10 Best Dating Site In South America
South African Model – Megan Coleman (source: Wikimedia Commons)
Here is the quick list of my top five dating sites (and apps) in South Africa. I’ll go into more detail in my reviews later in this article.
Oct 19, 2021 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Nestled between the Caribbean, the South Pacific, and the South Atlantic Oceans, South America is the wilder part of the Americas. South America Top 10 Overview: Chance of picking up girls: 2.25-4.25 / 5. Picking up at daytime: 2-4 / 5. Picking up at nighttime: 2.5-4.5 / 5.
Due to its history, South Africa is known as a “Rainbow Nation.” Having lived in South Africa as an expat, I can tell you that you’ll find beautiful black people, white people, Indian people, and coloured people. For best results, I recommend you go to the big cities of Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, and Pretoria where the hotties tend to hang out.
- Below is a list of top 10 best dating sites in South Africa: 1. Tinder (www.tinder.com ) Tinder is the most downloaded app and most visited website in South Africa. It is so easy to navigate the site since after creating your profile, you either swipe right on someone you are interested in or left on someone you are not.
- South African Cupid. South African Cupid ran by Cupid Media is another big SA dating site with a high number of elite singles from across the globe. South African Cupid is a sister company to AfroIntroductions.com. The best part is that this matchmaking site is not only for South Africans but also for outsiders interested in dating SA singles.
You can always check out the normal places to meet people (bars, clubs, church, mutual friends, supermarket, organizations, etc.). You can also grab your smartphone and download Tinder. However, the best and most efficient way to meet new single people for long term relationships is to do traditional dating sites.
The benefit of doing a traditional dating site is that you’ll find large numbers of available single men and women who are serious and ready to date and find love. You can also check out their interests and profile before making a connection.
Without further ado, here are my detailed reviews of the top five dating sites in South Africa.
When you are a foreigner in a new country, it can be really tough to meet members of the opposite sex. A buddy of mine told me about a website called AfroIntroductions, so I signed up for a subscription and used it with a lot of success during the year that I lived in Johannesburg. I also used their popular Brazilian-based site, Brazilcupid.com, when I was in Brazil.
Launched in 2002, AfroIntroductions is a rare gem for meeting singles whether you are in South Africa, the United States, the UK or other African countries. Dating online can be sketchy sometimes, and you can run into people who are not so genuine. But, for the most part, AfroIntroductions has plenty of eager singles ready to meet up.
Sign up Process
The sign-up process is like most other dating sites. You are required to fill out your information such as your age, gender, who you are looking for, etc.
Next, you will need to talk about you. Fill in some information such as your favorite color and places you might want to visit in the future. Don’t forget to mention the type of person you are looking for, whether you want them tall or short, athletic or a gamer. This helps to narrow down your searches later on.
Every so often, if your profile is not 100% complete, AfroIntroductions will request more information about you, but the questions are easy to answer and will only help narrow down your dating preferences.
How to Locate Potential Matches
On AfroIntroductions, there is the option of searching for a potential date by their motto or blurb. Some people like this because it gives them an idea of their personality whether they are funny, serious, or a little in between. You also have the option of scanning through profile photos (I prefer this one).
AfroIntroductions has an advanced search feature that enables you to filter by a number of characteristics, including body type (e.g. muscular, average build, etc.), smoker vs. non-smoker, wants children vs. doesn’t want children, and even zodiac sign.
How to Communicate with Other Members
AfroIntroductions has a simple but effective messaging system. As a premium member (Gold or Platinum), you can use audio and video chat. Similar to Skype, this feature enables you to “meet” someone without having to go out. In my experience, those first few moments will tell you right away if you have a keeper or not.
Unique Site Features
AfroIntroductions is straightforward. It is easy to navigate and browse profiles. There is a counter at the top that lets you know how many people are available at any given time.
A unique feature of this site that makes it different than other dating sites are Reverse Matches and Mutual Matches. These searches provide you with profiles of people like you based on your criteria, which makes it easier than ever to find someone you are going to like.
