How to Find Someone on Tinder: 5 Ways to Search on Tinder

So you’ve got your eye on someone special. Maybe you met them briefly at a party, and now you’d love to connect with them again.

You want to find that special on Tinder but sadly Tinder doesn’t give a search tool to track down a particular person. Its focus is more on helping you find new connections nearby.

Don’t lose hope! With a few creative workarounds, you can find their profile. From optimizing your Discovery settings to leveraging third-party sites, we’ve got the best options for you.

Step 1: Search Your Existing Matches

Let’s start with the basics. The Tinder app actually does have a search function to look through people you’ve already matched with. So if you and your crush have swiped right on each other in the past, searching your matches can reconnect you quickly.

Here’s how to access the search bar:

1. Open up the Tinder app on your mobile device and tap the speech bubble icon at the top. This opens up your messages.
2. On the messages screen, slowly drag your finger down to reveal the search bar at the top.
3. Type in the name of your previous match and see if they pop up!

If you match with that special someone as you’re swiping, be sure to favorite them right away. That pins them to the top of your matches, making them easier to find later on.

So searching past matches can be an easy option if you’ve connected with this person before. But what if you haven’t matched yet? Let’s look at some clever workarounds for tracking down anyone’s Tinder profile.

Step 2: Refine Your Discovery Criteria

The key to finding someone specific on Tinder lies in tricking the app’s algorithm. Tinder assembles your potential matches based on very particular Discovery criteria: location, age range, gender, and so on. By tailoring those filters, you can game the system into surfacing a particular person’s profile.

Want to increase the odds of running across your university friend or cute barista from down the street? Here are some key criteria to consider in your Discovery settings:

Adjust the Location Radius

Do you have a general sense of where your crush lives? Whether it’s a few blocks away or on the other side of town, adjusting your Discovery radius can help expose you both to each other on Tinder.

To change the distance setting:

1. Tap the profile icon in the top-left corner of the app.
2. Select Settings.
3. Under Discovery Settings, choose Maximum Distance.
4. Slide the bar to 1 mile, 5 miles, 10 miles, etc based on your estimate of where they live.

Setting a narrow distance range forces Tinder to surface more potential matches who are geographically close to you. So if you believe your person of interest lives or works within a handful of miles, shrinking your radius can bring their profile into view.

Lock in an Age Bracket

Got a solid guess of how old your Tinder crush is, give or take a year or two? Specifying an age range under Discovery can add another layer to your search filter:

1. From your profile, choose Settings > Discovery again.
2. Select Age Range.
3. Adjust the minimum and maximum ages to create a bracket tailored to the age of the person you’re pursuing.

Combined with the location radius, filtering out other ages leaves fewer profiles for Tinder’s algorithm to sort through. And the fewer options available, the better chance the one you want slips through the cracks!

Filter by Gender

This one may seem obvious, but make sure to choose the appropriate gender under the “Show Me” filter:

• Men – For pursuing a male crush
• Women – For pursuing a female crush
• Everyone – If you’re not 100% positive or want to keep the broadest net

It can be an easy setting to overlook when putting all your other filters in place. However, locking in the correct orientation makes the algorithm’s job much simpler by eliminating all profiles that don’t match your target’s gender identity.

Step 3: Leverage Their Tinder Username

Now, say you’re fortunate enough to know the specific Tinder handle for the profile you’re tracking down. Maybe you caught a quick glimpse of it on a friend’s phone or learned it from their Instagram bio. With username in hand, here’s a little-known trick for accessing anyone’s Tinder profile directly:

In your mobile browser, type tinder.com/@their_username and hit enter.

So if the person you have in mind uses the handle “@cutiepie”, you’d enter tinder.com/@cutiepie.

And voila—up pops your crush’s profile without needing to match with them!

Pro Tip: If you don’t have access to someone’s Tinder username specifically, try plugging in the handles they use on other platforms like Instagram or Twitter. There’s a good chance it’ll be the same across most of their profiles!

Step 4: Attempt a Username Search via Google

If all else fails, you can leverage Google’s robust search engine to scout someone out by name or username. Here are two ways to track down elusive Tinder profiles using targeted Google searches:

Search Within Tinder’s Domain

The first approach is searching explicitly within Tinder’s website using Google’s site operator. The structure looks like this:

site:tinder.com “John Smith”

The site command tells Google to only display results from that particular domain—in this case, Tinder’s website domain. Then include the name or username of the person you’re looking for in quotes.

By restricting the results to just Tinder’s site, Google will surface any associated profiles it finds in its search index. So if your crush does have an account tied to that name, you should see it appear at the top!

Step 5: Consider a Third-Party Search Site

At this point in our step-by-step guide, we’ve covered all the free workarounds for sniffing someone out directly through Tinder itself. But when those options are exhausted, you still have one last-ditch category of tools at your disposal – third-party searching services!

Dozens of shady-sounding websites promise they can locate pretty much anyone on Tinder using only basic info like a name, email address, or phone number. They scour all corners of the internet, social media sites, public records, and more to track down associated dating profiles.

However, the vast majority of these services require paid subscriptions or credits to perform a successful search. Here are three of the most reputable Tinder-hunting sites to consider when you’re really determined to find that one-in-a-million match:

• Cheaterbuster (formerly SwiperBuster)
• Social Catfish
• Truthfinder

Recap: Finding Someone on Tinder

And there you have it! From tweaking Discovery filters to spy tools for unveiling elusive profiles, we just dished expert-level advice for tracking down that one tempting match on Tinder.

To recap, here are the top five strategies broken down step by step:

1. Search your existing matches – For reconnecting with previous right-swipes
2. Refine Discovery criteria – Up odds of exposure by restricting filters
3. Plug their username into tinder.com – Instant profile access if the handle is known
4. Attempt username searches on Google – May randomly surface accounts
5. Leverage third-party searching sites – When all else fails for tricky searches

Finding someone specific on Tinder can definitely be challenging without a ton of concrete details to go off upfront. But with the right combo of tools, tricks, and persistence, lightning can strike twice for bringing that spark back into your inbox.

Now get swiping and upgrade your flirt game! Just stay mindful of those with good intentions as you try narrowing in on “the one who got away”.