Facebook Dating Review, Updated 2024

Facebook Dating, or FB dating, is a new dating app feature launched by Facebook in 2019. The service functions as a location based social and dating application, like both Bumble and Hinge. 

However, the big difference here is that FB dating utilizes one of the giants of social media’s advanced algorithms to help you match and start romantic relationships. That means finding potential matches through social networks never before tried.

The mobile app add-on of a Facebook-based dating site is already considered a game changer by many in the dating industry. This is believed because rather than launch a new dating app, Facebook Dating will instead be a feature included in Facebook’s main app.

For anyone who is concerned about the dating app interfering with their social circle on the main site, rest easy! Facebook Dating will instead use a different profile for their dating app so that your Facebook friends won’t show up in matches, although friends of friends can.

On Facebook’s official news page, the site has made the claim that it intends Facebook Dating to be more focused on serious, long-term relationships cultured in a romantic setting. This means that while flirting might be on the table, it isn’t meant for casual dates.

That’s not to say you couldn’t use this for the occasional hook ups, but the service is best used with finding longer lasting, more intimate relationships.

Facebook Dating is still relatively new, so to give you a better overview of how everything will work with the service we review the membership, special features, registration, and more! Read on to learn everything you want to know.

Our Summary

Among the many new and old dating apps that are on the market today, Facebook Dating stands out for a few reasons, most of all being that it is intimately tied into the main site’s social media userbase. This doesn’t mean the two versions will overlap, however.

Users will be able to find new matches via a separate profile from their Facebook account, which is done to ensure the privacy and security of anyone who is concerned about their information spilling onto the main site. 

It’s a simple solution to anyone with privacy concerns that wants to try dating, and avoids any messy clashes over messenger about how your newsfeed is now showing personal data about your secret crush list.

Facebook Dating’s emphasis on ensuring users’ privacy is really one of the best things about the service and is something that we feel gives it an edge over other apps in the dating market. This, along with ease of integrating photos from the main site, are two big positives.

We were also fans of how well matches could be established based on friend recommendation lists. Since matches are based on what interests’ users share, many will be best suited for you as they are tailored around who shares your hobbies and the like.

We were also fans of how matches are based on location, focusing on a range of up to 100 km. The best dating apps focus on localized dating rather than trying to connect people halfway around the world. Fortunately, most apps recognize this is best for you, as well.

Our praise of Facebook’s new service shouldn’t be taken to mean that this is everything you could ever want out of dating apps. There are, for example, a few shortcomings that we feel may hold the service back.

For starters, as interesting as it is that Facebook is launching its own version of a dating platform, it doesn’t really add anything new or innovative to a market that is already bloated with dating services and engaging features.

To that end, there are plenty which do offer something unique, and the fact that Facebook Dating doesn’t may keep it from seeing the sort of traction it would have years ago. In many ways, their new dating service will be playing catch-up to preestablished brand names.

You are also limited in the number of matches you can make per day, which feels a little arbitrary for a free service. This is also hurt by the chat feature of the dating platform being limited to text only. With modern dating apps, sending images and the like is common.

Overall, though, if you are interested in finding someone local to start a serious dating experience with, then there’s really no reason not to try Facebook Dating out. It is free, but still relatively new, so it might be best to temper your expectations when you try it.

📊 Facebook Dating Membership

Free membership

As of Facebook Dating’s launch in 2019, the online dating service is entirely free to use for anyone who is signed in via their Facebook or Instagram account. That means that there are currently no plans for a premium subscription service.

Here’s what you can expect with the Facebook Dating service as it stands now:

• You can create a separate dating profile from your normal account
• Contact other members when you share interests in each other
• See and be seen by other people who are attending the same event
• Set so you do not match with friends
• Match with people who have things in common with you
• Match with mutual friends from your friend’s lists
• “Secret Crush” feature to match with others that you ‘like’
• Users can filter results based on location, number of children, religion, age, or height
• Match with other users within a 100-km range

✍️ Registration process and profile creation

Is my Facebook dating account going to mix with my regular Facebook?

Fortunately for you, Facebook dating is set up in such a way that your regular Facebook info will be used for the dating service, but will never go back to there. That means a person’s profile won’t suddenly post something from the secret crush feature for everyone to see! 

Don’t worry about any slip ups of screenshots between desktop, android, or iOS for your iPhone either, as it should all be safe from any cross-posting or accidental mix-ups. 

Special Features

There are several special features for users to try out with the new dating platform, giving you a lot of interesting unique features to play with while you try out Facebook’s dating service. 

On Pause

Have you ever felt the need to just get away from it all and soak in life outside of social media and online dating? It’s okay to just take a break every now and again to get your head clear and enjoy some personal ‘you’ time as you rest and relax a bit.

Fortunately, Facebook Dating is right with you on that front and understands just how vital this can be. The pause feature allows you to ‘pause’ your online dating activity without having to delete your account.

You will still be able to message people that you have matched with, of course, so if there is someone special you’ve found then staying in touch won’t be a problem.

Second Look

Have you ever had second thoughts about someone that you skipped over on a dating site, but could never remember their name and just lost the chance to go back and give them another chance? Well, Facebook Dating has just the feature for you, called ‘Second Look’.

Second Look displays people you have matched with but didn’t message in a reverse chronological order. This means you can go through your Suggested Matches once again and see if there are good matches you may have missed out on.

Preemptive Block List

Given the social media platform’s pre-existing online community and the social circles users are already familiar with, it’s an all-too possible reality that the move to include a dating platform alongside it could result in awkward situations. Fortunately, this won’t be the case.

The Preemptive Block List feature gives you the ability to review your block lists to ensure you don’t get matched with people who aren’t your Facebook friends and yet you still don’t want to see. This prevents matching with ex-lovers you haven’t blocked, family, and more.

It may be one of Facebook Dating’s best feature, as getting matched with people you already know in advance and would like to avoid has been an all too real problem with online dating.

Profile Content

Facebook Dating is placing a lot of value in helping people establish quality relationships with more depth to them than casual flings. This is why the Profile Content feature is intended to give users who match with others an easy way to get to know someone.

Profile Content is the inclusion of entry points displayed on profiles that you can simply tap on to strike up a conversation, whether it is about school, your shared hometowns, love of movies, or more. This will help you to build a better foundation with people you match with.

✉️ Contacting users with Facebook Dating’s chat

The dating feature has a separate chat box from Facebook. For security reasons, only text messages can be sent for now. If you wish to send images, share links and other multimedia, you can opt to transfer to other messaging apps.

👍 Pros and cons 👎

✔️ What we like

• Uses Facebook’s tested friend suggesting algorithm to help you find dates
• Focuses on local dates, within 100 km
• Accessible via Facebook app, meaning a large userbase from the start
• Facebook and Facebook Dating profiles are separate
• The feature offers non-binary genders and sexual orientations
• You can upload photos on Dating that are already in Facebook
• There are 20 personality questions you can answer

❌ What we don’t like

• Unfortunately, it doesn’t add anything innovative to online dating
• There is a limit to the amount of interest you can send per day
• The chat box can only send texts
• There is no swiping right unlike other dating apps

🙋 FAQs

There’s always more to ask about something as big as Facebook dating, which is why we’ve collected some of the most frequently asked questions and have answered them here for you! 

ℹ️ Company info

Facebook Dating belongs to Facebook, which was founded by Mark Zuckerberg and launched in 2004. Since its initial launch, Facebook has developed an assortment of services and features alongside its social media platform, including games and marketplaces.

Facebook Dating marks Facebook’s newest venture as of 2019 and is supported by a company that has not only seen unrivalled success in the social media market but can guarantee a high user count from the onset.