12 Signs He’s Secretly On A Dating App

He Never Leaves His Phone Out On The Side

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Most people will leave their phone close by them and within easy reach, whether that's on the arm of the couch or the coffee table. There's no real reason to leave it in your pocket or in your bag when you're chillin' at home, so it's a bit weird that he never, ever leaves his out to be seen...

And He's Cagey If He Gets A Notification

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If he does have his phone near him, how does he act when he gets a notification? Does he move as quick as The Flash to grab the phone before you can see the screen? Or does he start acting weird, like he doesn't want to look at the notification in front of you or something?

Or Has He Turned Off Notifications Altogether?

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Some people on dating apps or cheating may play it safe and turn off notifications altogether. It can be very weird for a person to completely turn off their notifications for messages and emails... the only time you'd want to do that is if you needed complete privacy.

He Hides His Screen From You!

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If you actually go to the effort to peek over his shoulder, or even just glance his way while you're sat on the couch together when he's got his phone in his hand, does he quickly go to a lot of effort to hide his screen from you? Tilt it away from you or quickly shuffle his position to face the other way?

And He Always Seems To Get Notifications Late At Night

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Most dating app notifications will come through in the evening - or even at stupid o'clock if people are drunk and looking for some fun - because people might browse the sites when they're relaxing for the night or around their busy work hours. So are his notifications only ever very late at night?

He Smiles Or Looks Flustered At His Phone A Lot

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We all know that feeling when you're first dating someone and every message they send, or every notification with their name, makes you smile and giggle like a five year old. Is your boyfriend looking smiley, giggly or flustered when he's reading a notification? And it's not from you?

Try Out His Name With The Tinder URL

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If someone has a Tinder profile, then their username is usually in the URL bar after the website address - so it could be worth a try typing the Tinder website, and then their name at the end after the '/'. This might come up with their active profile, if they have one.

Or Any Other Dating Site URL, For That Matter!

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There are so many dating apps these days it's hard to keep track, but Tinder is usually the most popular one. If you don't bring up any results with Tinder though, you could try the profile URL name trick for other well-known dating sites, too, if you want to be doubly sure!

But Obviously This Won't Work If He's Using A Fake Name

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If someone is already dating and they want to set up a new dating profile on the sly, the chances are that they won't be using their actual name, so they're probably using a fake name - or some similar variation of their own name. So if the URL trick doesn't work, it doesn't mean they don't have a profile - it could mean they're using a different name.

You Can Enter His Email Address Into The Login Pages

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On the apps for dating sites, there'll be a login page, of course - so you can always try putting his email address in there! You won't know the password, of course (unless they use the same password for everything and you want to give it a go) but sometimes websites will say 'no user found with that email'.

Or Try The 'Forgot Password' Hack!

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If the email address doesn't give you any information, you can always try the 'forgot password' button too. If you select 'forgot password', the app will ask you to put your email address in, so you can put theirs in and see if it says 'user not found' or 'a password reset email has been sent to you'!

You Can Make Your Own Profile To Find Him That Way

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If you want to do some serious investigation and straight up view their profile (if they have one), then you can always make your own fake dating profile and then do some digging by putting in their location, age, dating preferences and their name. You might find them!

Or Maybe A Friend Can Help You Out

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If you don't feel comfortable snooping that way or can't be bothered to set up your own fake dating profile, maybe a friend can help you out - if they already have an active dating profile, they can do a search with you on there, or maybe they're happy to create a fake one themselves to do some investigating!

Maybe A Friend Has Even Said They Think He's On There!

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If you do have a friend that's already active on a shed load of dating apps and actively browsing for their new bae, maybe they've mentioned that they're sure they saw your boyfriend on there, or saw a profile that made them think of him. Maybe they even matched with him!

Check His Downloaded Apps

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If he's using a dating site (or two, or three) then it's likely he's going to have the app rather than going desktop - but you never know. A good way to check is just to see which apps he has downloaded on his phone. Why would he have the Tinder app downloaded if he's dating you, and didn't have it before you started dating?

If He Denies Using Them, Check 'Screen Time'

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Of course, it could be an honest mistake. Sometimes phones come with apps pre-installed, or maybe he downloaded it ages ago when you first started dating and just hasn't deleted it. So if he says he has the app but promises he never uses it, 'screen time' under settings will show you how often he uses every app - so does it say he uses the Tinder app 12 hours a day?

