How to respond to a hi text on Hinge?

Read the 'hi' as a sign of how she is starting out, not how she feels about you. She probably swiped on several people that evening and sent the same short greeting to whoever seemed worth a message. The message says she is open to talking. It does not say she has decided anything about you yet.

Check her profile before you reply. If a prompt or photo gives you something specific, that is your way in. If her profile is thin, you can still ask about the photo or the place she is in. Either way the first message should reference something she chose to show, because that is what makes her answer feel natural.

Your reply should have a single clear hook. A question about a prompt she wrote, a light comment on a photo, or a simple choice she can make, like picking between two options, all work. The message should be short enough that she can read it in one glance and feel like replying is easy.

Keep it to one idea. Two questions in a row make her pick one and ignore the other, and a long message with no question leaves her with nothing to do. Make the sentence something she can answer with a sentence of her own, and leave the rest of the conversation for her to steer.

Send your reply when you would normally be awake and free to keep chatting. If you match late at night, it is fine to reply the next morning or the next afternoon. A message that lands at 2am reads as either lonely or hoping for something, and it can make the first exchange feel off before it starts.

If she replies, match her pace roughly. If she answers in a line, you do not need to send a paragraph back. If she goes quiet after you have replied, give it a day or two, then send one light follow-up that references the conversation. If that gets nothing, let it go and move on.