It’s common knowledge that dating and hookup apps have been amongst the most popular places on the Internet for a long time now. There are lots of specialized niche products in this field, fit for various purposes and goals.
Products for dating Latin people are one of the main such niche solutions – mainly because people all over the world simply like Hispanics, which makes them wonder if there is stuff that will target Hispanic users directly. And well, there is, but you’ll probably not need it.
In general, here’s what the world of Latin online dating looks like.
How popular is online dating among Hispanics?
This information is complex, and you can’t have definitely numbers on it. We know, however, that about 18% of Tinder users are American Hispanics, which means that, were you in one room with all the Tinder users in the world, 1 in 5 would be Latin Americans.
Seeing how Tinder is the most popular dating app, it’s safe to assume that this situation is not unique for this app. On the contrary, actually, most residents of Latin America prefer Badoo. So, at the very least, online app dating is reasonably popular amongst this group.
You might theoretically get much better numbers from the apps that were designed to be used by the Hispanics. They are usually much less popular, with the biggest of them only attraction 2 million visits a year. It’s not very impressive by contrast, although you’ll definitely find it sufficient for your individual means.
Typical issues
In terms of how well this dating thing fits the Spanish-speaking population of the world, it can vary. In fact, a large chunk of users of dating apps comes from USA, even if it’s a specialized app. There are reasons for it:
- Americans are much more active on such apps;
- Americans are generally more prone to finding partners online
It basically means that, even if you find a Hispanic person online, you may have to wait some time before they reply. And even if they do reply, there are still problems. In this context, the usual problem would be that most South Americans prefer dating offline. So, if you counted upon the long-distance contact, you may be disappointed.
It is a generalization, as well as a popular belief, so if it doesn’t prove true from your experience, then lucky you. It depends very heavily on the person themselves and what country they are from. Some nations simply don’t have an Internet culture as sophisticated as Americans (to the better or worse).
Another typical problem is that Hispanics don’t often speak English. Specific dating apps can have language as one of the minor search parameters, but most Latin Americans in the world aren’t bilingual, even though it’s not uncommon to see one that speaks English very well – especially among the USA community.
Where to look
Although websites and apps where you choose a location before going through profiles is still a common sight, you’d usually be given a list of profiles from your immediate proximity (determined based on GPS data). That usually extends to 100 km of radius.
Your own location
This trend was set by apps such as Tinder. Tinder automatically assigns you to a position – in fact, not to a city, but to a position on a hypothetical map. Certainly, there are ways you can attempt change your location. That includes:
- Changing your position in the settings on your phone
- Changing your position via VPN
Admittedly, the first option will likely not yield results. Most apps have provisions to ignore your own and your device’s opinion about your geolocation.
The second option is much more solid, because you don’t just change the information given to the app. You literally connect to the app through a device somewhere else.
So, if you were to connect to a device in South America, you would obviously be able to go through Hispanic matches on most dating apps.
Because this requires a bit more work, however, it could be prudent for you to just use dating websites. They usually don’t assign a location automatically but instead let you change it.
Sadly, though, many proper dating solutions, such as Tinder, don’t have proper website variations.
Picking a proper location
In order to find real Latin matches, you’d want to pick a location where they are bound to live.
That being said, if you know there is a sizeable Latin American community in the vicinity, it would be much better to stick to a local search and attempt a long-distance relationship – both for the reasons we discussed and because you’d generally need less effort for it.
But if you don’t have any Spanish-speaking communities around, there are several areas where it would be easy, effective and comfortable for you to find the Hispanic matches. In fact, the results may surprise you, seeing how the best country you could ever pick is the United States. There are good reasons for it:
- United States is the world’s biggest exporter of dating app users – they make up 12% of Tinder’s users overall
- United States is also home to one of the biggest Hispanic populations – there are currently at least 60,000,000 Latin Americans living in USA
- American Hispanics are much more likely to speak English, which is probably your first or second language
US dating
Even though you know now that most potential matches would be in the US, you’d still need to narrow down to the proper location. Thankfully, there are lots of apps and even dating websites that provide coverage for the places where Latin Americans usually reside.
This includes, most notably, the South-West: Texas, California, New Mexico, Nevada and other states. You literally only need to pick one of the big cities and just going through the matches.
Naturally, you’ll need more than this knowledge to start searching – particularly, you’d also want an ability to sort the matches by ethnicity, or at the very least – by language. Because most of the Spanish-speaking community in the US is Latin Americans, it’s virtually the same users anyway.
