The TikTok Compatibility Test Explained

The TikTok compatibility test is three viral formats, not one: the Love Tester effect, which turns two typed names into a percentage; the handwritten name-counting game; and couples question challenges. The two name formats are Games, like every love tester, and none can read a relationship.

Both name formats run on this site without the app. Try the love tester for a quick number, or the love calculator by name for the counting version.

What is the TikTok compatibility test?

The TikTok compatibility test is the name people give to the love tests filmed and shared on TikTok. Three formats go round under it. An in-app effect rates two names on screen. A name game is worked out by hand, on paper or a whiteboard. A couples challenge has two people answer questions about each other. So when someone asks "what's your compatibility test?", the answer is whichever of the three you played.

How does the TikTok Love Tester effect work?

The effect takes two typed names and shows a compatibility percentage on screen. Elite Daily described the steps in March 2023:

1. Open a video that uses the Love Tester effect and tap "Use this effect".
2. Type your name and press the check mark.
3. Type the other person's name.
4. Press record. The effect rates the pair on a scale of 0% to 100% and adds a caption, from "just friends" to "definitely soulmates".

The same article says a TikTok user created the effect in October 2022, and it does not say how the number is produced. TikTok does not publish how the effect turns the names into a number either. Nobody outside the app can check whether it counts letters, runs a fixed formula or draws a number at random.

Effects also come and go in the app, so the effect you find today is not always the one earlier videos used. Our own Love Tester works the other way round. Its formula is fixed and published, and the same two names always give the same number.

What is the true love test on TikTok?

It is the handwritten name-counting game, filmed on paper or a whiteboard. You write two names, count letters across them and turn the counts into a percentage. House rules vary from video to video, so two creators can get different numbers for the same pair.

The version with a published rule is TRUE LOVE. Count the letters of TRUE and of LOVE across both names, add up each word, reduce each total to one digit, and set the two digits side by side. Our page on the love calculator on paper works through it step by step.

What is the name compatibility test on TikTok?

It is the same idea with a different frame: two names go in and a match comes out, with no dates and no questions. Our name compatibility test runs one version on the site. It turns each letter into a number and compares the two names.

What is the moon compatibility test on TikTok?

It is a birth date version. It looks up the phase of the moon on each birthday and compares the two. The site has its own tool for moon phase compatibility, which is a Game as well.

How do you do a compatibility test?

Pick a format first. Then three steps keep it fair.

1. Choose the format: a name game, the in-app effect or a set of couples questions.
2. Spell both names the same way every time. One extra letter changes a name game's count, and the count changes the result.
3. Read the result as a Game: a number that came out of letters, not a verdict on the two of you.

With a crush, the name games need nothing but the two names. You can play without asking anyone anything.

What questions do TikTok couples tests ask?

There is no single list. Each couple or creator picks their own questions, usually about each other's habits, tastes and small daily choices. The two people answer separately, then compare, and the fun is in the answers that do not match.

Unlike the name games, these challenges ask about the actual people. They are still made for laughs, and nobody scores the answers against research.

Where else do viral love tests spread?

The same formats travel beyond TikTok.

• BuzzFeed publishes love and compatibility quizzes, where you answer questions and get a result at the end.
• Instagram Reels repost the TikTok formats, often the same name games and effects filmed again.

Is the TikTok compatibility test real?

It is a real trend and a Game. No effect, name game or quiz can read how two people feel about each other. The name formats only see letters, and the effect does not say what it sees. Our Love Tester at least publishes its fixed formula, so you can see exactly what the number is made of. Enjoy the result, film it if you like, and keep the real answers for the person.

Some quiz trends ask how you love rather than whom, and the love style test covers that one.