What is Included for Each Membership Level
- Standard: Search for matches based on your preferences, send interest to any member, read messages from paying members
- Gold: Communicate with all members, audio/video chat, Instant Messaging, ad-free browsing, anonymous browsing
- Platinum: Higher ranking in searches, more profile space, extensive search features, message translating, VIP profile highlighting
South African Cupid
SouthAfricanCupid.com is under the same Cupid Media family as Afrointroductions.com I described above. SouthAfricanCupid doesn’t have near the user base that Afrointroductions has, but it is still worth setting up a profile if you’ve got time.
SouthAfricanCupid is an online veteran, bringing compatible matches together since 1999. As a branch of the Cupid Media Network tree, this site does benefit from Cupid Media’s established website design, premium member options, and overall quality in terms of genuine profiles. This is a great website, however be advised going in: SouthAfricanCupid’s members seemed more seriously focused on long-term relationships than other sites I’ve been a member of.
Sign up Process
This site’s sign-up process is quick and easy, requiring you only to enter your name, gender, email and a password to start. After that, briefly describe yourself (traits, lifestyle, hobbies, etc.) and the kind of partner you’re looking for, and you’re finished.
Now, it’s up to you to decide whether you want to take the time to finish your profile or continue on to use the site and start the search for your perfect match. If you do end up going straight to browsing with an incomplete profile, every once in a while you’ll have to answer a couple more questions to continue with what you were doing.
How to Locate Potential Matches
When browsing matches, you have four display options for the profiles: photos only, photos with basic information, photos with basic information and a short blurb about them, full profile. For a more targeted search, you have a number of criteria you can specify: age, location, and education, body type, ethnicity, lifestyle choices (smoking, drinking, etc.), marital status, whether they have kids, religious views, even their star sign.
How to Communicate with Other Members
SouthAfricanCupid’s basic messaging system is easy to use, with a number of different options for communicating. You can click a heart icon on any profile to “show interest”, or add them to your favorites. SouthAfricanCupid will tell you when other members are online, and when they are you can start Instant Messaging chats.
Audio and video chat is also available, which can be extremely useful tools to ensure you are compatible with another member before you decide to actually meet them in person. As a Standard member, communication with premium members is unlimited. To send messages to or read messages from fellow Standard members, you’ll have to upgrade to Gold or Platinum.
Unique Site Features
A unique feature of SouthAfricanCupid is the option verify your profile. To do this, you upload a copy of an official ID, like your passport or driver’s license. Once uploaded, SouthAfricanCupid will compare your identification to the information you provided when filling out your profile and verify your name, age, gender and other details. While this is not mandatory, verifying yourself in this way will set you head and shoulders above the competition as a genuine, trustworthy profile.
What is Included in Each Membership Level
- Standard – Craft customized searches, browse recommended matches, send interest, communicate with premium members
- Gold – All of the above, plus: Communicate with all members, audio/video chat, Instant Messaging, ad-free browsing, anonymous browsing
- Platinum – All of the above, plus: Higher ranking in searches, more profile space, extensive search features, message translating, VIP profile highlighting
OkCupid is popular in South Africa, as well as around the globe. The site takes online dating to a whole new level with complex algorithms to find the perfect match. With so many members, the chances of finding at least a date are fairly high.
Of course, there are a number of bad apples in the bunch, but what do you expect from a free online dating site? With this site, you can find anything from a serious relationship to a fun one-time date and everything else. Although this is a dating site, it is a great place to find new people to hang out with, grab a bite, or hit up a movie without ever getting serious.
Sign up Process
There are several ways to sign-up, from using your Facebook account to entering everything in manually. You will be requested to come up with a password as well as a username or nickname for the site.
Next, you will need to answer a few questions about yourself and like three profiles to set the boundaries for the system to get you set up with potential matches. Once all the basic information is set up, you are ready to go and start browsing through the profiles.
The entire sign-up process could take you 5 to 30 minutes depending on how much information you want to give to OkCupid. You can upload photos, enter all your basic stuff like height, age, occupation, etc. You could fiddle with the question and answers aspect of the system and basically write your autobiography if you wanted. Or, you can come back later to fill all that stuff in and just start your hunt to find your better half.
