The Dating App RealBlackLove Has Helped Over 200,000 Singles Find Love

The Short Version: Joseph Dixon created the well-known dating app RBL, which stands for RealBlackLove, to promote and encourage more Black love in the Black community and in the world. The dating app has successfully helped thousands of Black singles find love in a familiar and safe space. RBL serves as a refreshing way for Black singles to find a community with other Black singles who are serious and have good intentions. With help from the app and the team, Black love can be as real as singles want it to be. 

Growing up in a two-parent household, I got to see firsthand Black love being manifested right before me. My biracial mother always encouraged me to follow my heart and to find love in any form, but that also didn’t stop her from telling me endlessly that my Black king was out there and that I would meet him someday.

Dating people outside my race wasn’t an issue, but I found it exhilarating when I was able to connect with someone on our shared experiences as African Americans — mostly with our similar upbringings. 

As someone who did grow up in a single-parent household, Joseph Dixon had a different perspective of Black love than I did. Since he didn’t get the chance to witness it growing up, he grew to desire to see more Black love manifested in the world. He created the dating app RealBlackLove (RBL) with the mission to help singles find Black love in a space that they’re comfortable in.

RBL is an award-winning Black dating app that is invite-only, ensuring that members on the app are as real as they say they are. The app has a no-catfish policy, making it one of the most trusted Black dating apps in the world. Members can feel safe knowing that they are guaranteed security as the team does a thorough screening membership process that detects fake identities. 

Joseph shared that RBL is rooted in wanting to help Black singles find the one thing that everyone truly deserves and needs: love. RBL has many success stories that makes it not only a highly favored app but a credible one as well. Joseph and the team said they love to hear feedback because this helps them improve the app in the future. 

“It’s beautiful, it really is. I think love is one of the most beautiful things you can find in life,” Joseph said. “When I get these success stories, it warms my heart and pushes me and inspires me to keep going. The success stories themselves really drive me, and the more they come the more I’m inspired.”

In 2010, Joseph began to explore online dating for himself. Joseph told us that RBL was created because of the lack of Black dating apps present in the market at the time. When looking for online dating services for himself, Joseph struggled to find a dating app that appealed to him and his interests. He said he loved the idea behind online dating, but he found online dating apps to be not as useful for relationship-minded singles. 

The RBL app revolves around building a strong community. The team actively tries to find new ways to help singles connect with each other. With new features and tools, RBL is a go-to app that helps singles elevate their Black dating experience.

“The community itself is great, 200,000 active singles on the app, and it’s just getting bigger and growing. We’ve launched a new iteration that has changed the process and concept. It’s growing majorly, and people are starting to hear about it more,” Joseph exclaimed.

Having 200,000 active singles on a dating app is a big accomplishment. Many singles have witnessed how easy and effective it is to use the app. Past users Tiem and Stephanie met on RBL and found love in a relationship. Like many other online dating love stories, their love journey started with a simple conversation, according to their testimonial. 

Stephanie and Tiem realized their strong connection from the beginning. That’s why when Tiem took the initiative to meet Stephanie for the first time in person, they couldn’t resist being without one another — making the trip one they will always remember. 

“During the trip, Tiem asked me to be his girlfriend and we made things official exactly a month after our first conversation on RBL… We both were intentional and serious about dating, making it a very easy and successful connection. Six months later, we were married!” Stephanie shared in a review.

Today, social media has served as a great way to reach people from all over the world. Now with a click of a button or a catchy TikTok, different apps and companies can expand their clientele. Joseph, like many other dedicated entrepreneurs, joined the social media scene to help promote his business. 

“I’m big on social media, and I started this bootstrap,” Joseph said. “It’s word of mouth, it’s the community — our Facebook group has 70,000 people.”

The RBL team eagerly follows what’s trending on social media to find out what people in the community want and need. Now that the world has embraced video communication and networking, the RBL team decided to upgrade its online dating app to fit the modern day. RBL is not a swipe app. Instead, it emulates features on the TikTok app to engage users in a unique way. 

“Swiping endlessly can be quite irritating, especially when you have a free account and see more ads than people…. I can search specifically for what I’m looking for and save the search,” a user said in a review. “I can also send winks to anybody I want and send the first message to folks for free. I am able to reply to premium users for free, too which is great. I like to be able to see who’s popular online.”

Joseph told us that RBL is an app that is relationship-based. Meaning it’s not typically used to find friends or hookups, but is instead used for intentional dating. The mature app appeals to users who are 30 years old and up. These singles can be comfortable knowing that everyone on the app is on the same mission.

RBL believes in quality over quantity. The app is known for having the best pool of Black singles to choose from simply because of how selective the team is in inviting serious daters to become part of the community. The team said it believes that the app has what it takes to help anyone find a genuine connection. 

Users start with a free membership with which they get to use cool features to connect with other singles on the app. Users get to view sent winks or messages from upgraded members. Or they can send an initial icebreaker message to any member to start a conversation for free. 

Those singles who want to upgrade their membership can do so by purchasing a subscription: Premium 1 & 3 and Elite 1 & 3. Premium starts at $19.99 for one month and upgrades can go as high as $99.99 with the Elite 3 month upgrade. Depending on the subscription, users can gain access to unlimited communication and can hide their profiles from standard and premium members. 

Although these subscriptions are available for purchase, Joseph told us that building RBL is more than just trying to make a quick buck. Joseph said his passion is what helps make the app stand apart. The team has implemented search filters to help members find their desired person and what makes them happy. By using this method, many users have praised the app for tailoring to their needs. 

“The site makes it easy to reach out… RBL makes connecting easy and fun. You can talk to someone locally or from anywhere in the world. RBL is a great way to meet your match!” said a user in a review. 

We can expect more expansion from the RBL app in the future. Joseph told us he plans to expand his personal brand by venturing into television by appearing on Love Match Atlanta. Love Match Atlanta is set to premiere May 8, 2022 on Bravo.