Paulito P.

OKCupid has a nice interface and the questions it asks are a good way to get to know someone. The people (at least in my experience) seem real. I've used it in the past, been on loads of dates and met my last long-term relationship from there.

Having recently become single, I decided to try it out again. Unfortunately, they have changed the site in such a way that only messages from people who have 'matched' will be seen. Basic dating site maths means this enormously reduces the chances of meeting someone you get on with, and your messages aren't likely to even reach the inbox of the intended recipient. At the same time, if someone has messaged you, you won't see it unless you've seen and swiped right on their profile beforehand. You might have been sent a dozen messages and not know about any of them.

A really nice site, spoiled by a weird attempt to kill off connections between people. It's still possible to eventually match with people by spending hours swiping away like a drone, but remember that there are many times more men than women on here, so the chances that you'll even be shown to a woman as a possible match if you're male are pretty low (assuming it randomises users when showing them on the match screen).

The changes have significantly reduced the popularity of the site, but I suspect they were done as someone's pet project and they're too stubborn to reverse things.

I'm now having more luck elsewhere, hopefully they'll see sense and change it back.

Having tried all the major dating sites over the years, I can safely say that Badoo is the worst I've ever encountered. It's normal on the other 'swipe right/left' sites to receive 5-15 'matches' each day for a relatively average man; on Badoo I've received one in 14 days, and I'm not convinced she's even a real person. I think the issue is country-specific; Badoo has almost no active UK users, so most of the potential matches you are shown have been there long enough to be rated tens of thousands of times over the course of several years. They're no longer active, yet it pretends they are.

Badoo is also a scam site. Don't give them any card details; I decided to try out the £4.99 premium for a week, and literally the next click they had taken an extra £44.99 out of my account to buy credits (credits are required to do almost anything on Badoo - it's very money-grabbing). They do this by automatically signing you up to recurring billing, without actually telling you they've done so; one feature of recurring billing is 'auto top-up' when you fall below 200 credits. Because I had never bought any before, it instantly 'topped up' my balance. I recovered the money but it took several days. Even with premium, you don't get any of the features you'd get with the premium version of any other site.

I don't really understand why anyone would use Badoo. It has no unique functions or features, everything costs a small fortune and the site is set up to scam money out of people (I don't seem to be the only one - check dozens of other reviewers from whom Badoo has taken money without permission). They'll mislead you at every turn. At once point it claimed to have more members from my town than there are residents in my town.

Worst dating site I've encountered. I assume people from other countries have more joy, but don't waste your time or money in the UK.