service The Knot suggests that dating apps are now the number one source of meeting your spouse.
“Dating apps are the largest catalog of single people accessible to everyone,” says relationship therapist Michelle Mouhtis.
But this huge stampede of single men in particular to mainstream dating apps has made it difficult for average guys to stand out on the likes of Tinder, Bumble or Hinge. Indeed, Pew Research data suggests that 47% of Americans say dating is harder now than it was 10 years ago
If you’re reading this DOWN review, perhaps you’re wondering if alternative lesser-known hook-up apps could provide an easier path to what you want.
There are some 2,500 online dating websites to choose from these days, according to Forbes. In this guide, you’ll specifically discover how easy or difficult you’ll find how easy it is to find a great hook-up on Down.
As an online dating expert who has reviewed dozens of dating apps over the years, I was excited to review this relatively new app and help youg men discover whether it’s worth their time.
Here at Beyond Ages, we pride ourselves on writing reviews based on several weeks testing the app and trying to land dates for ourselves.
To be able to accurately compare DOWN to other apps, I used the same detailed methodology that we have used for all our other hook-up app reviews.
For the first 24 hours of the test, I kept my profile completely blank with no photos or bio. This allowed me to see whether Down used bots to tempt users into signing up for a paid account. If my blank account was flooded with messages, that’s an undeniable sign that bots are being used. No legitimate hotties would message a blank profile on a dating website, after all.
After this test, I created a profile using the same photos, bio, location and other information that we use for all of our tests. I sent messages to 50 women in our designated target area and kept track of how many responses I received. These messages were all from our vault of tried-and-tested online dating openers.
From there, I would do my best to create rapport with the women who replied and try to swap contact details with the intention of meeting for a date. While I’d test and pass comments on all the features available with Down, my overall verdict would be mostly based on how easy it is to connect and meet with amazing women on this app.
Above you see a quick comparison between the Down hookup app and the top-rated hookup app from this year. As you can see, there are some good things to like about the app but it isn’t one of the best we’ve tried. Read on for the full details!
Originally designed as a way to secretly swipe on your Facebook friends, Facebook changes broke that model. As DOWN mentions in their FAQ:
“As of April 30, 2015, Facebook changed their platform, killing the original idea of viewing your friends and secretly matching with them, without anyone knowing who uses DOWN. Due to those changes, it may now be possible for your friends to infer who uses DOWN while using it themselves.”
Linked through your Facebook account, the DOWN dating app is quite similar to most of its competitors. You set up a profile, swipe to decide which profiles you’re interested in and talk to those you match with. The biggest difference is you have three options when swiping.
You can ignore a profile and just move on to the next, swipe up to mark them as “Date” or swipe down for “Hookup”. Rather than just swiping left or right for “Like” or “Dislike”, you can now specify exactly what you’re interested in.
I’m sorry to say that in my six weeks of using the app I’m yet to get a single match. . . we’ll get into this later. Frustrating, since we put so much time, effort and money into these reviews. Look on the bright side—at least you know not to spend your money on it now, right?
Let’s take a closer look at how it stacks up against AFF, the top competitor for the DOWN hookup app. After all, if an app can’t satisfy these parameters, is it even worth downloading? I’ll let you decide.
In order to really understand how Down compares to the best apps out there we’ve put together a high-level comparison with the hookup app we’ve seen average guys have the best success with, AFF. Results are certainly not guaranteed, but it tends to be where guy can see the best results unless they are really good-looking (which is when Tinder does better).
Here is how they compare in our opinion and based on our testing:
Overall Our team rates each site objectively based on many hours of independent research, the features each site offers, and how it compares with other sites. The ratings are the opinion of our editors and their extensive experience. |
2 | 9.5 |
Quality of Women Our opinion of how attractive the typical woman is that uses this site and how easy they are to connect with compared to other sites. |
5 | 9 |
Popular How many people are using this site to actually meet people compared to other sites. |
1 | 9 |
Usability How easy is this site to use and how quickly can an average person begin meeting people compared to other sites. |
9 | 10 |
Privacy & Safety Does this site take proper precautions to safeguard its members, their identity, and their data. |
9 | 10 |
Effective Our opinion of how easily an average person will be able to achieve their dating goals with this site compared to other sites. |
1 | 9 |
Value Will the time and money spent using this site pay off for an average person based on the opinions and experience of our editors. |
1 | 10 |
The DOWN dating app has potential but, unfortunately, it’s a bit of a ghost town right now. In six weeks I got zero matches. Zero.
If this was the first time I’d ever tried online dating, I’d be certain there’s something wrong with me! By the final week, I even extended my preferences and swiped up or down on every single person.
“If you’re going into dating apps and using [them] to gain validation or self-worth … that’s where dating apps can get really sticky,” adds Mouhtis.
