Tinder might be popular all over the world, but it’s not an option anymore in Dubai and the rest of the UAE thanks to a crackdown on morally questionable website based on the country’s own religious based law. Technically the app still loads, but photos of anyone’s potential matches don’t, which pretty much defeats the point of Tinder in the first place.

International People Following National Laws

Those wanting to use Tinder in UAE are falling victim to the same struggle many people find when working internationally. Residents from Western countries who have gone to work in Iraq, China, Korea, Indonesia, and Turkey face similar situations in which Westerners come to a foreign country to find significantly different from what they knew back home. This can cause major culture clashes if the visiting people don’t make the necessary allowances to live the way they want. In some countries, websites and apps that are taken for granted like Google, Facebook, and Twitter simply don’t exist. A virtual private networks (VPNs) can help you access your accounts while abroad.

VPN Basics for Ex-Pats

A VPN is a great way to stay in touch with websites and apps you use at home when you’re working or traveling internationally. VPNs allow you to connect your computer to a remote server in another country that can grant you access to the apps or websites of your choice. Many ex-pats work in offices that use VPNs legally to transmit confidential data from their own servers located internationally back to a server in their home country. These employees end up taking normal Internet access for granted at work.

Best VPNs for using Tinder in UAE

In order to use Tinder safely in UAE, you must consider the best qualities for a VPN in this situation.

1Private Internet Access (PIA) VPN

A good place to start is with Private Internet Access (PIA) VPN, which is located in the US. This means a ton of available US servers so you can access all your local online accounts. The security is dynamite too, starting with a kill switch. The kill switch will automatically sever your connection to the Internet if the VPN server drops, which happens every once in a while.

2IPVanish VPN

IPVanish VPN is also located in the United States,but it is entering its 20th year of service without a smudge on its record and has a no-logs policy that it adheres to tightly. That and having more than 1,000 servers available makes it a prime choice. Its security is nothing to sneeze at either. There’s 256-bit AES encryption in place to safeguard along with a kill switch, IP and DNS leak protection.

3PrivateVPN

PrivateVPN earns very high marks for user experience and customer support, two things that are integral when using it to connect safely to a high-functioning website like Tinder. PrivateVPN is based out of Sweden and has the same quality bells and whistles when it comes to security, including a no-logs policy, built-in leak protection, and an automatic kill switch.