How to Locate Potential Matches
OkCupid is set up to help you find your best possible matches quickly with several different filters to choose from. When you first begin browsing, you will see the person’s image and username along with where in the world they are.
You will also notice a percentage that Cupid has come up with telling you whether or not you are compatible, and by what margin. You will notice right away whether that profile is completely wrong for you by the Enemy percentage. To make things easy, OkCupid has a QuickMatch that allows members to like or dislike a profile and notifies both members if there is potential.
How to Communicate with Other Members
This site allows for two ways to communicate. You can “like” someone, or you can send them a message. Both ways of communication are free which makes this site so popular. However, you can’t see who has liked your profile unless you sign-up for a premium membership.
There is, of course, an option for those who are shy and that is by visiting someone’s profile. OkCupid will send a message each and every time your profile is viewed, as well as every time you view someone else’s.
Unique Site Features
The best thing about this site, besides that fact, that it is a free online dating site, is the question matching system. There are a ton of questions that narrow down your personality and match it to others who are like-minded.
The questions range from whether you are a morning person, or if you have a particular fetish. The questions are fun to answer and help bring you closer to someone who may end up being “THE ONE.”
The more questions you answer, the more profiles you will see that are catered to your preferences. Every time you answer a question, OkCupid creates a broader profile for you telling others more about your personality and whether you are adventurous and outdoorsy, or kinky and spontaneous.
Membership Fees and What is Included in Each Membership Level
- Free – Create a profile, browse, Like, and message other users
- A-List – Advanced search options, invisible browsing, message filtering, extra message storage, ad-free browsing, username changes, see who has liked you, and see when someone has read your message
- Incognito Mode – Lets you Like and visit profiles invisibly, hides your profile from searches.
- Profile Boosts – Appear more often in searches and at the top of the list in Quickmatch.
Dating Buzz
DatingBuzz.co.za is a South African focused dating site. It was launched in 1997 and was rebranded and went international in 2002. These days there are DatingBuzz websites for most of Europe, the U.S., India, Singapore and a few countries in Africa, and you have access to all of these members on DatingBuzz.co.za.
DatingBuzz has an understated, classy visual design that pleases the eye and doesn’t overwhelm. The layout of the site is not my favorite, and I would have liked to see some stronger communication features, especially audio/video. But all-in-all, using DatingBuzz was an easy, pleasant experience for me.
Sign up Process
To sign up, either link your Facebook profile or manually enter your gender and the preferred gender and age range of your ideal match. Continue with your birthday and a username, password and email. Click the link in a verification email and continue with more basic information.
To view matches or make any searches, you’ll have to complete at least the ‘About Me’, ‘My Ideal Match’ and ‘In My Own Words’ sections of your profile. Beyond that, there is a lot more to fill out if/when you choose.
How to Locate Potential Matches
For a Basic Search, you can filter by gender, match gender, age range and location. Advanced search ups the filter possibilities to include photo status and any of the criteria you selected when filling out your own profile. You can also search by keyword and username, browse members who are new, currently online, and popular, and those who have birthdays or have recently modified their profile.
Head to the Connections section of the site, and you can browse 100 of your two-way matches (1000 as a premium subscriber), where each of you fit the other’s specified ideal match criteria. You can also see members who you have rated or added to your favorites in this section, as well as those who have viewed your profile or favorited you.
For every profile you view, DatingBuzz will give you a match compatibility percentage, the average of how much you are a match for him/her and vice-versa. Scroll down and you can see exactly which criteria from the Ideal Match section each of you fits or doesn’t fit.
How to Communicate with Other Members
Click on a profile you like and you can reach out in a couple ways. Start easy by sending them a virtual gift, or adding them to your favorites. You can also invite them to view your private photos, and send a basic message. Messages are text-only, and only available for premium subscribers. Free members can send “quick, snappy” One-Liners however, but only if you have fully completed your profile and it’s been approved by DatingBuzz.
