Why Is Match.com Not Loading?

Match's help center says issues with the site can often be resolved by refreshing your cookies. It also says older browsers sometimes have trouble and that the app needs to be on its latest version. Start with those three, in that order, before you assume Match itself is down.

Match says site problems can often be fixed by refreshing your cookies. That means clearing the stored cookies for Match in your browser settings, then closing the tab and loading the site again.

This is the first thing to try because it costs nothing and fixes a lot. A stale sign-in is a common reason a page hangs or loops back to the login screen.

Match says some older browsers experience issues, and that Match works best on newer versions of the major browsers. If yours is old, upgrade it to the latest version.

If you are not sure how old yours is, open its About page and let it update. After the update, restart the browser and try Match again. A site that will not load in one browser often loads in another, which also tells you the fault is in the first browser and not at Match.

For the Match app, the help center says to check your app store for a newer version, and that downloading the latest version resolves most issues members have.

You can see which version you have at the bottom of the Settings page in the app, or in your phone's App Settings. Compare it to the store listing. If the store offers an update, install it and open the app again.

Match has a session time-out feature. It signs you out automatically if you stay on the same screen for more than 45 minutes.

This explains a common false alarm. You leave a tab open, come back an hour later, click something, and the page seems broken. It is not. You were signed out. Sign in again and the site works.

Match does not offer support over the phone. Support happens through its online contact form, so that is where to go when the three checks above do not fix it.

When you write to them, say which device and browser you used, what you saw on the screen, and what you already tried. A short, specific note gets a more useful answer than "it does not work."

Two checks that are not from Match but cost nothing: try the other way in, meaning the app if the website is failing or the website if the app is, and check whether your own connection loads other sites. If everything else loads and only Match fails, you have a clear case to put in the contact form.

A man whose site will not load tends to treat it as a reason to stop for the day. That costs him more than the outage does. Women reply on their own schedule, and a conversation left alone for a week cools.

If you have a phone and a laptop, use whichever one still works. If both are down, write down the names of the women you were talking to and the plan you had in progress, so that when the site returns you pick up where you left off instead of starting from a blank screen.

If a woman has already agreed to meet, take the plan off the site where you can. Once the day and place are settled, an outage cannot undo them. My range for a text exchange before a plan is about four to seven messages, and a plan with a day and a place on it survives a lot of technical trouble.

If you are paying and the site has been unusable for days, say so in your contact form and keep a note of the dates. The help pages behind this article do not mention refunds for an outage, so do not assume one. Ask, and read the answer.

Also check your renewal date. A plan you cannot use is still a plan that renews unless you turn auto-renewal off, and Match says you can do that any time after purchase.

Clear your cookies, update the browser, update the app, and remember the 45 minute sign-out. If it still fails, use the contact form. Then get back to the women you were talking to, because the outage is a small problem and a cold conversation is the large one.