How To Use Facebook Dating?
Facebook Dating launched in 2019 and, while not many people use it, it is a decent option — especially for those who don't want to download yet another dating app or create a profile from scratch.
Here are all the details on how to set it up:
- Users can access Facebook Dating via the Facebook app.
- You can access Facebook Dating via the Facebook app, which you most likely already have on your phone. (Dating is only available on the company's iOS or Android apps, not on the desktop.)
Navigate to the Menu on the bottom right of the Facebook app. Dating will appear in the upper right corner of the screen:
- Go to the top right and select Dating.
- Go to the top right and select Dating.
If you haven't already, Facebook will prompt you to create a Dating profile. Because Facebook already has photos and information about you, there isn't much you need to do on this front, though you can edit information as you see fit.
In addition, the app asks some additional questions in your profile, such as your interests (sports, hobbies), whether you have children, and your height:
Set your match preferences next. You can filter these based on age, gender identity, height range (if that's important to you), languages spoken, and distance from you. You can also specify someone's educational level, whether or not they have children, and their religious beliefs.
Facebook, like other dating apps such as Bumble, asks what you're looking for in a relationship. Unlike Bumble, you can select multiple options, including "chatting" and "friendship."
After you've completed your profile, you're ready to begin matching. Facebook stole Tinder's swiping feature: swipe left to dislike, swipe right to like. Scroll down to see more information about someone's profile.
You can see whether a user has mutual friends with you by looking at their profile. Facebook Dating also has some extra features, such as matching with people who have attended the same events as you or taking a second look at people you've previously passed up. Scroll down on the app's initial Dating page to find them.
The Secret Crush feature allows you to select up to nine of your Facebook friends and Instagram followers for whom you have a — you guessed it — secret crush. They'll be notified that someone added them as a secret crush in the app, and if you've both added each other as crushes, your names will be revealed if you match.
I was taken aback by how much I enjoyed Facebook Dating. The profile options allow you to really show who you are and what you're looking for in a more robust way than other apps I've used, and Second Look and Secret Crush are unique features I hadn't seen anywhere else.
Facebook Dating uses swiping in the same way that Tinder, Bumble, and many other apps do, so its learning curve is also fairly flat.
The catch is that the people you meet on Facebook Dating are almost certainly people who spend a lot of time on Facebook. This isn't always a bad thing, but Facebook's demographics tend to be older. There won't be as many young singles looking to date as there are on Tinder. And, as previously stated, Facebook Dating is not widely used. As of mid-2021, there aren't many people using Facebook Dating.
You also risk meeting people with whom you have mutual friends, which can be a pro or a con depending on what you want to get out of the experience. If you have a close relationship with the mutual friend, that could be a great conversation starter. Alternatively, seeing mutual friends can make you cringe so hard that it turns you off.
According to what I saw, I could find some quality matches (people I'd want to meet) on the app, but given the small number of users, I'm not sure how long that would last.
Furthermore, because Dating is integrated into the main Facebook app, Dating notifications blend in with other notifications. As someone who primarily uses Facebook to keep up with Groups these days, I'm not a fan of Dating pings mingling with Group pings:
If you don't mind those drawbacks, however, Facebook Dating is a good option to add to your dating options. It's simple to set up and search for the type of connection you're looking for.
With luck, you'll even make it official on Facebook.