Unique Site Features
DatingBuzz makes it easy for you to help out your lonely, single friends with the aptly named Tell a Friend feature, easily accessible on every profile you visit. Click this button, enter your friend’s name and email, and DatingBuzz will send them an email with a short summary of the profile in question, including a short personalized message by you if you choose.
What is Included in Each Membership Level
- Free – Create a profile, upload photos, reply to messages
- Subscribe – Read and send unlimited messages, send virtual gifts, view up to 1000 matches, view private photos, see who has viewed your profile, sort your search results, search messages by keyword
I’ve used Matchmaker in the past, but, frankly, I had to spend a lot of time messaging a lot of women to get any response. I had a couple of dates through there, but it was only after A LOT of effort.
Sign up for this one only if you have lots of time.
Sign up Process
Best Online Dating Sites
In order to register, select a username (screen name or alias) and set up a profile describing yourself and the type of person and relationship you are looking for. You can search the site without setting up a profile. However, to view full member profiles you need to become a member and set up a profile.
Once you upload a photo, you are good to go. Note that it could take up to 24 hours for your photo to be approved by the site’s admin team.
How to Locate Potential Matches
You can do a basic quick search or an advanced search. You can filter based on age, hair color, smoker vs. non-smoker, location, etc.
If you do the advanced search and find that it doesn’t turn up any search results, select less search criteria.
How to Communicate with Other Members
In order to communicate with another member, click their ‘Contact Him (or Her)’ link, enter what you want to say into the message box, and then click send. If you are a premium subscriber, the person you sent the message to will be able to reply to you.
Unique Site Features
I like the notes feature. With each profile, you can include a note and star rating that will enable you to keep track of everyone you come across on the site.
What is Included in Each Membership Level
- Free – Create a profile, view two-way matches, see who has viewed you, read unlimited messages
- Standard – Send unlimited messages, view private invitation-only photos, sort search results, search messages by keyword
- Premium – Everyone can reply to you
If you plan to go to South Africa, be sure to check out my South Africa Travel Guide for in-depth information on traveling to the country.
Further Reading
Worldwide Online Dating Site Reviews: Be sure to check out my country-by-country reviews of the best online dating sites in the world.
Worldwide Moving Guide: Everything you need to know in order to plan your move to 65+ countries around the world.
Worldwide Jobs Guide: If you are interested in working in this country, be sure to check out my posts on how to find jobs in this country and other countries around the world.
Worldwide Apartments Guide: If you are interested in renting an apartment in another country, take a look at my articles on how to find an apartment in various countries around the world.
Visahunter.com accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to the accuracy of the information contained on this site. Please read the Visitor Agreement and Disclaimer. If you think there is an error in the information, please bring it to our attention so that we can correct it. Also, some of the links above could be affiliate links, which means that I will earn a commission (at no additional cost to you) should you decide to click on the links and make a purchase. I recommend sites from time to time, not because I get a tiny commission if you click on the links and make a purchase, but because, I want you to focus on the places that will deliver you the most value and the best results. Good luck!
Here is the quick list of the top five dating sites in South Korea. I’ll go into more detail in my reviews later in this article.
I’m a big fan of South Korea and always have been. I have members of my family who are of Korean-descent, and, when I was a child, I used to eat Korean specialties such as kimchi and bulgogi. Korean women can be quite attractive too.
Your best bet if you are looking to have success is to book a ticket to Seoul and find a hotel or apartment somewhere in the center part of the city. From there, you can then begin to send messages on the sites I mention below and line up dates.
If you are determined to get a Korean sweetheart, you definitely can succeed. You will have to work hard and prepare for the inevitable rejections, but that is a small price to pay for having a hot Korean woman on your arm.
Dating in South Korea
Without further ado, here are my detailed reviews of the top dating sites and apps in South Korea.
KoreanCupid is the best online dating site in Korea. If I only had money to spend on one site, this is the site that I would sign up for.
KoreanCupid is run by one of my most favorite online dating companies, Cupid Media. Cupid Media owns sites that I’ve used in the past like LatinAmericanCupid and Afrointroductions, when I was living in Brazil and South Africa, respectively.
