Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Tested: The best dating apps for Valentine's Day

What is it? 

One of the older dating services, Plenty of Fish has made notable appearances in music videos from Lady Gaga, Britney Spears and  Akon in the past, and is owned by the match.com group. Founded in 2003, it created its own app version in 2010.

Using a more traditional dating site format, users create a profile by answering an never-ending series of questions, from hair colour and the kind of relationship you're seeking, to how ambitious you are and whether you want children. Once that's complete, you're encouraged to fill in sections about what makes you unique and your ideal first date. Oddly, PoF says it not allow married people to use its service, and helpfully provides a link to extra-marital affair site Ashley Madison, which was famously hacked last year. This is easily bypassed by exiting and reopening the app.

Users indicate their interest in others by rather lamely 'sending a flirt', a short flirty message, and browsing from a randomly-compiled rolling list of matches at the bottom of the main menu.

Frankly, the free version of PoF's app is so poorly designed it in nigh-on unusable. The user interface looks terrible, matches are displayed without any apparent consideration for compatability, and compared to the newer, slicker apps, PoF looks desperately, awfully outdated.

Who uses it? 

Plenty of Fish seems to attract an older user base than the newer apps, and seems best suited to those in the thirties and forties upwards.

Typical message received

'Hi, I'm Shrek, will u be my Fiona?'

Pros

I'm sure there are many people out there who have had fulfilling and loving relationships after meeting on PoF. Maybe.

Cons 

Shoddy design, slow to use, terrible matching algorithm.

Verdict

1/10

Match.com
Source: Tested: The best dating apps for Valentine's Day

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