Key Points
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Previously, transgender people lacked safe spaces to be themselves in the dating world – especially on mainstream dating apps.
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There are now many dating app options for transgender people and the LGBTQ+ community as a whole.
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Straight-focused dating apps are adding more inclusive features such as gender and sexual identity.
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Taimi is the best transgender dating app thanks to its inclusion of the whole LGBTQ+ community and options for dating or friendships.
Have you struggled to create an online dating profile on a hetero-dating app or website? You may decide to identify in your bio to be open from the beginning, but this comes with risks: a lack of swipes, transphobes reporting you, targeting, and fetishization. Alternatively, you might leave out your true identity and save it for people you make a connection with; however, this quickly turns into a waste of time and is disheartening to see how many people ghost you.
There are finally apps for the transgender (trans) community to portray their true identity on their profile from the get-go. Taimi is the best transgender dating app as it creates a safe space for anyone in the LGBTQ+ community and has a large pool of potential matches without leaving the trans community separate from the rest of the world.
The Trans Dating World
Dating as a trans person is difficult for countless reasons. In a dating world centered around straight cis people, transgender folks face a constant struggle. You are not given the safe space you deserve to find love.
Mainstream Dating Apps
Mainstream dating apps don’t typically make dating for trans people easy and sometimes it isn't accessible at all. Many dating apps have taken a step in the right direction by adding options to proclaim pronouns, gender identity, and sexuality. However, even with options to state who you are, there is still a heavy load of cis people that are often transphobic or uneducated. This leaves trans individuals either ducking hate or educating everyone they match with.
Dating apps even had a reputation for banning trans profiles. This is typically due to transphobic users reporting profiles or a bug from the system when someone edits the name and gender on their profile. Trans singles deserve a safe and open space to swipe as they please without worrying about discrimination!
Dating Apps for Transgender People
There are now many dating apps designed exclusively for trans singles, and even more for the broader LGBTQ+ community. Having a safe space to express your true identity is the bare minimum for a dating app. It’s vital to be open about who you are to make genuine connections.
It’s great that there are trans dating apps available, but this creates a limit to dating mainly other trans people. Mainstream dating apps are still an option, but LGBTQ+ dating apps give the best options for dates in the safest environment without removing trans people from the rest of the world.
Use caution when selecting a trans dating app as many of them are geared toward people with a fetishization for transgender folk. If this is your jam, then check out apps such as TS Date, My Transgender Date, TG Personals, and Transgender Date.
If this isn’t your thing, there are finally apps that create a safe space for you to express your true identity and find a meaningful connection. The five dating apps below come highly recommended for LGBTQ+ members!
Taimi
Taimi is the best transgender dating app with a huge community of LGBTQ+ members, trans-exclusive features, and endless opportunities to make romantic or friendly connections with the people you’re looking for. It’s the most popular LGBTQ+ dating app in the world with over 11 million users. This large platform provides a lot more opportunities to find someone than similar apps do!
Tiami was originally designed for gay dating but has expanded to include anyone on the gender and sexuality spectrum. Due to demand in the queer world, their goal shifted to create a safe space online for the entire LGBTQ+ community.
The app is used for dating and as a social media platform. Taimi boasts the ability to find any type of relationship including hookups, casual dating, serious dating, or anything you’re looking for. It includes features to create posts and stories, host a live stream, video call, share content, network with other users, and so much more.
People from all over the gender and sexual identity spectrum are found on Taimi so there are plenty of fish in the queer sea! Transgender and LGBTQ+ dating apps are known to be too niche and only represent a small group of people, which gives fewer options for dating. This isn’t an issue on the Tiami app.
When using Taimi for dating, it will match you with people based on your location and interests. It is free to download, make a profile, match with potential partners, and start chatting. There are additional features available if you pay for a subscription.
While setting up your profile, you’re given a lot of options to choose from to display your gender identity. You even have the opportunity to explain your gender more deeply. Next, you select your sexuality, who you are interested in, and your hobbies.
Another feature that sets Taimi apart from the others is LGBTQ+ Wiki — a free article encyclopedia on their site with research, terminology, history, and more about attraction, identity, and gender. This is available even to non-members of the app to educate anyone and everyone on the ins and outs of queerness!
A final cherry on top is the trans chat on this app. There is a diverse and respectful community of trans people from around the world or locally for you to chat and connect with online. This added support makes the Tiami experience a lot sweeter.
Her
Her is a dating app originally designed for women dating women, which has now expanded to the whole LGBTQ+ spectrum. It caters to people of all gender and sexual identities. Her works as a social platform with a focus on dating, one-night stands, and relationships.
