Who it’s for:
If you’re ready to get married soon, eharmony may be your best bet. It’s the Charlotte York of dating apps: conservative, marriage-minded, and predominantly heterosexual.
It has an older user base than other apps like Hinge or Tinder, but there are still plenty of people on there who are looking for a serious relationship.
Why we picked this:
Remember those somewhat cringe-worthy eharmony commercials featuring couples frolicking in fields and gazing deeply into each other’s eyes? As cheesy as they may seem, they’ve proven to be pretty damn effective.
A spokesperson for the site says it’s been used by 54 million people and is responsible for 4 percent of U.S. marriages. That doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be strolling down the aisle within the first year, but it at least narrows your options to singles open to being exclusive, meeting the family, or moving in together.
While the sign-up process was once a bit of a drag, eharmony has streamlined it to be short, sweet, and free of the cheesy, religious questions that held it back from being a top choice for the younger crowd. The 80 questions cover 32 dimensions of what makes a happy relationship, from communication style to gender roles.
It’s not your typical dating app questionnaire, either. Instead of asking if you’re “emotionally stable,” eHarmony may ask how you handle apologizing after a fight or if a particular action would tick you off. These hypothetical situations feel more organic and paint a clearer picture of your personality. And, despite the seemingly high number of questions, it only takes about 20 minutes or so to complete.
It’s worth noting that eHarmony has faced criticism in the past for not welcoming members of the LGBTQ+ community. Though they folded their gay and lesbian spin-off site into the overall platform in 2010, Reddit users as recently as 2019 claimed the site still seems geared more toward straight people. It wasn’t until a year ago that eharmony finally updated its interface to allow bisexual users to view profiles of both men and women.