As for the locations, it’s not an issue. Most of the cities in this region are home to at least a small community of Hispanics. What you need is a proper combination of sorting parameters, and you’ll definitely find several candidates that match your preferences.
Types of dating websites
There are lots of websites that allow dating, hookups and even more professional services. What you want from your match is entirely up to you to decide, but you’ll generally want to stick to some specific types of apps and services.
What you need
Because dating Latin men and women online would entice long-distance contacts, you would need the sorting capabilities we just mentioned. Unfortunately, not all of them allow you to sort extensively.
And even then, language and ethnicity would be preferable, but these aren’t the only criteria you’d need. After all you would probably also want to factor in other categories that you’d like personally – including perhaps body type, age or height. Again, not all dating websites and apps have that.
Usually, the escort services are the ones that provide this level of extensiveness, while dating apps such as Badoo or Zoosk only providing a handful of the most critical criteria. Tinder, by comparison, provides even less, which is why searching for Latin dates with this is not really advised.
That being said, if you’re adamant about dating Hispanics and not just taking them as escort, then the more professional hookup websites are also not what you’re looking for – especially because of the safety concerns. These websites (such as Bedpage) are notorious for being a home for lots of scammers and leeches.
That eliminates a lot of the app and site options, but not all that deserve elimination. Before making conclusions, let’s also address safety concerns.
Safety concerns
Looking for an app that will allow you to find the Latin dates that fit your preferences is the hardest part. Most popular apps won’t give you a lot of matches to work with. The websites that do provide a lot of matches, as well as potential for extensive search aren’t always the best solutions, and here’s why.
There are generally two types of apps you might want to avoid in this context:
- Escort services
- Apps designed specifically for dating Latin Americans
The first category implies websites where professional sex workers publish ad posts to promote themselves as providers of the services. You wouldn’t call it ‘dating’, but that’s probably what some people think of really. If it fits you, then it’s ok. However, these places are still rife with danger.
The most obvious concern is scammers. The providers on these services are often legitimate, but they are just as often either fakes or leeches who won’t provide you services but will ask you to pay up in advance or even give them crucial information, such as your credit card details.
And generally speaking, the website structure itself is not as secure as what you get with bit and popular dating apps. Most of these escort services don’t even have messaging systems – instead, you’ll have to call them or send them an e-mail. You’re basically giving away your private information without particular need.
As for the second category, there are several problems.
Firstly, some of them aren’t as popular. Even though most of them are presented as ‘apps for Latinos’, you won’t find a lot of them here. Even though you can switch cities and often set preferences, there are simply not enough people to fit all of your requirements oftentimes.
Secondly, the safety measures are often as flimsy as what escort services provide. Scamming here is actually done equally by the providers and the users.
The schemes employed for scamming people here are born out of understanding that most people just blindly want a Latina girlfriend or a Latina partner. Many profiles on these services feature pictures of beautiful women or attractive men, but a lot of them are also false.
These apps are rife with fake accounts, which is why it’s much safer for you to use the standard apps. Not only do you often get the same results, but you’re also not a target of specific niche scamming. It’s likely that you won’t meet fake accounts on apps like Badoo or Bumble at all.
What apps do you pick?
Actually, a great decision would be to use one of the bigger apps that are coincidentally also popular with the Latin Americans.
It is problematic that, on most on these apps, you can specify what location you want to view. That is why, like mentioned, you’ll need to use VPN, unless simply changing position in your phone settings isn’t enough. So, let’s go over the biggest dating apps and see what they have to offer under these circumstances.
#1 – Tinder
Tinder is the biggest and most popular dating app worldwide. However, it’s not the most popular one in most countries of South America – Badoo is the one. Tinder, however, is very popular in United States, which also includes the Hispanic Americans. So, if you intend to search for matches in US, use Tinder.
#2 – Badoo
Badoo is a great option specifically because a lot of South Americans and Mexicans use the app. In fact, this app is the most popular dating solution in most of these countries – in particular, it’s beloved in Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina and Mexico. A lot of the users come from these countries, anyway.
#3 – Bumble
Bumble is another titan of the industry. Its userbase is rather smaller than Tinder, but it’s still very popular in both USA and other American countries. The reason why this one is a good solution is because you get to specify your preferences. And it doesn’t just include the body types, but also interests, hobbies, and so forth.
But ultimately, it’s your choice which one of them to pick.