How Many Photos Can You Upload to OkCupid?

OkCupid recommends up to six different photos on your profile that show what makes you unique. Its help center states no maximum number of photos you can upload. So six is the target to aim at, not a wall you hit, and your bio and profile prompts should agree with what the photos show.

Its advice has three parts. Aim for up to six photos. Make them different from each other. Keep the first one clear.

It says adding more photos means more activity on your profile. It also warns that six classic portraits is too many. The meaning is plain: six shots of the same face from the same angle do the work of one.

Treat six as a recommendation, because the help center gives no upper limit. What it does give you is a reason not to stretch past a set you are proud of.

A photo of you is required to send and receive messages on OkCupid. Without one you will not show up anywhere.

So the first photo is not optional. Your main photo, the first on your account, has to show your face and be clearly recognizable as you. A group shot, a sunglasses photo, or a picture where you are a small figure on a mountain will not do as the first image.

Of the six, the main photo is seen the most. It is the one she sees first, before she reads anything you wrote.

Make it a clear photo of your face, in daylight, with a real expression. A man who looks like he is about to say something is better than a man staring at the lens. Nothing else in the set matters if this one is dark or blurry.

If you are not sure which photo to lead with, ask a friend, or a woman you trust, which one she would answer. Go with the one that two people pick.

The point of the other photos is variety, and each one should answer a different question about you.

One should show your body type honestly, standing, in clothes you wear. One should show you doing something you do, whether that is cooking, climbing, or playing an instrument. One should show you with other people, with a clear way to tell which one is you. One should show a place you like. One can be a laugh, taken mid-sentence.

Together they tell her what a Wednesday with you looks like. That is the thing she is trying to work out, and it is why variety beats six versions of your best angle.

Do not reach six just to reach six. If you only have four photos you would be proud of, post four and take more later.

Every photo you add is a chance for her to decide against you. A blurry fifth photo can cancel a strong first. Leave out anything with an ex cropped out of it, anything in sunglasses where your eyes cannot be seen, and anything taken in a bathroom mirror.

OkCupid's own caution about classic portraits points the same way. Quantity helps only when each photo adds something.

On the app, you reorder photos by pressing and holding a photo and dragging it to a new spot. You delete photos with the same press and hold.

Use this the way a magazine editor uses a layout. Put the clearest face first, the full-length shot second, and the activity photos after. If a photo is not getting you anywhere, move it to the end before you cut it.

Check the set after every change by looking at the page as she would see it, from the first photo down.

coach, who teaches online dating, says the work is in the ratios: how many women Like you back, how many replies you get, how many of those become dates. A new photo set is a test of the first ratio.

Change one thing at a time. Swap the main photo and leave the others alone for a week, then compare how many women Like you back. If the number goes up, keep the change.