It's rare to see something new and fresh in the dating app scene. Every app basically follows the same layout, has the same features (and restricts the same ones), making you wonder if joining a new dating app will really make any difference.
But Hily is attempting to change that and bring something new to your rotation of dating apps. If you take a look at the trending apps in the social networking category on the App Store, you'll find Hily among the top 30 apps. It has over 49,000 ratings at 4 stars, but just how true is that?
Here's the run-down on the newest dating app promising to give you more than what you're used to.
When you search up Hily on the App Store, you'll notice that it's an app that's rising on the charts, and is #21 on social networking apps.
It already has tons of reviews from real users, so you know what you're getting into.
People have even said they met their husband through the app! Differingly, others have said they've met people for hookups through the app.
But as we all know, user reviews can be mixed, so some people will say they love this app, and others will say it's the worst one they've ever used based on everyone's unique experience with Hily.
But based on the reviews, know that you're going to get a mix of people looking for love, and others looking for a one-night-stand. If you're open to anything, this shouldn't be an issue for you.
Plus, it's pretty much that way with any dating app.
When you download Hily and open up the app, you'll see a comic-like cartoon background on the sign-up screen of a superhero dressed in a purple suit with the Hily logo "saving," and carrying a woman in the air.
Pretty degrading message, but I'll let you know what else they have to offer.
You can sign up with your email, log in with Snapchat, or log in with Facebook. But don't worry; Hily doesn't post anything to your Snapchat or Facebook account.
If you sign up with email, the next step is to choose how you identify, either as male, female, or non-binary, and how who you're looking for identifies as.
Following that you enter your birth date and allow Hily access to your location so they can show you people nearby -- all the basic sign up process things.
Before you get into the member's area, you can select what you're looking for; you can pick from 'fun,' 'date,' or 'long-term.' You can then choose the age range of your preferred partner, being from 18-25, or 26+.
Next comes body type. Choose if you want a thin partner, an average size partner, a "little extra," or a fit partner.
Once you're done setting up the basics, you'll be able to see members nearby.
To my surprise, the first girl I saw was absolutely gorgeous -- and real.
I live in a pretty small town, so I wasn't expecting much, but there was actually a good amount of pretty girls.
You can send a message before getting matched together, which could help increase your chance of getting swiped right back on.
Hily looks more like a fun and cool social media app than a dating site. There's a lot of dope features to it that people can play around with to make their accounts more interesting.
Hily allows you to check what features you have under the 'My features' tab in your profile settings.
For anyone with a free profile, you'll only have chat requests and unlimited rollbacks available.
But before we get into the upgraded features, let's discuss everything you can do on Hily for free.
For starters, there's lots of profile information you can edit to make yourself stand out.
You can upload stories like you do on Snapchat and Instagram, and use them as a profile video, link your Snapchat account so people can add you quicker, write a bio, display what you're looking for on your profile, if you have or want kids, your body type, and your habits.
You can also preview your profile before you save changes, which is nice and something no other dating app has.
I like that the swipe area fills your screen with the person's profile you're viewing. You can swipe through their photos like you o on Tinder and swipe up for more information.
A cool feature Hily has is that you can tap on the '?' icon on the bottom right-hand side of anyone's profile to check how compatible you are with them.
But to do this, you have to complete the quiz first by answering at least 10 questions. You can answer more questions to get a better picture of how compatible your answers are with other users.
You can also filter for matches by selecting gender, age range, distance from you, body type, ethnicity, and 'Hot users.'
Your message features are pretty standard, but you'll always have a thread with Hily Live Help where you can ask questions, get help with the app, and receive tips and tricks for using the Hily app.
But one upgraded messaging feature to be aware of is Chat Requests. These are so that you can send messages without waiting for a match by simply tapping on the message icon on someone's profile to start chatting.
But what makes Hily unique compared to other dating apps is its Stories feature. Like any other app that uses stories (Snapchat, Instagram), you can upload short videos or photos for other Hily users to see.
You can even filter for whose stories you want to see, either from males, females, or non-binary people. There are also 'Hot Stories 🔥' featured every day from different users.
Next to the Stories area is the 'Events' tab. Here, you can view your likes, matches, and who's liked you, if you've upgraded.
Even cooler about Hily is that users can vote and request for new features they'd like to see on the app.
Some requests that have been put out are things like Free Chat Fridays, status posts, and 'Local Hotties.'
When it comes to upgraded features, there are quite a few.
As I mentioned, you can send messages before getting matched when you upgrade your membership on Hily. This feature was designed to get you more matches and get you more options.
You also get unlimited profile boosts, which increases your profile views by 500%, and you can view who's liked and visited your profile when you upgrade.
When you upgrade your profile you can also disable ads, go into incognito mode, which hides you from everyone except people you've liked or messaged, get unlimited rollbacks to undo hasty swipes, extended filters for search, access to the entire list of 'Hot Stories,' and puts you on top visibility.
If that's not enough to convince you of how awesome Hily is, every day that you log in there are daily rewards that could get you things like discounts to purchase a membership, free chat requests, and more.
Hily Elixir is the name of the app's upgraded membership, and you can purchase it in three different options.
The most popular option is the 7-day trial that lets you try Hily for free for one week, adn then $14.99/week after that.
An important thing to remember is that if you don't want to continue the membership and get charged the next week is to cancel the trial before it ends.
You can also purchase a memberhsip at a discounted rate for 3 months, totaling to $53.99, or you can purchase a full year of Hily Elixir for $119.99.
You definitely won't get bored of using Hily like you do of other dating apps. There's more to do than just swipe left or right, and the people are more active on this app.
Also, the profiles are 100% real; I tried putting up a meme as my profile photo, but their photo verification tool turned me down every time until I put a real photo of my face.
I also enjoy all of Hily's features, especially the Stories because it feels more like a social app than a dating app.
If you start running out of people in your area, Hily will still show you people you've swiped left on (AKA "No") unless you increase the distance range in your preferences.
Hily is the next best social and dating app to hit the App Store. It's more than a simple dating app where you swipe left and right, and it has the same elements that all your favorite social media apps have. It's the better choice for online dating in 2019, and you can actually meet and talk to people in your area off this app.