I was getting desperate for some interaction to report on. Sadly for the developers, the fact that I still didn’t get a single match is enough for me.
Authenticating via Facebook (sorry, you will need a Facebook account to use the app), it does appear to be safe and well built. For whatever reason, their user base just isn’t active. Presumably, they’ve had a bunch of people sign up, get bored and forget about it.
All in all, I’d say no, you can’t hook up with DOWN, at least not as well as other dating apps. If you want to actually get some results you are much better off going with AFF’s free trial. At least you know that you are on an app a lot of guys have had great success with.
Certainly, don’t go handing over money for it. The ads for Premium promise “more matches,” but clearly that wasn’t accurate for me.
Ever the optimist, I’m going to run through the other factors I usually cover in these reviews. Just on the off chance that they might fix this one glaring issue and it becomes usable. Matches or not, this will be a complete DOWN app review!
The thing is, the app has a bunch of positives, and I wanted to like it so badly. So let’s go ahead and evaluate it fairly.
As I mentioned above, the one thing I’ve done a lot of in this app is look at profiles. Hundreds. Of all those profiles I didn’t see a single one that looked fake. Perhaps scammers know better than to target a ghost town?
I should mention that you can only choose photos from your Facebook or Instagram uploads, so it’s no surprise the photos seem legit. This is a flaw in my opinion though.
“The photos you use give clues about you and your lifestyle, so make sure you’re giving the best possible impression,” says dating photographer Saskia Nelson. “You’re not just showing people what you look like, but you’re showcasing your lifestyle.”
That’s true, but what if I want to upload something especially to appeal to a partner, but I prefer to be more low-key on social media? Come on, Down. How difficult is it to let me upload a photo from my camera roll?
They were all your standard fare, though many users have opted to have just one in their profile.
Also worth noting, Down profiles don’t give you a space for a bio. It’s just your photos, age and location which makes choosing the right ones even more important. Yes, it’s a hook-up app and most people don’t read the bios, but this still isn’t ideal when you’re weeding out fake profiles though.
Indeed, a RAINN spokesperson advises: “If the person you matched with has no bio, linked social media accounts, and has only posted one picture, it may be a fake account.”
As it stands though, no accounts have even reached out to me on Down, whether that’s to try and scam me or not.
In terms of the ‘quality’ of women, this one was questionable. They appeared to be real people by all means. Instead, what I’m referring to here is attractiveness. To quantify it, I’d estimate maybe 30% of the profiles I saw were women I’d notice on the street.
In my personal life I’m a very picky swiper. If I were to apply my personal Tinder habits to this app my swiping would have been quite limited. Naturally for this review I opened myself up a little more to boost the volume of matches and conversations. Clearly, I was not successful.
These apps to tend to run on an ELO scoring system of some form so I was still cautious. If you go swiping on everyone from day one, you’ll actually lower your score and get fewer matches. According to expert dating coach, Ash Wright, “It’s generally used in gaming to calculate relative skill level to other users. In the context of Tinder, think of it as calculating the relative desirability of a profile. Basically, how likely it is that someone will swipe right on and interact with you based on your profile as a whole.”
As a final point here, I did see a lot of profiles from men despite stating my preference to women. Whether this is gay men setting their gender to “Female” or a glitch in the app I just don’t know.
The Top Alternatives To Down For Hookups Dating Experts Use
If you’ve read this far down you’re serious about meeting girls. If you haven’t actually done that yet it’s probably because you’re using the wrong apps. Stop making that mistake and start using the apps that actually get results like:
Overall, the design of this app is great. It looks sleek and clean, functions well and is very easy to use. Even the free version has a premium feel to it which made me so much more comfortable handing over money.
Aesthetically it has a very modern look and the animations that overlay as you swipe are a nice touch. As you swipe up and down either a “Date” or “Hookup” overlay will slide over their profile in case you forget which is which.
This might sound like a silly detail but since most people use dating apps casually, I really like the idea. You can also scroll back through people you’ve swiped on too which I could see being helpful.
Comparing the app design to Tinder and Bumble, I think it’s perfectly on par. Overall I prefer the Down interface, my only gripe is the fact that profile pics show up as a smallish circle. While Tinder and Bumble show you photos about ⅓ the size of your screen, Down shows a circle about the size of your Facebook profile pic.
All in all though, we’re talking about very minor details here.
I’ll be sure to report back if I ever get a damn match!
What I can say is that I didn’t get a single spam message of any kind, so that’s nice.
Honestly, this is quite frustrating, given how clean the app is. I started out excited to test this out and write a DOWN app review. I suppose we can’t win them all, right?
Like Tinder, the Down hookup app lets you do everything you need to with the free version. The way they push you to the paid version is by limiting you to seeing just 10 profiles per day.
