I met my boyfriend on Tinder and I couldn’t be happier

Tinder is big business. The dating app has been downloaded over 100 million times, with many seeing it as just as a bit of fun or the chance to organise quick hook-ups.

But you always hear of Tinder horror stories: matching with someone in your seminar group, awkward dates, regrettable one-night stands, dodgy hook-ups, short-lived romances – all of which makes you beg the question, “just what the hell am I doing on here?”.

My experience was different, though. I met my boyfriend on Tinder and we have been together almost a year.

Tinder started off as mindless fun for me. It would be for lying in bed after a night out, drunkenly swiping my heart away, receiving and sending some tragic chat up lines from hopeless matches, never intending to meet up with any of them.

Until one day I actually matched with a guy who for once didn’t automatically send me a message at 1:30am saying “You wanna hook up? No strings attached”. Not that this was what made me think that I would give him a shot, but it definitely helped that he wasn’t a typical Tinder fuckboy from the get go.

After nearly six months of chatting on and off on Whatsapp, I bit the bullet and actually met up with this guy that I had met on a phone app.

What was I thinking? I couldn’t actually like a guy when I had only heard the sound of their voice over the phone a few times. What was I doing travelling to London from my comfortable uni bubble, where there were hundreds of guys I could meet and eventually date, to meet this guy from Tinder? Besides, I was in first year, so I couldn’t actually get serious with a guy, could I? More importantly, what would people think of me meeting someone off Tinder, what with its sleazy reputation. It wasn’t exactly a romantic story.

And so we met, crossing escalators on the London underground at Liverpool Street. Nothing was awkward. He was exactly like he came across over the phone and as a bonus, he was even better looking than in his photos. I think it was one of my favourite ways I have ever met anyone.

So, 11 months on, one holiday, one festival and a shedload of drunk nights out, we are still together. I don’t feel like I have missed out meeting guys in clubs or at pre-drinks, stumbling back to their halls or student houses, nor do I feel embarrassed at all that we met through Tinder.

I’ve actually met someone who I would have never had the chance to meet before if I hadn’t had this little app on my phone that I played like a game when I was bored on the bus.

Tinder, we love you.