Does Your OkCupid Profile Show What City You're In?

Yes, your profile carries a listed location. OkCupid asks for the city you live in when you set up your account, and that location sits on your profile until you change it. In the app, Discover also pulls your phone's current location, so you are shown to people near you at that moment. The only way OkCupid says you can stop nearby people from seeing you is to go Incognito.

When you set up your account, OkCupid asks which city you live in. Your profile then carries a listed location, and you can change it later. Women reading your page use it to judge a simple thing: whether a drink with you is realistic.

OkCupid's help center does not say how precisely other members see the location, so do not assume it is more or less exact than a city. Treat it as the place you want women to think of you living.

On the web, change the listed location on the settings page. In the app, go to your profile, tap the edit pen icon under your name, and either select your current location or type in another one.

There is a separate article on changing your location when you move or travel, so the steps are only the short version here.

This is the part that surprises men. The listed location and the location Discover uses are not the same thing.

When you use Discover in the app, OkCupid pulls your phone's current location so that you are shown to people near you at that time. That means the app keeps itself local without you doing anything. If you are home, you are shown near home. If you are visiting your parents for the weekend, you are shown there.

So even if your listed location says one city, a woman who is nearby where your phone is may see you in Discover.

OkCupid says there is one way to prevent people near your location from seeing you: go Incognito, which shows your profile only to people you have liked or messaged. Incognito is a paid subscription, and the trade is a quieter inbox, since women can no longer find you on their own.

If you do not need to hide, leave it off. A visible profile is the one that gets likes and messages while you are busy.

She learns whether you are close enough to meet. That is the main job of this field, and it is why it should be honest.

Do not list a city you do not live in. It is dishonest, it wastes her time and it comes out the moment you suggest a date. If you have moved across town or to another city, update it. If you are only visiting somewhere for a few days, say so in your bio and again early in the conversation.

A woman who knows you are in town until Sunday can decide whether a drink this week appeals. A woman who finds out on day three feels misled.

The city is not the only detail that places you. A bio full of specific details is what makes a profile work, and some of those details also show where you are.

Mention the neighborhood you like, the cafe you go to or the trail you run, and a woman near you will see a man she could run into. That is good. It makes a date easy to picture.

Keep the line between a place and an address. A city, a neighborhood or a favorite spot is enough. Do not put your street, your building or your workplace on the page. Share more after you have met in a public place and she has seen that you are who you say you are.

A real city on an honest page does a lot of quiet work. It tells a woman you can have dinner on a Thursday. It cuts out women who live too far and conversations that fade because of the drive.

Then spend the effort on the rest of the page. A clear photo of your face leads, with photos of what you do behind it, and a few specific lines about your week. A woman who sees that you are close, easy to picture and honest about where you are is a woman who writes back.