What do I do if someone harasses me on a dating app?
Screenshot, report, block — in that order. And know the point where it stops being an app problem.
The instinct is to block immediately and never think about it again. That is understandable, and it sometimes costs you the evidence. Thirty seconds of work first makes everything that follows possible.
Do this first, in this order
Screenshot everything, including their profile and their username. On some apps blocking removes the conversation from your side entirely, and then there is nothing to point at.
Report inside the app, and quote the specific messages. A report that says "this user was abusive" is much weaker than one that quotes what they wrote and when.
Then block. Blocking on a well-built app is mutual and permanent: they disappear from your view and you from theirs.
Do not engage
Not to argue, not to correct, not to have the last word. Any reply confirms the account is live and that you can be reached, and for a certain kind of person that is the point of the exercise.
You are not obliged to explain to someone why what they said was wrong. That is not your job and it has never once worked.
If it follows you off the app
New accounts contacting you after a block, messages on your other profiles, contact with people you know — this is a different situation and it needs a different response.
Keep a log: dates, times, screenshots, usernames, in one folder. It feels excessive right up until the moment you need it, and then it is the only thing that matters. Lock down your other accounts, check what a stranger can see on each, and tell one or two people what is happening so you are not managing it alone.
Threats and outing
Threats of violence are a police matter, wherever you live. So is someone threatening to out you to your employer, your family or your landlord, and so is any threat to publish intimate images — in a growing number of places that last one is a specific criminal offence rather than a grey area.
Report those to the platform as well, but do not wait for the platform. Platforms are slow and they are not the ones with powers.
Judge the app by what happens next
A decent app tells you what it did about your report, and does it within a day or so. Many do not respond at all, and that silence is information about whether to keep using them.
None of this is a suggestion that handling it well was your responsibility. It was not. This is only about what actually works once it is already happening.
Afterwards
Harassment costs something even when you handle it perfectly. Tell someone, take the evening off, and do not treat being shaken by it as a failure of nerve.