Okay, not for real. Although I am single and pretty darn good looking, I’m not really looking for a relationship right now. But hey, thanks for asking! All joking aside, I’ve decided to write this article that talks about how being “forever alone” isn’t always the case anymore thanks to some apps on our phones that work similar to E-harmony, Match.com, and Okcupid. Yes, we are now at a point where we can actually find a significant other through our phones.

There’s a certain stigma around finding somebody to date “online”, and to an extent there should be. It can be dangerous of course, but once you think about it so is meeting a stranger on the street. As with any relationship, you want to be cautious and take baby steps when getting to know somebody. It’s a little bit harder dating online (or through our phones) simply because it’s very easy to talk ourselves up when they’re not actually looking at you in person. So, keep that in mind when using any of these apps.

Onwards!

Okay, so the first app I’ve found is always in my face when I’m browsing Facebook. I’ll be browsing my friends list and suddenly “Date Me!” will pop up with two pictures of guys with names like “Jason” or “Brad”. Although I wasn’t particularly interested in either one of these guys, I decided to check out the app anyway. DateMe is an app that let’s you get back in the dating scene in just “5 simple steps”. You download, set up a profile, and you can see who else set up profiles that live near you as well. Easy peas-y one-two-threes-y! Now you just wait for the requests to roll in.

If you want to keep your options open even more, there’s more dating apps than just DateMe. You’ve also got SmartDating if you have an iPhone. I decided not to try this one because the front page of the app looks like they feature college students, so I wasn’t sure if this was an app for smart people to date or an app that made the actual finding of a date smarter. Just in case I was wrong, I did not want to ruin the smart people’s good time by being the black sheep in the bunch. I’m just kidding, but this app is actually pretty cool. Say you find somebody you like and you want to send her flowers. You can do that through this app! Pretty awesome, huh? I thought so too.

If you’re looking for a more immediate connection, you can try using SmartDate (different than SmartDating) which will let you know if any other SmartDate app users are around your surrounding vicinity. It’s sort of like playing a romantic game of Where’s Waldo, which can be fun in its own right. This app isn’t so much traditional online dating so much as a real life hack of sorts that allows you to pinpoint somebody who is actually looking for a relationship, which is better than asking somebody out and them telling you they’re already seeing somebody.

So now that we’ve got the easy part down…

We probably need to make sure the people who message you are… how should I say this? Not felons or wanted for serious crimes. This is where DateCheck comes into play. Although it might not always be able to tell you 100% of their past, you’ll still find out a little more about him/her then they might want to let on, especially if they seem sketchy. Although if they seem sketchy and you already don’t trust a word they say, it’s probably not going to work out in the long run anyway.

So there you have it: The wonderful world of dating is in our very hands if you’re feeling more single than ever, like I am, today! So if you’re not into the bar scene, don’t have time to get out much, or you’re like me and live in a house with no windows or doors these apps might be able to help you out if you’re feeling lonely!

Happy Valentine’s Day!