There’s a community of 90,000 trans folks on Her which helps create a safe environment for dating! Send messages, share news, check out local LGBTQ+ events, start discussions in forums, and so much more. They even have resources, such as tips on “How to Find a Partner as a Trans Person.”
Your profile on Her features your basic information, photos, pronouns, gender identity, sexuality, relationship status, what you are looking for, pets, substance habits, and more. Her even lets you add religion, political views, and family preferences.
A cool feature on Her is the option to sport a cute sticker such as a U-Haul labeled “Lesbian,” a trans pride flag, your love language, 420, and others. Like many dating apps, Her can connect to your Spotify or Instagram to show more personality on your profile.
Basic features on Her are free but they also offer a premium subscription to filter profiles by verified accounts, gender identity, sexual identity, and more. Without a premium subscription, users cannot choose which genders or sexualities they swipe on, which is frustrating for everyone.
There is an option to verify on Her, but it is not required, and there are reportedly a lot of spam accounts on this app. The app has a lot of potential and seems to have a good pool of LGBTQ+ people looking to date – including trans folks – but it appears it will take patience and persistence to find options within the stack of profiles with every gender and spam account.
OkCupid
OkCupid was originally designed for straight people, but this took a turn in 2011 when they rolled out an option to filter out straight people from your feed. They were also the first dating app to include pronouns in profiles.
This dating app has continued its progressive behavior by adding more than 60 options for sexual orientation and gender identity to their profiles. Plus, they know that nobody fits into a single box, so users can choose up to five options to identify with on their profile.
OkCupid certainly isn’t a transgender app. They don’t even count as LGBTQ+, but they make the list as the most inclusive straight-oriented app. The ability to filter out straight people transforms your app experience into an LGBTQ+ platform, and there is a large collection of people all over the sexuality and gender spectrum utilizing the app.
As a straight ally, OkCupid launched matching questions for pride month. Queer and straight users alike are asked what pride means to them, whether or not it's ok to silently support the trans movement if a potential date must care about trans rights, and many more! This effort to support the LGBTQ+ and specifically the trans community created a safe space on OkCupid with 97% of users caring about LGBTQ+ issues.
OkCupid offers the safest space for transgender people to use a dating app amongst mainstream options and should not be overlooked as an app just for straight, cis people. Although it’s always important to keep safety and mind and continue with your head high if you encounter haters!
Fiorry
Fiorry labels itself as a dating app for transgender people and their allies. This app is meant specifically for trans daters or for people who are interested in dating transgender people.
Your location is flexible on Fiorry, which is great if you don’t live near potential matches, but complicated if you want to go on a date.
A lot of users have complained about bots and fake profiles, but Fiorry responded by saying they are working to fix this. There are also complaints about issues with the app not working or quitting unexpectedly. Users who haven’t experienced technical issues report loving the app and the safe space to date as a trans person!
Lex
Lex is an LGBTQ+ dating app that offers a safe space for transgender people to look for dates. Lex has a unique design as a text-centered app without pictures. It was created to look like lesbian personal ads from newspapers in the 1980s and 90s. Not only is this trendy and fun, but it offers a unique experience of matching with potential dates solely from personality.
Lex was designed originally for lesbians but is now available for everyone in the LGBTQ+ community. Therefore there are lots of users from all across the gender and sexuality spectrums.
Dating apps are always centered around surface-level attraction, but Lex is breaking this superficial habit. Typically, dating app users glance at the first selfie of a potential match and decide whether or not they are interested. Challenge your ability to make a genuine connection by not seeing what somebody looks like until after you decide if you like them.
To catch the attention of potential matches on Lex, you are allotted six posts in 30 days. Users post catchy headlines to put themselves out there and explore the posts of others to see who they are interested in. Photos are only to be exchanged once you decide to take a conversation off the app.
The trans community has spoken highly of this app as they are finally able to make a dating profile without the dysphoria of their profile picture. It is very overwhelming to create a dating profile no matter your identity, but creating a profile on Lex allows the opportunity to do it in an LGBTQ+-friendly space and without photos!
Try dating in this trans-safe, open-minded, photo-free environment to find a genuine connection with someone beyond simple appearances.
Get Swiping!
The world of dating apps may just be cracking the surface of including transgender people in their platforms, but many options are emerging.
Try out Taimi for a space to express yourself amongst the LGBTQ+ community and start setting up a killer profile. Choose a few of your best photos, write a catchy bio, and check out these tips on “How to Make Your Dating App Profile Stand Out.” Quickly match with friends or lovers that understand and honor you as a transgender person.
Remember to always use dating apps cautiously by only sharing necessary information and safely meeting people. Especially as transgender people are often victimized, it is important to put your safety first. Good luck and happy swiping!
