The Well-Established Platform Keeping Online Dating Simple & Effective

The Short Version: If you’re looking for a simpler approach to online dating, Free Dating is the spot for you. One of the UK’s most popular (and aptly named) free dating platforms, Free Dating allows you to create a profile, browse other daters, message, and meet with ease.

Have you ever opened a dating app and felt a bit overwhelmed? Me too. Between special app-specific features, countless profiles, messaging features, and keeping up with your own profile– it can all become too much to think about. 

I was recently helping a friend set up her online dating profile. She got out of a relationship– a seven-year relationship– a little over a year ago and was ready to get back into dating. But she didn’t meet her ex online and had never even tried her hand at online dating. She was a newbie and needed my help.

I started her on with what I thought was the simplest and most straightforward of the mainstream dating apps. We created her profile, answered a few fun prompts, and then let her explore the app to see how it works.

As she flipped through all the different features and activities she could use on the app, she looked confused. Finally, she looked at me and said, “This all feels a bit complicated for finding a date.”

We all have different dating needs, whether we’re online or offline. Some people want their dating apps to have every bell and whistle they desire, while others want it to be as simple as possible. We all have different digital dating needs, so we need to make sure we’re on the platforms that serve those needs best.

We talked to Dan Winchester, the CEO and founder of Free Dating, one of the UK’s most popular and successful free online dating platforms. Free Dating strips down the online process to be as simple and effective as possible, and is focused on one thing: finding you a great date.

“I started Free Dating back in 2005,” Dan told us. “I was recently single, and most of the online dating services I tried required a subscription. I was working in web development and online marketing, and I thought that it should be possible to run a dating service for free, funded by advertising.”

Dan’s own dating needs weren’t being met by the dating industry, but he knew that other daters also desired a free online dating option. In 2005, the market wasn’t nearly as saturated as it is today. In 2005, today’s biggest names in online dating were starting to find their direction and grow their user bases.

Dan’s concept was a dating site that would be free from top-to-bottom. That means no hidden upcharges for using extra features, like adjusting your profile, liking or matching with other profiles, or sending messages. 

Nearly 20 years later, Free Dating is still the accessible and simple platform that Dan had designed it to be. But in those 20 years, the dating industry has experienced many changes. We went from having online dating as a fringe secondary option to online dating being one of the most common ways for couples to meet. 

Throughout the industry’s many years of change, Free Dating has had to stay relevant. It didn’t do this by trying to keep up with the momentum of other apps or new, fancy features. Instead, Free Dating stayed true to what it was and focused on finding daters a free way to find dates. 

Speaking of dating trends, Dan said one of the most common ones today– online dating fatigue– is hurting singles’ chances. 

“The most recent trend, dating fatigue, is quite a negative one for the industry,” Dan told us. “Users are getting fed up with poor online dating experiences and are looking for alternatives beyond the traditional apps, and indeed beyond online dating altogether.”

Dan said this common dating issue is an awakening for online dating platform developers: They need to get more serious about putting users first.

“It’s a wake-up call,” Dan told us. “The industry must do everything in our power to put our users at the front and center of everything we do.”

Dan took us through the basics of Free Dating. The platform functions like many traditional profile-based online dating services and brings you a dialed-back and user-focused digital dating experience.

“We have tended to avoid adding new features, as our users are looking for a simple service, and are perfectly capable of navigating their dating journey without fancy features or the latest AI gimmicks,” Dan told us.

The best dating apps know their audience and cater to them. If your users are looking for a hookup, your app’s features should reflect that. If your users are looking for a committed, long-term relationship, your app’s features are going to look a lot different from those of the hookup app. 

Dan knew his audience cared about one thing more than anything else: free and simple online dating. Instead of getting swept up in the trends, Dan investigated what could make free and simple dating even better for his users, and responded accordingly. 

“The dating industry always likes to talk up the next big thing, such as AI wingmen, virtual reality dating, or whatever the next addition is,” Dan said. “But the reality is, the fundamental nature of online dating has not changed significantly in 20 years, and I don’t think it’s going to change significantly in the next 20 years.”

While Free Dating may look simple on the surface, Dan told us many safeguards are in place behind the scenes to protect users. Safety can’t be sacrificed for simplicity, and Dan said Free Dating has avoided this by using some of the best anti-scammer tools out there. 

“Safety is a top priority,” Dan told us. “Free Dating uses some of the most advanced safety and security systems available. It is very rare for a scammer to get past our security systems, and I would wager that we are better than most paid services for avoiding scammers.”

When apps come out with a new feature, it’s usually a response to a problem. Maybe users weren’t getting the most accurate matches, or maybe others were requesting to have more extensive audio and video messaging options. 

Dan doesn’t deny that online dating has changed, but he sees its nature as fundamentally unmoving: people go online to connect with people they may not have otherwise been able to connect with. 

Despite all the new and tweaked features apps have rolled out over the years, Dan said the same problems create barriers for online daters today as they did 20 years ago. 

“The eternal problem with online dating is that women often get overwhelmed with unsuitable contacts, whereas men get very little responses from women,” Dan told us. “Many dating services have tried to tackle this with features, but the main problem largely persists.”

This dynamic can be found on nearly every heterosexual dating app, regardless of the features it’s put in place to mitigate it. Dan told us he doesn’t necessarily see this issue as one to be resolved by adding more features to Free Dating. Instead, he sees it as a reflection of dating IRL.

“Users can help themselves somewhat by using filtering tools, but in some ways, online dating is just a reflection of real life,” Dan told us. “The perfect partner can come out of somewhere completely unexpected– and often they wouldn’t be a match on paper.”

Because Free Dating’s interface is so simple, the focus is on you as a user. Without too many distracting features, other users can easily focus on the important information you share in your profile, and connect with you based on the factors that actually influence compatibility. 

With all the focus on you, Dan recommended making your profile as detailed and true to you as it can be. Provide plenty of photos, insert some appropriate humor, and make sure you’re ready to go with conversation starters.

If online dating ever feels confusing or overwhelming, remember that it’s just one of the many options you have at your disposal to explore dating. 

“Humans who want to find partners are usually pretty adept at finding them,” Dan told us. “Online dating is just another place to go looking.”