Check The Trusty Browser History, Too

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If he's being careful, maybe he doesn't have the app downloaded at all for that reason, and maybe he's been using Tinder or other dating sites on his desktop computer instead. So you can always have a look at his browser history if you suspect something, and maybe he's sloppy about clearing it out.

Or Maybe He's Always Going Incognito!

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The opposite could be true, though - he could be anything but sloppy and avoided the need to clear his history altogether by only ever going incognito! This will be difficult to judge if you go on and his browser history is clear, but maybe the default screen that opens up when you click the internet explorer is the incognito window.

You've Noticed He's Been Taking More Selfies

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It's a common belief that guys don't take as many selfies as girls - unless it's a gym selfie - but hey, the world's changing, and maybe guys just like taking selfies more now. But if you know him to be someone not bothered about selfies and he's suddenly taking a lot, could he be scouting for his next dating profile pic?

Or He's Been Going Through Photos A Lot

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Another common reality about guys on dating apps is that, chances are, they've just uploaded an old photo of themselves to use as a dating profile pic - it's rare they take a brand new selfie for the occasion. So it's usually a night out, a vacation pic with shades on or - dare I say - holding a fish. Has he suddenly been going through old photos, as though he's looking for the perfect one?

He Gets Emails From Dating Sites

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He might leave his email screen open, have his emails as pop up notifications or just something you've seen on his screen in passing - but if he gets emails from dating sites, chances are it's because his email is registered with them. But take that with a pinch of salt, because junk, spam and phishing from 'Tinder' when it's not actually Tinder is always a possibility!

His Friends Keep Talking About Dating Sites With Him

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If your boyfriend has a bunch of guy friends, have you noticed that a common topic of conversation with them is dating sites? Does it seem like all his friends are active on them? Nothing suspicious about that if they're all single, but if the way they're talking makes you feel as though your boyfriend is sharing notes, too, or they're trying to encourage him...

You Can Enter His Info On A 'Cheaters' App!

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Cheaters apps do exist actually! These are apps - like Swipebuster or Couples Tracker - that can help you to bust a cheating partner by finding any acting dating profiles they might have. The key with this is always to stay safe, though - the apps should always let you search for free, so don't enter your credit card info if you want to use one.

Someone Out In Public Seemed To Have Recognized Him

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Have you had a weird moment where you were out shopping with your boyfriend and grabbing a coffee and a random stranger you've never seen before seemed to double take at him? Maybe they said hello and he acted as though he didn't know them. Could it be someone who recognized his profile pic from matching on a dating site?

You Might Want To Ask Him Directly

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Maybe you have enough suspicions or signs that you just want to call him out right now - or maybe snooping isn't your thing and you just want to ask outright. Either way, asking him directly isn't a bad thing - and the good thing about this is you can usually glean more information based on his reaction.

Or, You Have, And He's Evasive

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So you decided to outright ask him at the beginning of all this and he outright denied it, but he's been evasive and cagey. He's said no, but there's something about his behavior that tells you he's trying to wriggle out of it, avoid eye contact or just acting like a guilty person would.

You Let Him Talk And It Got Suss

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An often-used technique by interrogators or police (yeah we're getting a bit serious here, we know) is to stay silent so that the 'suspected party' begins talking to fill the silence. This can mean a lot of the time they reveal more than they'd like because they're talking and talking and maybe digging themselves into a hole. Did you decide to ask them about dating sites and just let them talk? Did they then talk themselves into a hole?

You've Been Cheated On Before, And You Know The Signs

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You may be thinking all this because you're programmed to be suspicious after a bad experience with a partner, or partners, in the past. While it's important to overcome trauma like this and not be paranoid with new people, it also might mean you very easily recognize signs of suspicious behavior.

Your Gut Just Tells You So

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A lot can be said for your gut instinct, in any situation! And especially when it comes to someone you're dating. No matter what, you just can't shake off this feeling deep in your belly that they're using a dating app, or hiding something from you on their phone - even if you've asked them about it and they've denied it.

It's A Slippery Slope

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It's important to note that things like checking your partner's emails, messages, secretly looking at their computer or invading their privacy is a slippery slope - you're betraying their trust by doing that, when it might turn out they're not on dating apps at all! All we're saying is be careful with stuff like that and at the end of the day, it's always better to ask them outright!