It’s Sunday, your free Hinge Rose just landed in your account, and now you’re faced with a choice: who gets the shot?
Most guys treat their free Rose like a hot potato. They either waste it on a low-effort profile out of boredom or hoard it looking for a mythical unicorn, only for it to expire worthless. Both are losing strategies.
A Rose isn’t just a "Super Like", it's a calculated move. Roses jump you to the top of her “Likes You” deck, so they can be a powerful strategy to match with someone you’re interested in. Hinge gives one free Rose per week (usually on a Sunday; however, you have the option to purchase a Rose at any time for around $3.99.
Essentially, a Rose is a $4 signal of high intent that tells a woman (and the algorithm) that you’re serious. Let's break down the tactical playbook so you stop wasting your single most powerful asset on the app.
Before even contemplating sending a Rose, you need to get the basics down. Most importantly, you need to understand the difference between a Rose and a Like.
A Rose is essentially a fast pass that prioritizes your profile in a girl's “Likes You.” It tells her that you’re serious, and also lets the app know to move you to the front of the queue so she sees your profile first in her feed.
Whereas a “Like” is similar to you waving from the back of a crowded concert, a Rose is a VIP pass that puts you in the front row.
As well as its use as a linecutter into a girl’s feed, a Rose also lets you interact with the Standouts feature on Hinge. Standouts are a list of top-tier profiles the app thinks you might like, but you can only interact with them by sending a Rose.
All users get one free Rose a week. However, once you’ve used it, they cost up to $4 each. The price tag on this feature, therefore, proves my point; this is a premium tool, and wasting it is like setting a $5 bill on fire and throwing it into the ocean.
You shouldn’t be using a Rose on any 10/10’s profile, as this is unlikely to yield the results you want. The following is a checklist that should indicate whether or not you have the green light to use the feature.
These are non-negotiables and form a part of the strategy to successfully use the Rose feature. If any of these conditions are met…send the damn Rose.
If you’re swiping through a girl’s profile, and her photos and prompts make you say “hell yes,” this is a sign that you might want to send a rose. You might share a niche interest, or her humor resonates with you, or her general vibe just aligns with what you’re looking for. Remember, a Rose is for the whole profile, not just a pretty face.
Sending a Rose without a comment is like buying a Super Bowl ad and leaving it blank. Hinge's own data says a comment makes you 3x more likely to get a response. If a witty opening pops into your head while swiping through her profile, this is a signal to fire away.
Pro Tip: Your comment is your opener. Don't make it a statement like “cool trip". Make it a hook or a specific, playful question based on her photo or prompt. I prefer the more tongue-in-cheek approach. Some of my go-tos are "like for a tbh" or "why does the dog look like he hates you lol.”
If it's a Saturday night, your rose resets in a few hours, and you find an interesting profile, maybe not your usual type, but a solid "maybe," send it. An expiring asset is a wasted asset, and a calculated shot on a "wildcard" is better than letting the Rose expire and taking no shot at all.
There are some common situations where a guy will send a Rose, even though he strategically should not do so. If the profile you’ve stumbled across fits into one of the following categories, you should not under any circumstances send a Rose. This is where guys burn money and reputation, and lower their overall success on the app.
You want a girl who puts effort in, so why should you reward a lazy profile with a Rose? Three bathroom selfies, one-word prompts, and no bio are all classic examples of a low-effort bio. Sending a Rose here tells her she needs zero personality or effort to get a man's top-level attention. You look thirsty, you reward low effort, and you’re spending money on something unlikely to yield a good reward. Hard pass on this one.
Another time when you should never send a Rose is in what I call a “Hail Mary” situation. This is where you find a 10/10 profile, but you think she’s "out of your league" and have nothing in common. However, you send a Rose just because she's a 10.
This does not have the impact that you think it does. You're not "shooting your shot" here; you're signaling to the Hinge algorithm that you get rejected by top-tier women. This is self-sabotage and will harm your success in the long run.
Pro Tip: When you see a "Hail Mary" profile that feels out of reach, the smartest move isn't sending a Rose, it's swiping LEFT. Every time you like a profile and get ignored, you damage your score with the algorithm. Hack the algorithm, protect your rating, and focus on levelling up your own profile first. Soon, those "Hail Marys" will be in your regular feed.
