The accidental Super Like: Tinder's most awkward phenomenon

People have a lot of opinions about Tinder's Super Like function. For some people, receiving one feels like a compliment. For others, a Super Like feels excessive, even creepy -- the dating app version of making eye contact for too long.

But there is one thing we can all agree on. It is way too easy to Super Like someone accidentally, and thus way too easy to plunge yourself into an uncomfortable Tinder situation.

As if dating apps needed any more of those.

There are a number of different ways that an accidental Super Like can occur. Users who swipe through people quickly, for example, are more likely to unintentionally swipe up -- a Super Like -- while trying to swipe right or left. (If they intended to swipe left, then god help them.) If you use the buttons on the bottom of the screen instead of swiping, your chances of messing up are even worse. The Super Like button is right next to the "no" button!

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"Pretty much the only time I Super Liked was accidental," one user told Mashable. "I think I was just swiping too fast or I actually meant to swipe left."

Then there's the newer "Super Likeable" section, which allegedly uses AI to suggest people that you might be interested in Super Liking. This is a tricky proposition, because you're forced to either go through with the Super Like or abandon the page entirely. Maybe your prospect will show up later on, so you can give them a less-creepy regular like; maybe they won't.

It's also not immediately clear how the "Super Likeable" feature works. You can click through to look at each person's profile, but if you press the star in the bottom left of each person's icon, you'll Super Like them automatically. Oops!

And, of course, there's good old confusion. People using multiple dating apps are more likely to forget what swiping up means on Tinder -- especially because the way you perform similar functions on other apps is totally different. (Bumble, for example, has a Super Swipe feature, but you don't swipe up to use it.)

"Between Bumble and Tinder and all the many other lonely dating apps, there's different ways to swipe right and Super Like and just click on someone's profile," another anonymous swiper says.

Using an iPhone? Don't even try to open the Control Center.

So let's say you've done the deed. You've become an accidental Super Liker. What do you do?

If you end up matching with the person but don't want to talk to them, it's my opinion that you should unmatch them immediately. But if you meant to just regular like them, not Super Like them, it's a far more delicate situation.

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"Super Likes are corny, in my humble opinion," a colleague says. "But I don't think I would admit to accidentally Super Liking someone if we matched. [Admitting it] would inject a weird power dynamic."

But if you'd feel weird not revealing your mistake to your conversational partner, just tell them. The worst they can do is, what, unmatch you? The stakes are blessedly low.

There is one way to get rid of an errant Super Like. If you subscribe to Tinder Plus or Tinder Gold (which are not free), you'll have access to a feature called "Rewind," which allows you to undo your most recent swipe and make a different choice about that person's profile.

Alternatively, you could cool it with the speed Tinder-ing.