How to Change Your Match Preferences on Facebook Dating

From the Facebook app, tap Menu, then Dating, then tap the icon in the top right and choose Dating preferences. Tap the section you want to edit, such as a potential match's age, gender identity or distance from you, make your changes and tap Save in the top right. You can change them as often as you like.

1. Open the Facebook app and tap Menu.
2. Tap Dating.
3. Tap the profile icon in the top right.
4. Tap Dating preferences.
5. Tap the section you want to edit.
6. Make your changes, then tap Save in the top right.

Nothing is locked in. Facebook lets you change your preferences at any time, so you can adjust them as you learn what works.

Your preferences describe the women you want Dating to suggest. They include a potential match's age, her gender identity, how far she is from you, and more.

It is easy to set these once and never look at them again. That is worth changing, because these settings decide who you see, and who you see decides how many good conversations you can possibly have.

Distance is the setting that matters most for turning a conversation into a date, and it is easy to set it too wide.

Be honest about your evenings. A woman forty minutes away is fine for one date. Seeing her a second and third time is where the distance starts to hurt. Dates happen when getting together is easy, so set the distance to what you would happily travel on a weeknight for a drink, not the farthest you could technically drive.

A good first date is somewhere convenient for you, close to where you live or where you already spend your evenings. Suggestions within that range are the ones most likely to turn into a real evening out.

Set the age range to the women you actually want to date and can realistically connect with.

Some men set it very young and then wonder why so few conversations go anywhere. Others set it narrow out of habit and shut out women they would have liked. Think about the women you have actually clicked with in real life. That is a better guide than an ideal on paper.

If you are unsure, start a little wider than your gut says. You can always tighten it later.

Both extremes cost you.

Set everything narrow and you will see very few suggestions. You end up writing to the same small group over and over, and a slow week feels like a disaster.

Set everything wide and you will see plenty, but many of them will be women you would never actually travel to see or date. You waste likes and messages on conversations that were never going to become a plan.

The right setting sits in between: wide enough to keep a steady supply of women worth writing to, narrow enough that almost any of them could become a date.

When you adjust your preferences, change one setting, then give it a few days before you judge it.

If you widen distance and your age range and change two other things all at once, you will never know which change helped. Small changes, one at a time, tell you what actually works for you.

Say you have been seeing very few suggestions. Widen the distance a little first and leave everything else alone. Give it a few days. If the new suggestions look good, keep the change. If they are mostly women too far away to see on a weeknight, pull the distance back and try a slightly wider age range instead.

Getting your preferences right puts the right women in front of you. What happens next depends on you.

If women are liking you back but conversations fade after a few lines, the problem is not your settings. Keep your first messages short and specific: one light comment about something in her photos and an easy question she can answer. Once things are easy, suggest a drink, and a few messages later ask for her number so you can pick the day.

The best preferences in the world only give you a chance. A short message and a simple plan are what turn that chance into a date.