When Does the OkCupid Stack Refresh?

The Cupid's Picks Stack refreshes daily, and that is the only Stack with a stated refresh. For the others, OkCupid does not publish a clock time. Every Stack except Recommended has a daily limit on how many people you can vote on, and Recommended has no limit. If a Stack looks empty or keeps showing the same faces, the cause is usually your preferences and your passes, not the clock.

Stacks is a feature in Discover. Instead of one long scroll, it lets you look at people by category: Passport, Recommended, SuperLikes, Cupid's Picks and Match %. Each category is a Stack, and each is a different way of choosing who you see next.

Because they are different, they behave differently. That is why one answer to "when does the Stack refresh" never covers all of them.

Cupid's Picks is the Stack that refreshes daily. It works unlike the others in one way that matters. To match with someone in Cupid's Picks you must SuperLike her. There are no pass or Like buttons there.

That changes how you should use it. A SuperLike draws on your allowance, so each pick costs you something. Treat the daily list as a short list of women you would genuinely be glad to meet, and spend a SuperLike only on one of those. Opening it every day and spending a SuperLike on the first face is a quick way to burn your allowance.

Every Stack except Recommended has a daily limit on votes. OkCupid does not say what time of day the count starts again, so the honest answer is that the limit resets daily and the hour is not published.

If you hit the limit, move to Recommended, which is unlimited. Or stop voting and spend the evening on the conversations you already have. A woman who Liked you back and has not heard from you is worth more than ten new faces.

OkCupid only shows you a Stack if enough people match your preferences. If your age range, distance and other filters are tight, a Stack can come up empty or thin, and no refresh will fix that.

The cure is to widen your preferences a little. Widening age, distance or other settings can help you see more people. Do it on purpose, though. Ask what you would honestly accept: a woman a little older or younger than your usual range, or one a short drive further away. Widen toward women you would really meet, not toward a bigger pool for its own sake.

People you pass on will not come back for a good while. That is useful, because it means a Stack that looks repetitive is not showing you women you already rejected. It is showing you what is left after your filters and your passes.

It also means a pass is a real decision. If you flick through a Stack at speed and pass on a woman you would have liked, she will not turn up again soon. Slow down. Read the first line of her page before you pass.

If you pass by mistake, OkCupid has a way to undo it, and that is better than waiting for her to return.

A daily limit builds a good habit. A man with unlimited votes tends to vote on everyone. A man with a few votes a day tends to read first.

a dating coach has coached plenty of men who showed interest in nearly everyone. When they got choosier, they sent far fewer Likes and got far better results. Each person you vote for is a conversation you may have to hold up, so pick the ones you would be glad to hold up.

A vote is not a date. The step that matters is what you write once it becomes a match. Pick one specific detail on her page and send a line or two she can answer in a sentence. My target is to get from a first message to her number in four to seven exchanges, with a drink suggested early as a light idea.

Women decide on your lead picture and your first lines in a few seconds, in a Stack as much as anywhere. Make the picture recent and clear, and write one line that sounds like you. That is what the vote is really testing.