If the app had active users, I see no reason why you couldn’t be entirely successful with the free version. It allows you to:
In terms of dating apps, there’s really nothing more that you need from it. See women, match with them, chat and exchange phone numbers. That’s the whole process in a nutshell.
Besides their constant ad to upgrade to a paid subscription, there are no ads in the Down dating app at all.
This adds to the premium look and feel of the app. I have to admit some course language was uttered several times when getting their ads for Premium though. Swipe, swipe, swipe, ad. Tap the close button, swipe, swipe, ad. Argh!
The cost of the paid membership is $19.99 per month. Perhaps a little higher than I’d like to see but if Down provided success I’d probably pay it.
The premium membership gives you:
All in all, these would be helpful if the app had active users. If their user base does improve I’d certainly recommend the paid version. As it sits right now though, save your money.
On top of this, you can also pay $2.99 for a “Supercharge Boost”. This boost makes you the top profile in your area so you stand out and get more matches. This boost lasts just 24hrs.
Here are a few testimonials from people who have used Down.
Guyver7088 – Google Play
“I’m getting zero matches I had this app for awhile and some of the profiles are either bots or cat fish I send a few messages get none back. This app is a waste of my time.”
Damon Wilson – Google Play
“Better luck using aff over this, for the price it’s not worth it!”
Michael Toth – Google Play
“You spend money and you don’t talk to not one woman.”
We didn’t find any red flags as far as scams or dangerous users on Down, but that doesn’t mean that a scammer won’t be able to slip through the net. So, it’s worth reading up on these quick tips to keep yourself safe.
Finally, let’s take a look at some of the most common questions people have been asking about Down. As always, if you have a question I haven’t covered in this review, let us know!
Down is a dating app designed to facilitate both dating and hookups. Similar to most dating apps, you can swipe on those you’re interested in and chat to your matches.
The biggest difference here is you don’t just swipe ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. Instead, you swipe ‘Date’, ‘Hookup’ or skip their profile. Sadly, DOWN’s users seem extremely inactive.
DOWN is owned and operated by Pakton, a company based in Singapore. They also own other apps like Goodnight and Groopify.
DOWN has a contact form that you can use to send feedback and concerns: https://www.downapp.com/contact
Yes, DOWN is a real app that perhaps once had real people using it. But after weeks of using the app, I got ZERO matches.
From my experience, the Down app is legitimate, albeit a ghost town. While I’m still yet to receive a single match on the app, that appears to be a lack of active users rather than a scam.
Just because you’ll struggle for interaction doesn’t make this a Down dating scam. Nonetheless, I can’t say I’d recommend installing it.
DOWN is a legitimate app; it just lacks an active user base. While you will be presented with profiles each day, they appear to be of users that have stopped using the app. You may read some skepticism online, but there is no DOWN dating scam.
DOWN seems perfectly safe. However, it looks like no one is using the app anymore.
The app store is littered with dating app alternatives. So much so that identifying successful apps can be tough.
To save you some time and frustration, we reviewed the year’s best hookup apps. Take a look at that review for the best alternatives to the Down app.
DOWN is an app that shows you a series of profiles. You can choose if you want to “date”, “hookup” or ignore a profile. However, with a free account, you can only see 10 profiles a day.
Yes, DOWN has an app on iOS and Android.
If you don’t mind being limited to 10 profiles per day you can use Down for free. If you’d like to increase that volume and get a few extra perks, you can sign up for the premium membership. This paid membership costs $19.99 per month.
With the free DOWN membership, you can only swipe on 10 profiles a day.
Yes. If you match with someone on DOWN, you can send them a message for free.
Canceling a paid subscription for Down has to be done through your App store (iOS) or Google Play Store (Android). Follow the steps below for your device.
iOS
Android
Have you tried the DOWN dating app? If so, review it here and let us know how it worked for you!
If you found this review useful check out these other hookup sites:
Horny Matches Review
Feeld Review
I Am Naughty Review
Shagaholic Review
Love Voodoo Review
Joe Elvin is an internationally known confidence and dating coach with nearly a decade of experience. He is the successful author of several dating and confidence books that have helped thousands of men find success. While traveling the world Joe consistently finds new and valuable ways to meet and attract women. Joe has a Bachelor’s Degree in Multimedia Journalism from Bournemouth University and he has been featured in many large publications including AskMen, TSB Magazine and The Good Men Project.
As one of the most prolific writers on Beyond Ages, Joe has reviewed over a hundred dating apps. He is the site’s foremost authority when it comes to selecting what dating app works for whom. From an app’s mechanics to its algorithm to telltale signs that a dating app is a scam, Joe’s is able to expertly discern between dating apps that provide value and those that don’t.