The site was started in 2004 to help singles worldwide connect and match with South Koreans. KoreanCupid is something of an anomaly when it comes to dating sites, because there are actually more women on the site than men.
If you’re looking for Korean women, this will be a valuable resource for you as the vast majority of its members are actually from South Korea. Look out for obviously fake profiles using celebrity photos for their profiles though.
Sign up Process
Life is busy these days, and KoreanCupid makes signing-up a breeze. Start by entering your name, gender, email and a password or syncing your Facebook account. Finish by describing yourself and your life, and what your ideal match would be like.
Your profile is not actually complete at this point, but it’s up to you whether or not you want to finish it now, or start searching profiles right away. If you elect to move forward with your profile unfinished, get ready to be occasionally asked to complete a bit more of your profile before continuing.
How to Locate Potential Matches
You have two options for searches: browsing matches and performing your own detailed search, narrowed down by criteria such as location, education, body type, ethnicity, and much more. Browsing is helpfully customizable, with different options for viewing profiles and sorting the search results.
How to Communicate with Other Members
As a non-paying member, your basic communication options are restricted to visiting profiles, “showing interest” in them, adding them to your Favorites, and sending messages that can’t be read until one of you decides to upgrade to a Gold or Platinum plan. Though upgrading may feel like a forced decision, the perks are adequately rewarding: IM, audio, and even video chat.
Unique Site Features
Three unique features have served me well on KoreanCupid:
- Video messages – Whether it’s chatting with someone live, sending video messages to potential matches, or posting a video welcome-message on your profile, KoreanCupid puts video to better use than most any other dating site out there.
- Anti-spam protection – Profile ID verification and vigilant spam-profile removals ensure that for whatever profile you see, the person on the other end will be who they say they are.
- Message translator – How does it get any better than this? Type out your message as normal, select your target language, click and button, and voila! Just like that, you are bilingual, or at least, close enough.
What is Included in Each Membership Level
- Standard – Craft customized searches, browse recommended matches, send interest, communicate with premium members
- Gold – All of the above, plus: Unlimited messaging and communication with other profiles (text, audio, video, Instant Messaging), ad-free browsing, invisible browsing
- Platinum – All of the above, plus: Better search rank for your profile, double the profile space, access to advanced matching algorithms, message translation, VIP profile highlighting, extra search features
Asian Dating
AsianDating is part of the Cupid Media network and has over 1 million members. Like the rest of the sites in the Cupid Media network, AsianDating has a user-friendly interface and design.
Although sign-up is free, the free membership is limiting; however, the site does provide excellent features to its premium members.
My only real complaint with the site was the amount of spam messages I received shortly after signing up. Luckily, after weeding these members out, you are left with real women who genuinely want to make a connection.
Overall, AsianDating is an excellent site. If you are Korean or are simply looking to meet a Korean single, then check out AsianDating.
Sign up Process
Signing up for AsianDating is fast, easy, and convenient. You can use your Facebook account to initially join or sign up by typing in your personal credentials on the website. The last step in the sign-up process is to write a little about yourself, specifying the traits you want in an ideal match.
Once that is done, sign-up is complete. Although your overall profile is not technically finished, you can leave it as-is for now and begin browsing.
How to Locate Potential Matches
The two methods generally used to find potential mates and ’match-hunt’ are browsing and searching. Browsing offers a mode where you can briefly peruse through matches or access full profiles if desired.
The search feature is more extensive and allows you to craft a search according to a specific criteria. This can be age, location, education, body type, ethnicity, lifestyle choices, marital status, religion, and even astrological sign. Naturally, you can save these custom searches for future use.
How to Communicate with Other Members
If you’re serious about connecting with other members and forming romantic connections with them in real life, I strongly recommend that you upgrade to a Gold or Platinum membership.
Members who are not Gold or Platinum are limited to the few options offered by basic messaging. You are only able to visit profiles, “show interest”, add profiles to your list of Favorites, and send messages that are otherwise private and can only be read if you are a premium member.
