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TL;DR
On Hinge you do not like a whole profile, you like a specific photo or prompt, and you can attach a comment when you do. Hinge’s own documentation says people who comment are more likely to get a response, which makes the comment the highest-value thing you can send before matching. Below are 45 examples grouped by what you are reacting to, plus the mistakes that get likes ignored.
Most people on Hinge send bare likes. They tap the heart, confirm, and move on. It takes two seconds and it is the single biggest reason their likes sit unanswered in someone’s queue.
Think about what the other person sees. A list of incoming likes, most of them identical, each one a name and a photo with nothing attached. Then one of them has a sentence on it that proves the sender actually read the profile. That is the one that gets opened.
The comment is free, it is unlimited, and it is the closest thing Hinge has to an unfair advantage. Here is how to use it.
How liking and commenting works on Hinge
Hinge is built differently from swipe-based apps, and the difference is the whole point.
In the Discover feed, profiles appear one at a time. Rather than liking or rejecting the entire person, you tap the heart icon on a specific photo or a specific prompt answer, then confirm by tapping Send Like. Before you confirm, you can add a comment.
Hinge’s own help documentation is direct about the value of this. Adding a comment when you send a like makes it more likely to get a response, and users who comment are more likely to hear back. The company repeats this across its guidance rather than mentioning it once in passing.
When your like is accepted, you match, and the conversation opens with your comment already sitting there as the first thing said.
That last detail is the one people miss. Your comment is not a preamble to the conversation. It is the conversation. If it is good, the reply comes back to it and you are already talking. If it is blank, you match and then face an empty chat box, which is where most Hinge conversations die before they start.
Why bare likes get ignored
Three reasons, and they compound.
No information. A like with no comment says you looked at a photo. It could have been sent by anyone, to anyone, in half a second, and it almost certainly was.
No effort signal. People sort their incoming likes, consciously or not, by how much effort each one represents. A comment is visible proof you spent longer than two seconds.
Nothing to reply to. Even if they accept, you have handed them an empty conversation. The burden is now on one of you to open cold, and most people simply do not.
Subscribers can also sort their incoming likes in various ways, including by how recent they are and by who has been active lately. None of that sorting helps a like with nothing attached to it. The only thing that lifts a like above the pile is the comment.
What makes a comment work
Four things, in order of importance.
It is specific to them. If you could send it to any profile without changing a word, it is not a comment, it is a greeting.
It responds to content, not appearance. Commenting on a prompt answer says you read their profile. Commenting on their face says you saw one photo.
It gives them something to reply to. A question, an opinion they can disagree with, or a story they can finish. Something with a handle on it.
It is short. Two lines maximum. This is not a message, it is the opening of one.
The best comments usually do two of those at once: react to something specific, then hand them the next move.
45 Hinge comment examples
These are templates. The specifics are what make them work, so swap mine for whatever is actually on the profile.
Reacting to a prompt answer
- This is the first answer to that prompt today that was not about travelling. Thank you.
- Bold claim and I am going to need evidence.
- I have strong feelings about this and unfortunately for you they are the opposite of yours.
- You cannot write half a story like that and leave it there. Finish it.
- Genuinely made me laugh, which is not a low bar despite what my friends say.
- This is the most specific answer I have read on here and I mean that as a compliment.
- Agreed on everything except the last bit, which I am prepared to argue about at length.
- Right, but how did you end up in that situation in the first place?
- I was going to scroll past and then read this properly. Well played.
- You have accidentally described my entire last year here.
Reacting to a photo
- Where is this? I have spent longer trying to work it out than I would like to admit.
- The dog is clearly the star and I would like to know more about the dog.
- That looks like an excellent day out. What was the occasion?
- Whoever took this deserves credit. Whoever chose the coat deserves more.
- This is a very specific type of holiday and I have questions about all of it.
- You look genuinely pleased to be there, which is rarer on here than it should be.
- Is that [place]? I have been meaning to go for about four years.
- Good photo, but I need to know what happened immediately after it was taken.
Reacting to a shared interest
- Also spent an embarrassing amount of last year doing exactly this. We should compare notes.
- Same book on my shelf, still unread. Are you going to finish yours first or shall I?
- You have listed three things I do every weekend, which I am choosing to take as a sign.
- Finally someone else who admits to this. I thought I was alone.
- I have opinions about [thing] that have ruined at least one dinner party. Care to test them?
- Been trying to get into this for months and failing. Any advice?
Asking a question that is easy to answer
- Best thing you have eaten this week? Important research.
- Give me one recommendation, anything, I will take it seriously.
