OkCupid, for people over 40
Answer questions that cover children, money and faith, and see why each person was suggested to you.
What OkCupid suits
Someone who would rather answer questions about the life they have lived than write a bio, and who wants a reason attached to every suggestion.
Who should skip it
Not the right app for someone who finds a long questionnaire a chore, because the matching depends on how many questions you answer.
Ready to try it for yourself? Create your account on the app in about five minutes, and delete it whenever you want.
How matching works on OkCupid
You answer questions and mark how much each answer matters to you. Matching is then computed from agreement and from the weight you gave each question, so a suggestion arrives with a reason attached. That is a different experience from being handed a face with no explanation.
What the app assumes about you
Describing yourself in sentences, and keeping at the questions, is what the app asks for. The questions cover the practical ground that matters later in life, from children to money to faith, and none of them are written for a reader in their twenties.
What the interface asks of you
Reading and answering questions is the least phone-like thing in the category and the easiest to pick up. There is no stack and no timer. The cost is that the matching only works if you keep answering, which is a real commitment of evenings.
Where the free tier stops
Answering and messaging are free. The paid tier is mostly about seeing who liked you and being shown to more people rather than about unlocking conversation.
Your time, your children and your privacy
Your answers are the most personal material on any mainstream app, and some of it is visible to anyone who views your profile. Answer as far as you are comfortable and no further. A question about a sensitive subject is optional rather than required, whatever the screen implies.
Why people leave OkCupid
Answering fatigue. The questions are the entire product, and once the answering stops the match percentage stops meaning very much.
What the design is built for
The profile is a questionnaire, and answering it is the product rather than a step before it. That puts a wall of written work in front of every profile, including yours, which is a different starting point from a stack of photographs.
The honest summary
OkCupid turns the hard questions into the matching and shows its reasoning instead of asking you to guess. If you would rather explain yourself in answers than perform in a photo, the work pays you back in clearer suggestions.
Other apps people move to
Each of these fits a different reason for leaving. None of them is better in the abstract.
Before you install anything
A profile problem looks exactly like an app problem, and choosing well depends on knowing which one you have.
Ready to meet someone?
You have read what each app is built for. The next step is an account on the app itself, created on their site in a few minutes, not here.