Best Senior Dating Apps

An older family member of mine has never been the most tech-savvy person, and it’s understandable. She’s a Baby Boomer, so she didn’t grow up with computer in her house or at school and a cellphone glued to her hand. Her generation found companionship at doo-wop dances, burger diners, and other real-life settings.

Over the past few years, she’s wanted to venture more into the wonderful world of technology, so I’ve been helping her figure out how to use dating apps to meet mature singles in her age range.

Using a dating app shouldn’t feel like you’re learning rocket science or Japanese, so here are six tips that can help senior singles master the modern dating scene without stumbling.

A dating agency is usually a physical location where you go to talk to a matchmaker about your personality, lifestyle, and must-haves or can’t-stands in a date or potential partner. You’ll probably spend a few hours a week working with these professionals (either by phone, Skype, or in person), and they can arrange local, national, and/or international meetups. This can be somewhat of a more expensive and time-consuming option compared to using a dating app because matchmakers can charge an hourly rate and don’t necessarily have an algorithm to find you compatible older singles. It’s mostly based on instinct, what you’ve told them, and who’s in their client database.

Dating apps are downloaded to your phone or tablet (typically for $0), and you can have a dating profile created within seconds. On most apps, you have access to more date opportunities than you’ll find in the average dating agency (this can vary depending on your location). You’ll be able to search for a potential match on your own, as well as receive daily suggestions in your inbox.

A mainstream dating app like Tinder will offer search filters and match criteria for things like age, location, gender, seexual orientation, religion, and some important personality traits. This helps the app find common interests between users. You’re also in control of the communication on a chat app, which can offer instanging messaging (IMs), forums, chat rooms, and private emails. Whereas, with a dating agency, more than likely you won’t have any prior contact to the first date as the agency arranges everything for you.

If you want Italian food, you might go somewhere like Olive Garden. If you want a new oven, Home Depot might be the place you choose. That same concept applies to dating apps. You need to go where your needs will be met.

A dating website or app can give older adults a lot of value, but only if it has a mature audience and matchmaking tools that build relationships based on common interest.

Below are a few different types of apps and our top picks for each.

Senior Dating App for Professionals

A significant number of Elite Singles’ members are 50+, and we’d attribute that to the fact the app caters to educated, high-income, successful singles. Over 80% hold a bachelor’s, master’s, or doctorate degree (or a combo of the three). Not to mention, only 10% of members are under 30. Elite Singles is also known for its free personality assessments that’ll teach you more about yourself and what you’re truly looking for in that special senior match.

A Great Experience All Around

If you want an app that’s got all the best aspects rolled into one, Match is one of the first to come to mind. Founded in 1995, Match is a pioneer in the dating industry, particularly in terms of its app. Over 30 million people use Match, so finding those who are like-aged and like-minded should be super simple. Many relationship-minded trust Match because it has such a good reputation in the dating industry. Match is responsible for millions (maybe even billions) of romantic connections, including first dates, second dates, relationships, and marriages.

One thing it’s important to note is that Match is a premium dating service, meaning you must be a premium member to send unlimited messages on the site or app.

Free Senior Dating App

One of my mom’s good friends was a single senior when she met her boyfriend on Zoosk, so I’ve seen firsthand how it can work for senior men and women — even though some may think it’s only meant for younger singles. Even more good news is Zoosk doesn’t charge you to upload your info and photos, search for and receive matches, view profiles, see who’s viewed yours, see who’s online now, send virtual likes and winks, and receive messages.

Zoosk isn’t a totally free dating site and app, but it offers enough features to get the ball rolling and introduce senior citizens in the local dating scene.

Over-50 Dating App

OurTime is one of the few dating apps that’s specifically meant for singles over 50, 60, 70, and beyond. From registering to browsing and communicating, the experience is seamless and, most importantly, fun.

Senior singles can download OurTime for free and start searching for dates by age, gender, and appearance. Once they find a good potential match, they can like the dating profile or upgrade to send a private message to that senior person.