- Settle this for me: [simple either/or]. Your answer decides everything.
- What is the story with [specific thing in their photo]?
- Where was this taken and should I go?
- What is the one thing on your profile you are most prepared to defend?
Playfully disagreeing
- Everything here is excellent apart from one thing, and I am prepared to discuss it.
- This is a good profile ruined by one opinion, which I assume was a typo.
- We are going to fall out over this and I am fine with that.
- Wrong, but confidently wrong, which I respect.
- You seem lovely and your take on [thing] is a serious problem for us both.
Just being direct
- I read your whole profile, liked all of it, and could not pick one bit. So, hello.
- Not going to be clever about this. You seem great, fancy a drink?
- Nothing witty to add. Genuinely just liked your profile and wanted to say so.
- This is me deciding not to scroll past and regret it later.
- Straightforward one: you seem interesting and I would like to talk to you.
When the profile is thin and you have little to work with
- Your profile gives me almost nothing to go on, so I am going to ask directly: what are you into?
- Working with limited material here, so let us start from scratch. How is your week going?
- Going to guess from these photos that you are a [guess]. Correct me.
- You have given me one prompt and I have built an entire theory about you from it.
- Deliberately mysterious profile. Respect. What is the actual story?
Comments that get ignored
- “Hey” or “Hi”, which wastes the entire mechanism
- Any compliment purely on appearance, which arrives looking automated
- Anything copy-pasted that could apply to any profile
- Long messages. Three paragraphs before matching reads as too much
- Questions with no possible answer, like “how are you?” with no context
- Negging or backhanded compliments, which fail far more often than the people using them believe
Comments versus Roses
Both improve your odds, and they work differently.
A Rose buys position. It pushes you to the top of their likes list, and Hinge’s CEO has said Roses are around twice as effective at getting you on a date. But you get one free a week.
A comment buys interest. It costs nothing, you can do it on every like, and Hinge says commenting improves your response rate.
The obvious move is to comment on everything and add a Rose when a profile genuinely warrants it. A Rose without a comment is the worst of both, because you have spent your one weekly advantage on a silent notification.
Worth reading alongside this:
- Best first message on Hinge, with examples that actually get replies
- How to get more matches on Hinge
- Best Hinge prompts for men, with example answers
- How to keep a conversation going over text
Write your own in three steps
- Read the whole profile before you touch the heart. You cannot write a specific comment about something you have not read
- Pick the one thing you actually reacted to. Not the most impressive thing, the thing that made you pause
- Say that, then hand it back. A question, a disagreement, or an unfinished thought. Two lines, then stop
If you cannot find anything to comment on, that is useful information. A profile giving you nothing to say is a conversation that was going to be hard work anyway.
Wrapping Up
The comment is the cheapest advantage on Hinge and most people ignore it. It costs nothing, it works on every like you send, and Hinge itself says it improves your response rate.
Read the profile, react to one specific thing, give them something to reply to, and keep it to two lines. That is the whole method, and it beats sending twice as many bare likes every time.
Quick Summary
- On Hinge you like a specific photo or prompt, and can attach a comment before confirming
- Hinge says commenting makes a response more likely, and repeats this across its guidance
- Your comment becomes the first message once you match, so a blank one leaves an empty chat
- React to prompts over photos, be specific, and keep it to two lines
- Give them something to answer: a question, a disagreement, or an unfinished story
- Comment on every like, and save the weekly Rose for profiles that genuinely warrant one
Yes. Hinge’s own documentation states that adding a comment makes a response more likely. It also means that when you match, the conversation already has an opening line in it rather than starting from an empty chat box.
React to one specific thing on their profile, ideally a prompt answer rather than a photo, and finish with something they can reply to. A question, a light disagreement or an unfinished thought all work. Keep it to two lines.
They work occasionally, but they sit in a queue alongside dozens of identical ones with nothing to separate them. A like with a comment shows effort, proves you read the profile, and gives the other person somewhere to start.
Two lines at most. It is the opening of a conversation rather than the conversation itself. Long messages sent before matching tend to read as too much effort in the wrong direction.
A prompt, in most cases. Commenting on a written answer proves you read the profile, while commenting on a photo can read as a reaction to appearance alone. Photos work when there is a genuine detail to ask about, such as a location or a story.
Yes. Comments are free and unlimited on the standard tier. Free users are limited on how many likes they can send each day, but there is no restriction on adding a comment to the ones you do send.
No. A Rose pushes you to the top of someone’s likes list, and arriving there with nothing attached wastes the only free one you get each week. Always pair a Rose with a specific comment.
