What Does the Star Mean on Match.com?

The purple star is the Super Like. Match's help center names it that way, in an article titled Super Likes (Purple Star). A Super Like highlights your page to the women you choose and gives you priority placement in their Recommended Matches. It is a stronger signal than the blue heart, which is the ordinary Like, so it can win you more matches and more replies to your messages when you spend it well.

Match gives you two ways to tell a woman you are interested, and the icons are different on purpose.

The blue heart is the regular Like. Pressing it tells her, in her Likes section, that you are interested. It is the everyday move, and you can use it as often as the app lets you.

The purple star is the Super Like. It does what a Like does, and it also moves you up where she will see you. So the heart says you noticed her, and the star says you noticed her and want her to notice you back.

When a woman opens her Recommended Matches, she sees a list the app has put in some order. A Super Like from you puts you nearer the front of that list for her.

Match says a member is more likely to match when sending a Super Like. That is Match's own claim, and it should be read as a small improvement in your odds with one woman, not a promise of anything.

You buy Super Likes from the Highlights tab. Open the tab in the top navigation bar and select the purple Super Likes button. Match sells them in packs of several sizes, and the ones you buy do not expire.

Premium subscribers get a Super Like each week. Those expire after a month, so an unused one goes to waste.

A separate add-on, also called Highlights, shows a short list of profiles each day. You can Super Like a woman from that list or dismiss her.

Prices and pack sizes change, so read the purchase screen on the day you buy and ignore any number in an article.

Press it when she is a real choice for you. That means she lives close, she wrote something on her page you could ask about, and you would be glad to take her out.

Do not press it on every woman you find attractive. a dating coach's rule for apps is that selective men get better results than men who like everyone. A man who sends a star to a dozen women a week has made the signal ordinary, and he has spent real money doing it.

The star also works best on a woman who is likely to see it. A mark that shows she was on the site in the last day or so gives it a better chance of being read than one who has not logged in for a week.

It cannot make a thin page look good. If a woman opens it because of the star and finds one blurry picture and a blank essay, the extra attention only shows her the weak parts sooner.

It also cannot replace a decent first line. If she answers the star with a match, the next step is yours. Read her page, pick one specific thing, and write about it in a sentence she can answer. A flat "hey" wastes the advantage you paid for.

My method is a few short messages, each with a purpose, heading toward a plan. A star is the first beat of that, not the whole thing.

coach tells men to test anything they pay for. Press a few stars on women you truly like, and count how many answer. Compare that to your plain hearts over the same stretch.

If the stars do not earn more replies, stop buying them. The cause is almost always the page she sees or the line you send, and no icon fixes either one.

The purple star on Match.com is the Super Like, the stronger sibling of the blue heart Like. It highlights you to a woman you pick and moves you up in her recommendations. Use it rarely, on women you would actually meet, and back it with a page and a first line worth the attention.