Sending a Rose isn’t a throwaway exercise; it's a calculated strategy. You need a game plan to back it up, and if you haven’t got it, there’s no point in sending it. If you send the rose and your comment is "Hey," "You're gorgeous," or "😍," you've completely defeated the purpose.
You used a premium feature to deliver a low-value message. It’s the digital equivalent of mumbling and a total waste of your time and money.
Similarly, if your profile doesn’t cut the mustard, you shouldn’t send a rose. A Rose raises expectations, and if a girl receives one, she expects your profile to be at a certain level. If your first photo is a blurry car selfie, you just paid to get rejected faster.
What many guys don’t get is that a Rose isn’t just another feature on Hinge; it's a powerful tool that can level up your matches, and eventually, the girls you go on dates with. This means that you need to have everything in place before sending Rose, so that you can maximize your chances of using it successfully.
The harsh reality is that men spend $30 on a pack of 12 Roses thinking it will solve their dating problems, but it won't, especially if you have a weak profile. A Rose is a spotlight. If it shines on a profile with blurry photos and generic prompts, all it does is get your low-effort profile rejected faster.
Before you spend another dollar on a digital flower, you have to fix the fundamentals. The real investment here is in yourself, not the Roses. The Rose gets you noticed, but your photos, your prompts, and your overall vibe are what get the match. If your profile game is weak, chances are, no matter how many Roses you use, you’ll just get rejected faster.
Pro Tip: A Rose creates a moment of high expectation, as the woman knows that you either used your one free Ros, or you paid to send it to her. This means she's anticipating a top-tier profile. If your first photo is a blurry selfie or a group shot where she has to guess who you are, you’ve already lost. Your lead photo must be strong enough to immediately justify the confidence of sending a Rose, which will ultimately make her more likely to match with you.
The common misconception that I see most often is that guys think the issue is "Who do I send my Rose to?" However, this isn't the case. The real question is, "Is my profile good enough to justify the attention a Rose brings?"
If you’re not 100% confident your profile can close the deal, you're just throwing money away. Why take the risk when you know it probably won’t pay off? A weak profile is your worst enemy here and will significantly bring down the number and type of matches you get, especially when sending a Rose.
That’s what we fix. The Wingman Plus Profile Makeover builds a profile so strong that every Rose you send becomes a high-impact, confident move, not a desperate gamble.
If you’re ready to stop guessing and build a profile that makes every shot count, book your Profile Makeover Here. After 7 years of trial and error on the dating apps, I have finally figured out how to hack the system and get the matches and dates I’m looking for on the apps.
I’ve dedicated my life to helping guys like you reach the same point, using my real-world experience to help men transform their dating profiles and get the matches they deserve. Don’t believe me? Check out my YouTube channel, where I post some of my favorite success stories of guys I’ve helped to transform their profiles, as well as many tips and tricks I’ve learned over the years to help you level up your dating app game.
My YouTube and Instagram are at the heart of what I do here at WingmanPlus, as it is where I post content to help guys all over the world take their dating app profiles to the next level, and help them turn successful matches into even more successful dates.
Every day, my comment sections are filled with guys asking all sorts of questions, so I thought I’d narrow it down to the top questions to give you some clarity and help you get started on successfully sending roses.
No, a Rose isn’t like sending a girl flowers online. It’s a high-intent like that moves you to the top of her Likes You and lets you know that you’ve really piqued her interest.
No, you only get one free Rose per week; historically released on Sundays. Treat it as a use-it-or-lose-it for planning purposes, and make sure you don’t waste it on the first profile that looks slightly promising. Keep in mind that paid Roses can be bought anytime.
Yes, you can send a Rose to anyone in the “Discover” section of the app. However, anyone on the Standouts page requires a Rose (no regular Likes there).
No. It just guarantees you’re seen first. Whether or not your Rose gets you a successful match is dependent on your profile and opener.
Historically, they cost around $3.99 each with bundle pricing. However, pricing may vary by market and time.
Standouts refresh daily, and there’s a built-in refresh timer on the first profile.
No, it’s not weird if you send it like a grown man. A Rose paired with a specific, playful comment reads as decisive, not desperate. (And yes, the app literally puts you on top of her Likes, which is the point.)
