The Best Dating Apps for iPhone & Android in the UK
Let’s see if our smartphones any smarter than regular old dating sites when looking for love.
Although we ourselves prefer the more traditional methods of online dating because we think it gives us more opportunities and more in-depth look, we can’t ignore the fact that there are hundreds of mobile apps out there all devoted to the same cause: how to find a date. Bear in mind though that those using computer dating sites are more likely to look for serious and long-term relationships whereas the apps tend to be more for those looking for a date for the same night.
Right, let’s look at the best dating apps out there.
Skout App
Cost: Free | Skout+ (ad-free): £1.99 | Buy points from: £2.99 for 500
A global network app, which allows you to meet other users through GPS. Skout shows you when other active users are within walking distance and allows you to contact them through instant messaging. Once you register and enter some information about yourself and your preferences, the system will find you similar people who are near you. It’s also got the option of Facebook integration and you can buy in-app points for sending virtual gifts and releasing photos.
There are lots of options for flirting – you can even play games together through your smartphones. It used to be just a dating app, however now it’s also meant to find friends or take part in social activities. And you don’t have to worry about the positioning – they don’t point to your exact location, it’s only for you to decide who you give it out to.
There’s a wide range of members and you can even chat to people across the globe if you’ve had enough of those close by!
Skout website | iPhone | Android
Match.com App
Cost: Free with full subscription | 1 week: £4.99 | 1 month: £14.99
If you have a match.com account already you can, of course, just log in using your details and use the app just like you’d use the website version. The simple and clean design makes it a breath of fresh air to use compared to some mobile apps which bombard you with information and ads.
If you’re not yet a user of Match.com, you’ll be able to create your profile and start browsing and searching immediately. Like other apps it allows you to find dates near your location and get in touch with them – but the latter can only be done if you’re a paid user. What’s even better: you get real-time profile alerts so you’ll never miss a thing happening on Match.
App only packages have a reduced price compared with the regular web price (around 50% cheaper) so you can make some savings if you’ll only be using the app.
Match.com website | iPhone | Android | Windows | Nokia
Zoosk App
Cost: Free to browse | 1 month: £29.99 | 3 months: £64.99 | 6 months: £89.99
Zoosk makes app based dating easier because it’s been developed to combine your Facebook account with your Zoosk profiles, thus making the sign-up and profile writing process easier. Your FB friends can even help you out and recommend you to their friends as a potential date. Therefore it’s not the most covert and anonymous service (although you don’t have to synch with Facebook) but suits well for all those who’re not embarrassed by their single status and are keen to find a likeminded partner with mutual friends. Also, the interaction within the app is simple as it can be done on Facebook.
Zoosk website | iPhone | Android
eHarmony App
Cost: Free with full subscription (link to our article with current subscription prices)
eHarmony is a fairly serious dating site, meant for those looking for long-term partners. Therefore the idea of their own dating app seems a little strange but in reality it’s just a scaled-down version of their website. There is, of course, no GPS-positioning and/or real-time chat, but if you’re already an eHarmony user it gives you an option to use it on the go.
It’s recently been redesigned and we liked the new look and feel. At the moment there’s no mobile pricing so you need to subscribe with the regular website member rates to use the apps. It’s definitely not the cheapest site around but they’re the best site we’ve reviewed when it comes to compatibility matching so worth a shot if that’s important to you.
eHarmony Mobile | iPhone | iPad | Android
Badoo Dating app
Cost: Free to browse | 100 credits: £1.99 | 550 credits: £7.49 | Super Powers from: £2.49
An extremely popular dating app with hundreds of thousands of users. Although it’s free to donwload you essentially need to purchase or earn credits in order to use all the features and chat to people. ‘Super Powers’ can also be bought which gives you access to more features too.
It enables you to log in with Facebook, therefore increasing the user numbers manifold. So get your scrolling muscles limbered up as you’ll need to do a lot of it with the sheer number of profiles to get through.
You can rate photos out of 10, participate in ‘Encounters’ where you’re shown potential matches to rate or you can send old-fashioned regular messages.
badoo website | iPhone | Android
MeetMe Dating App
Cost: Free to browse | 250 credits: £2.99 | 625 credits: £6.99 | Spotlights from: £1.99
MeetMe is one of the best dating apps around that’s also geared towards making new friends, letting you find out who’s nearby and who’s ready to chat and meet.
It’s kind of like Facebook but with way more options for interacting and dating though you’ll need to buy credits to be able to access all the features.
What it does is the same as the other location-pinpointing apps do: notify you when there’s another user nearby that you might be interested in. It offers a conversation LiveFeed and an Ask Me feature where you can ask and answer anything, but other than that it’s just another dating app.
MeetMe website | iPhone | Android
How About We Dating App
Cost: Free to browse | 1 month: $27.99 | 3 months: $54.99 | 6 months: $75.00
Nicely designed app (probably the best of the bunch) that’s a real pleasure to use – if only there were more UK based members!
Mainly a US-based app, this dating app is for people who already have an idea of what they’d like to do.
You sign up, suggest a date idea – it starts with ‘how about we…’ and then your suggestion follows. The system then will find you the list of all the users who would like to do something similar. Even couples can sign up to get cool double date ideas.
How About We website | iPhone | Android
MiuMeet Dating App
Cost: Free to browse and send messages | VIP Access: 3 months: $29.97
Just like Skout, MiuMeet uses GPS to pinpoint the user’s location so that they can search for members nearby. However, it works more like a traditional dating site – you can check out people who are near you. You can chat to dates over the phone or send messages or easily set up real life dates.
Also, the users can import photos from Facebook, which makes it easy to add photos to your profile – though this is optional too.
There weren’t so many members in our area as there are on some of the best dating apps we tried but at least MiuMeet is free to message and chat. The VIP addons (in dollars) takes away ads, gives your messages and profile priority and you can see who’s visited your profile.
MiuMeet Play Store | iPhone | Android
MeetMoi Dating App
Cost: Free to browse | 1 week: $2.99 | 1 month: $13.99 | 3 months: $24.99
Unlike some other dating apps, MeetMoi doesn’t give you a huge list of people nearby who you can pick out from a list – instead it focuses on trying to get you paired up with someone similar.
Your profile appears on his/her phone while his or her profile comes up on your screen – then you have an opportunity to decide whether they’re your type or not and whether you’d like to meet up. The catch is that it notifies you when the match is close to you, which means you can meet right there and then, should you so wish. So, what it really does, is just facilitate a real-life dating process. However, the people it selected for us were all over Europe and we didn’t get sent anyone from our area.
It’s free to browse and send winks but you’ll need to upgrade to Premium to be able to send unlimited messages and get priority placement in the search. Prices are in dollars.
MeetMoi website | iPhone | Android
Best Dating Apps
And that’s the end of our Best Dating Apps in the UK article, we hope you’ve found it useful!
About the Author
Aet Suvari has been reviewing and writing about the world of online dating since 2008 and the launch of Online Dating Help. A stickler for promoting ethical practices within the UK dating industry she champions the sites that get it right while highlighting those holding it back. You can follow her on Google+