Upon upgrading, all messages can be accessed, and communications are freely open to both you and your potential match. Media communications such as audio, video, and IM chat options are readily available as well.
Unique Site Features
What sets AsianDating apart from other matchmaking and online dating sites is its unique message translation feature. With this feature, you can translate your messages into your preferred language with just one click. The language barrier that might otherwise pose a problem is completely broken down with this convenient tool.
What is Included in Each Membership Level
- Standard – Sign up, fill out profile, upload photos, customize searches, send interest to other profiles, communicate Gold/Platinum members
- Gold – All of the above, plus: Unlimited messaging and communication with other profiles (text, audio, video, Instant Messaging), ad-free browsing, invisible browsing
- Platinum – All of the above, plus: Rank above other members in searches, doubled profile space, VIP profile highlighting, platinum-exclusive search features, advanced matching algorithms, message translation
Tinder is a geosocial online dating application that enables users to swipe anonymously on other profiles within a certain radius to secure matches. Since it’s launching in 2012, Tinder has become one of the most popular dating apps worldwide.
Sign up Process
The sign-up process to register for Tinder is relatively straightforward, and there are three main options: Facebook, Google, or your phone number. When it comes to creating your profile, plan on sticking to five hundred characters or less and try to say something witty or funny. Be up front about what you’re looking for. Include your height (since some men and women can be very picky) and a number of photos. All in all, the profiles for Tinder are basic, but they work.
How to Locate Potential Matches
Locating potential matches on Tinder is simple: you’ll be shown the profile photo of a potential match with the opportunity to view their full profile, and then you either swipe left or right.
If the person you swiped right on swipes right on your profile as well, you’ll make a match with the ability to communicate with one another. You’re limited to fifty to one hundred right swipes a day, unless you upgrade to a paid membership.
You can narrow down the potential matches shown to you by age and geographical location, but your options for doing so beyond that are limited. There are no personality quizzes (like many other dating sites have, for instance) to further narrow your options.
How to Communicate with Other Members
South American Singles
You’re allowed to exchange messages with other users only after you’ve made a match, meaning both of you have swiped right on each other’s profiles. You can then text message one another directly through Tinder’s messaging system, or you have the option to video call or voice chat one another as well.
Unique App Features
Tinder offers many general and advanced features. Examples of Tinder’s basic app features include the location-based social search, the ability to set dating preferences for potential matches, location-based suggestions, and the in-app messenger.
However, the application also has recently added a number of advanced features that help improve its overall functionality. These include the passport feature (where you can search by city on a map to begin liking and matching) and the ability to access the app offline without an Internet connection. The latter feature alone has greatly helped to increase Tinder’s engagement.
What is Included in Each Membership Level
Besides the basic version of Tinder, you can upgrade to two other membership levels: Tinder Plus and Tinder Gold.
Tinder Plus offers you unlimited likes per day, rewinding, five super likes, one boost, passport, and no advertisements.
Tinder Gold offers all of the Tinder Plus options, in addition to the top pick features (where Tinder will match you with other profiles who it believes you will be most compatible with) and being able to see who has swiped right on your own profile (so you can decide whether or not to match with them).
MEEFF
Whether you are planning a trip to South Korea and want to make friends beforehand, or simply enjoy South Korean culture, MEEFF is the site where you can make Korean friends. Although it is set up as a dating site, the main objective of MEEFF is to find friends for a language exchange, tour around Korea, or to talk about Korean culture such as K-Pop.
Whether you are interested in simply finding friends or looking for something more romantic, MEEFF is a discovery app for all things Korean.
Despite the premise of the site being to meet Koreans, you can actually change your setting to look for speakers of over 54 different languages. This can be with the goal of finding friends within those nationalities or to learn one of those languages.
Sign up Process
Signing up on MEEFF begins with the option to do so through Facebook, your Apple ID (on iOS), or your email.
You will be asked for your preferred name, gender, date of birth, language you speak, the language (and level of ability) you want your friend to speak, and finally your nationality. It is important to note that once you input your nationality you cannot change it, and you can also choose the option to not be seen by those of the same nationality.
