Why Does OkCupid Say There Was an Error Creating Your Account?

The usual cause is the phone number. OkCupid requires one, confirmed by a code sent over SMS, and its help center says that if you cannot receive that SMS you will be unable to create an account, with no workarounds or exceptions. Check that your number can receive text messages, that no other OkCupid account already uses it, and that you were not suspended before.

OkCupid cannot verify through landlines. It also cannot verify through certain internet-based phone services or certain texting apps. If your number is one of those, the code never arrives and the sign-up fails.

The fix is to use a different number, one on a regular mobile plan that receives ordinary text messages. If you are signing up with a number you have not used for texting before, send yourself a test text from another phone first.

If the sign-up gets as far as the code and then nothing comes, OkCupid's own advice has three steps:

1. Check the number and the country code. A single wrong digit or a missing country code is the first thing to rule out.
2. Make sure you have good phone reception.
3. Ask your mobile carrier to disable message blocking on your line.

Do these in order, and give each a few minutes before you move to the next.

A phone number can be verified on only one OkCupid account at a time. If the screen says the number is already in use, the number is attached to another account, and you must sign into that account and delete it to free the number.

This catches men who made an account years ago and forgot. If you cannot remember the old password, request a reset to the email you used then. Once you are in, delete the old account, and the number is free for the new one.

OkCupid's terms say one thing about this. After an account was suspended or terminated, you cannot create a new one unless OkCupid gives express permission. If you were banned before, a fresh sign-up can fail for that reason.

The route OkCupid gives you in that case is its appeal process, and it is the only one worth using. Opening accounts under other details to get around a ban is against the terms and rarely ends well, so do not plan on it.

New users may be asked to upload a profile photo that clearly shows their face for an age check. If the check finds you are most likely underage, OkCupid may restrict access and refer the photo for review.

If you are asked for the photo, use a recent, clear, well-lit picture of your face with nobody else in the frame. If the check cannot see your face clearly, it has little to work with, so give it a plain, honest picture.

If you want a short list to work through, this is the order that saves the most time:

1. Confirm the number can receive ordinary SMS, and that the country code is right.
2. If the code does not arrive, check your reception and ask your carrier to turn off message blocking.
3. If the number is already in use, sign into the old account and delete it.
4. If you were suspended before, use the appeal route instead of a new sign-up.
5. If a face check appears, upload a clear, recent picture of yourself.

Most of this list is about the phone number, because the number is what the sign-up depends on.

Getting past the sign-up screen is the easy part. What decides your results is what women see when they find you. Make your first picture recent and clear, with your face easy to see, and write a few lines that sound like you.

a dating coach has said it bluntly: a boring, average page gets the average result, which is no matches at all. On a longer-form app like OkCupid, he finds the written part carries more weight than it does on the quick-swipe apps. Spend the first evening on that before you start Liking anyone.

Then Like only the women you would be glad to meet, and write to each one the same day. That puts you ahead of most men who finally got through the sign-up screen and then flicked through everyone.