Is OkCupid Still Popular and Who Uses It?

Whether OkCupid is popular depends on where you live, and no national number answers that. The app is used by people who like questions, written answers and a Match percentage, which is a smaller crowd than the one on a photo-only app. What matters to you is how many women near you are active on it, and you can find that out in about ten minutes.

A headline claim about how many people use an app tells you nothing about your own town. Dating apps are local. An app can be crowded in a large city and nearly empty an hour outside it, and the same app can feel different in two cities of the same size.

a dating coach's rule for choosing an app is that your results depend on whether the women on it are really looking to date. That is a statement about the women you can actually reach. So the useful question is not whether OkCupid is popular. It is whether enough women near you are on it, active, and looking.

This article does not quote a user count. A made-up figure is worse than none, and a real one from a different year or city would not help you.

The app is built on match questions. A woman answers as many as she likes about what she wants and how she sees things, and the percentage you see is built from those answers.

That design selects for a certain kind of user. People who enjoy answering questions about themselves tend to be people who like to talk, and who want to know something about a person before they meet. The app also suits people who want a relationship or at least a real conversation, since the questions bring out what each person wants.

It tends to be a poorer fit for someone who wants to decide on a photo in a second and move on. That crowd tends to be on the swipe apps.

This is a description of who the design favors. It is not a count, and any city will have exceptions.

coach describes OkCupid as one of the more hackable sites he used, meaning there was a lot you could tune to get results with little effort. He also says that on a longer-form app, your page matters more than it does on Tinder.

Both points describe the same thing from the man's side. An app where users read and answer questions rewards a man who writes a careful page, and it gives him an audience that is paying attention.

Open the app and set your distance to something you would actually travel on a weeknight. Browse Discover for ten minutes and look at four things.

How many women appear before you start seeing repeats? Do their pages have clear photos and filled-in answers, or are most of them empty? Do the percentages you see fall in a workable range, or are they all low? Do you see women you would be glad to meet?

If you see plenty of real, filled-in pages, the app has enough activity for you. If you see few faces and half-empty pages, the pool is thin, and another app is the better use of your evenings.

Pages that were clearly filled in with care, not just a single photo. Women whose answers are recent and specific. A steady stream of new faces over a few days, not the same fifty on repeat.

Chats that reach a reply. A pool can look full and still be inactive. The real proof is that women answer.

Widen the distance first, since it is free. Then run the same photos and the same short page on a second app and compare. My approach to any app question is to count: women you liked, mutual likes, chats that started, dates you set.

Do not conclude the app is dead after one evening. Give it two weeks with your best photos and honest answers, and look at the numbers.

Treat the app as a place that rewards effort. Answer the questions honestly. Lead with a clear photo of your face. Write a few specific lines about your life, and use an intro to say one real thing about her page.

Be selective with your likes. Liking nearly everyone tends to make an app treat you as less attractive, and liking fewer women, picked with care, improves results.

OkCupid is popular where women near you are on it and active, and a national number cannot tell you that. Spend ten minutes in Discover, look at how many real pages you see, and then give it two weeks of honest effort before you decide.