Next, you should upload at least one photo, but you are allowed up to five photos of yourself. You will also be asked to write an “About Me,” that will allow you to write what you are interested in and who you are looking to meet. After you finish your About Me, your profile will be complete, and you can begin with changing your settings regarding what you are looking for in friends.
How to Locate Potential Matches
There are two tabs in which you can look for potential new friends, Explore and Lounge.
Explore allows you to scroll through different profiles, while pressing the X icon to pass, or the heart icon to “pick”. The match options are located on the top right corner of the explore tab. Here you can say which gender or genders you would like to meet, as well as their age range, distance from you, languages they speak, and preferred nationality.
In the Lounge tab, you can view who has picked you and have 24 hours to respond. If you want to chat with any of the people who have already picked you, simply click on their profile and press the heart button. This will place them into your “ready to chat” folder which allows either of you to begin a conversation.
How to Communicate with Other Members
In order to move from a match to a chat, you will need to select a member that is in your “ready to chat,” and click “start chatting.” You will then be moved into a chat room in your “Chat” tab.
The chat room has an automatic translation option for 20 rubies. This will allow you to speak with anyone all over the world (within the approved 54 languages), even if you cannot speak the same language.
You also have the option to start conversations with people on the “Today” tab. You can take your chance to send a “pick,” or pay 10 rubies to immediately start a conversation.
Unique App Features
Pass or pick: Sift through the different friend options by pressing “pass” or “pick”.
Filter options: Choose between what gender, nationality, or language speaker you would like to make friends with.
Rubies: This is MEEFF’s currency. Rubies allow you to perform different filtering options, become invisible, enjoy premium chat rooms (with auto-translation), secretly re-enter a chat room you left, or immediately begin chatting with friends by presenting them with rubies. You can purchase rubies in the “Shop” section of the settings.
Ruby Quest: Found on the setting page, each week you will have a set of quests in order to earn rubies. This might include 2 rubies as a reward for liking 10 members, or 3 rubies for opening a new chat with five members. There is also the opportunity for free rubies by completing sponsored quizzes and surveys in the Ruby mine.
Daily Quest: Each day that you log into the app will continue your streak, and each day missed with reset your count. There are milestones within the daily quest that rewards you with bonus rubies.
For example, day 3 will give you five rubies, day 7 awards you 15 rubies, an 11-day streak provides a 30-ruby bonus. The longest streak day, 15, is 50 rubies.
How Popular Am I?: This feature tells you which country you are most popular in, and which country you are the least popular in.
Features that must be purchased with rubies:
TODAY page: This tab allows members to post their profiles by paying with rubies. The idea behind this is that by being on the today tab you will be viewed by more friends (or potential lovers) and have more options to choose from. To be a profile on the Today tab you must bid (with rubies) for spots 1, 2, 3 or 4, on page 1-25. The higher page and spot you bid for, the larger number of rubies required. You will retain your spot for 24 hours.
Travel flag: 30 rubies, allows you to explore friends in a specific location.
Cross filtering: Starts at 2 rubies per day and only allows the people who you have set in your filter conditions to request to be your friend.
Invisibility: Starts at 2 rubies per day, and allows you to be invisible while swiping through the Explore tab.
History viewer: Starts at 10 rubies per day. It allows you to view the profiles that you have said pass or pick to within the last 10 days.
Premium chat room: This 20-ruby purchase provides automatic translation as well as the ability to send photos in the chat room.
Restore chat room: For 20 rubies, if you happen to leave a chat room, you can secretly re-enter without hurting your friend’s feelings.
Chat now: For a 30 ruby initial purchase, you receive the option to pay 10 rubies to a potential new friend in order to chat immediately without needing to match.
Undo (X): 5 rubies to undo a “pass” decision.
Reset All: For 50 rubies you will be able to maintain your entire friend’s list, but reset every pass or pick choices that you have made.
