Sex & Relationships

One-night stands that never end

When the mobile dating app Tinder debuted in October, it was breathlessly hailed as a minor miracle, the first effective “Grindr for straight people,” a reference to the popular app that gay and bisexual men have used to connect for casual sex since 2009.

It’s easy to hook up on Tinder. After entering your gender, sexual preference and location, users sift through a gallery of potential mates that includes how far away they are at that moment. If you “like” somebody, and he or she “likes” you back, you’re deemed a match, and a chat session is initiated. Everything else is up to you.

“The purpose of it is to open up a connection between you and somebody you have a lot in common with,” says Tinder co-founder Sean Rad.

With more than 100,000 New Yorkers registered on the app, it sounds like the holy grail for seekers of one-night stands. Except that something keeps going wrong — one night is turning into two, and then into 10.

“Tinder is more of a c – – k tease than anything else,” complains Paul, a 27-year-old grad student in Manhattan. “I don’t think women are really into just hooking up on it. I thought that was the whole point of the site!”

More and more users are finding themselves in committed relationships courtesy of Tinder.

“We heard of 10 marriage proposals since we launched in October, which is crazy,” says co-founder Justin Mateen.

Jordan, 27, doesn’t have a ring on her finger (yet). But she does have a new beau, thanks to Tinder.

“One of my guy friends was incessantly playing [on] it when we were out at a bar,” she says.

She was first annoyed, then intrigued. The Brooklyn-based publicist caved and downloaded Tinder onto her iPhone.

“Originally, it was just sort of a game and kind of hilarious,” says Jordan, who had never done online dating before.

Yet for all her flippancy, she connected with a user who became her first Tinder date.

“He and I went out on Thursday night and actually got a little bit wasted,” she says. “We had a really good time together and then met up for Sunday funday — and have basically spent 30 of the last 40 days together.”

Her tale isn’t uncommon. Some of the city’s most notorious playboys and man-eaters join the site looking for flings, but wind up finding love.

Benjamin, a 28-year-old artist who lives on the Lower East Side, thought little of Tinder when he first signed up.

“It was basically a fun way to look at girls and rate them,” admits the Lothario. “It was free. It takes little to no time. You can do it while you’re [in the bathroom] and look at it for five minutes.”

Benjamin tried to get one girl he matched with his first day to come to his apartment the same night.

“I told her, ‘YOLO! You might be the one.’ ”

She demurred.

One and a half weeks later, he was a reformed man.

Benjamin matched with a 24-year-old girl, they chatted, went out (on a proper date) and a few weeks ago, he introduced her to his folks — the second girl ever to have met the ’rents.

“I haven’t,” he says, “been on Tinder since.”

dschuster@nypost.com