Senior Dating App for Relationships

If it’s a lifelong partner you want, you can start building that long term relationship on eharmony. The online senior dating site and app were co-founded by Dr. Neil Clark Warren (a clinical psychologist, counselor, seminary professor, and Christian theologian) who wanted to create a dating service just for singles looking for love and marriage, not those who want a hookup. Neil also had a major role in creating eharmony’s 32 Dimensions® of Compatibility Matching Questionnaire — which goes beyond the basics and delves deeper into qualities like emotional and physical energy, sociability, curiosity, and conflict resolution style.

Older women enjoy the safe and friendly atmosphere on eharmony, and older men enjoy the ability to get to know a lot about a potential match before even starting a conversation.

Senior Christian Dating App

Age and religion are among the top dating dealbreakers, so if you’re single, a senior, and a Christian, we suggest turning to ChristianMingle. The app, which is available for free via iTunes and Google Play, has millions of mature users (2.4 monthly to be exact) of various faith denominations and provides icebreaker prompts to help get the conversation started with them.

Catholic seniors, Baptist seniors, and Methodist seniors will have the best luck on ChristianMingle because faith is central to this dating service.

Over-60 Dating App

Silver Singles is another dating app that’s made for senior people, especially those in their 60s and older. Its user base is similar to OurTime’s, and its interface is just as clean and easy to navigate.

This senior dating website and app is a safe haven for older people who feel out of step or out of place on apps like Tinder. And you don’t have to rush into a relationship because your free Silver Singles membership never expires.

Black Senior Dating App

If you’re an older black or biracial single who’s looking for someone who is also black or biracial as well as in the same age range, BlackPeopleMeet kills those two birds with one stone. A large portion of the app’s 1.4 monthly visitors are seniors, and you can get to know them via live chat, audio and video messages, and icebreakers.

BlackPeopleMeet is an adult dating site where single men and women can find common ground and common interest just by viewing each other’s dating profile.

Before buying a car or house, you’d probably first take it for a spin or do a walkthrough, respectively. We’d recommend doing the same thing when you’re choosing an online senior dating app. All of the ones we’ve highlighted above (and practically all dating apps, in general) either have a free trial or membership. The latter usually ranges between three days and a week, while the former will last forever. Go through all the motions on a couple of dating apps and see which one is right for you.

It’d be a total bummer to join a dating app and then find out it’s a mess of a platform. You can’t figure out where anything is, there aren’t any descriptions of the sections or tools, and you have to jump through a ton of hoops just to do one thing. Again, this is where a free account comes in handy — no harm, no foul. Every single one of the options on our list are very self-explanatory, and if a man or woman happen to come across any issues, they all offer extensive help pages and 24/7 customer support.

A dating app can have the right demographic. It can be free. It can be easy. But if it doesn’t work, it’s all for nothing. Take a look at the app’s homepage or About page and see what it says about its success rate. For example, over 2,500 hundred people find love on a monthly basis through Elite Singles, eharmony is responsible for 4% of marriages in the United States, and Zoosk’s members send more than 3 million messages a day. A good dating app will also have a page dedicated to success stories and will include names and photos of the happy couple.

Online dating scams do happen — we’re not going to lie to you. And, unfortunately, seniors are typically targeted more so than others. That doesn’t mean you should put limits on your life and never try an online dating site or app. There are ways to stay safe, and it starts with the app’s security precautions such as email and profile verification, site moderation, block and report buttons, and the help pages and support teams we mentioned earlier.

Senior singles can spot fake profiles by looking out for certain warning signs. If the profile picture doesn’t clearly show the person’s face or looks like it may be a model, then the profile is suspect. If that person uses broken English, tries to get you to chat on Kik or Whatsapp, or asks you for money, you should sever contact and report the person to the dating site or app where you met.

You can verify a person’s identity by asking for a quick selfie, arranging a phone call, or going on a video date before you meet in person or agree to do any favors. Also make sure to get the person’s full name and do a Google search, Facebook search, or LinkedIn search to make sure he or she is being honest with you.

Technology is getting less and less complicated, and that includes the technology dating apps use. All it took was taking my family friend through Uber, Pandora, and a dating app a couple of times, and now she’s got them down. While it’s good to be set up by friends and family and meet people through clubs and groups, online dating should be included in your repertoire — after all, we’re talking about your love life!