What is Included in Each Membership Level
There are not necessarily membership levels on MEEFF, but rather the option for the free or ad-free version. The purchase of rubies will also greatly affect your experience in the app, but can be earned slowly through quests, or ruby quest quizzes and surveys.
The title of the app itself gives you the basic premise about what the dating app is all about. Anyone within 1 kilometer of each other can match up using their mobile device. Of course, the one catch is the app is targeted towards the Korean population. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be Korean to join the site, but most of the content on the app is in that language, and more than 95% of its users are Korean.
1km is most popular in South Korea but can also be used throughout the world to match Koreans up that are near each other.
Sign up Process
If you have a Facebook account, you can join and login through there and verify your phone number or email account to quickly be set up and ready to go.
Like most all social networking dating apps, you will need to verify yourself before getting started. After that, you fill out your preferences in what you are looking for and construct a basic profile of yourself.
You will be required to fill out your age, region, gender, and what you are looking for in your ideal match. You can add photos and be creative with your 1km profile. You can choose four photos that you want to be displayed to your matches. There isn’t much of a verification process, however, so you need to be careful of communicating with other members who aren’t real.
How to Locate Potential Matches
Searching for matches is straightforward since 1km will display to you all the people within one kilometer of where you are based on your phone’s GPS data. You can also search for other users further than 1km, and the matches will list exactly how far away they are from you.
What’s unique is, unlike most dating apps that show you just one photo, 1km will show you four photos all in a line. It also tells you the last time they logged in before having to click on their profile. Navigation is smooth, and you can set your filters to search exactly what you’re looking for. Each profile shows you status updates, just like you can make on Twitter or Facebook, and lets you see when they made that update.
The caveat with 1km is you could be in a region and area where there simply aren’t a lot of users. Outside of South Korea or in a population where there aren’t a lot of Koreans living in that city, it can be very desolate. You may not be able to match up many other potential singles. Just keep that in mind when looking for your ideal match.
How to Communicate with Other Members
Once you match with another member, you are free to send that person a message. Just a note of warning, however; if you don’t speak Korean to them, they may not respond. However, it’s pretty straightforward on messaging compared to many other services. You can also take part in daily chats with other members and meet people through there, including clubs.
Unique App Features
One of the best site features is the clubs. You can join different clubs and chat with others who have the same interest you do.
You can join running clubs, hiking clubs, computer clubs, and so many others. Just keep in mind many people on the site are Korean and will communicate in Korean, so unless you have special software that translates appropriately, it could be tough to chat with others if you are unable to communicate in a language they are familiar with.
One recommendation that many have made is adding a translation feature so non-Koreans can chat with Koreans. Other apps have used it, and it will be beneficial for 1km to take the next step and move to a translation setting on their app.
Final Verdict
1km is free to use so there are no restrictions on what you can do. It is similar to an enhanced version of Korean Facebook. It’s a social networking app that can match you up with others close to you and allow you to connect with others through clubs that have similar hobbies as you.
In South Korea, there’s no doubt this app can be successful for you, and for Koreans in America who live in areas where the Korean population is high, it can work out. But it’s simply not going to be popular if you are away from those areas.
Further Reading
Worldwide Online Dating Site Reviews: Be sure to check out my country-by-country reviews of the best online dating sites in the world.
Worldwide Moving Guide: Everything you need to know in order to plan your move to 65+ countries around the world.
Worldwide Jobs Guide: If you are interested in working in this country, be sure to check out my posts on how to find jobs in this country and other countries around the world.
Worldwide Apartments Guide: If you are interested in renting an apartment in another country, take a look at my articles on how to find an apartment in various countries around the world.
Visahunter.com accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to the accuracy of the information contained on this site. Please read the Visitor Agreement and Disclaimer. If you think there is an error in the information, please bring it to our attention so that we can correct it. Also, some of the links above could be affiliate links, which means that I will earn a commission (at no additional cost to you) should you decide to click on the links and make a purchase. I recommend sites from time to time, not because I get a tiny commission if you click on the links and make a purchase, but because, I want you to focus on the places that will deliver you the most value and the best results. Good luck!