Once you have completed the required questions, you will see the full range of site options
First, go to the icon image of your profile picture and click the white downward arrow for a Dropbox to appear. Select “Match Preferences” and then alter any selections that aren’t what you want. One important choice will be ‘Distance and Geography’. The search starts at 30 miles and up. You can also search specific countries, states, etc.
eHarmony will suggest that you keep your minimum search distance to 60 miles, but that is primarily because the site lacks as many users as sites like Tinder. If you aren’t opposed to your matches living a bit further away, take their advice. If you prefer a match distance of 30 miles or less (which is still pretty far away), keep it to that minimum.
Review the browser bar at the top of eHarmony’s website or the bottom of the app. ‘Activity’ will show you who has viewed your profile if you’re a paid member. If you’re yet to sign up for official membership, you will instead see the name and profile links of anyone who has ‘smiled’ at you or sent you a site-generated question, etc.
Under “Matches” you can view your matches and edit your age range (the site suggests not making your age range too small). You will also see who you’ve viewed, who has viewed you, mutual matches, users you’ve hidden until you want to match, and “What If” (a paid feature where users view up to 30 additional users a day and select who they want to be matched with.
If you haven’t signed up for the paid version of eHarmony, look over other users’ profiles, perhaps based on convenience of location or for users who have sent you ‘smiles’, ‘messages’, and/or site generated questions to answer. If you enjoy reading a particular user’s profile, consider if you want to commit to the site enough to sign up. Though profile photos remain ‘blurred’ until membership is paid for, you can still gather a certain amount by the outline in a photograph. Go through three (3) of the site-generated icebreaker questions (3) and you can begin to message one another.
Paid Features
- You get to send and read unlimited messages.
- You get to view unlimited photos of your potential matches.
- You can filter your matches based on what you want.
- You can create a detailed personality profile using your compatibility quiz.
- You can adjust the distance of matches that you want to view.
- You can see who is interested in you.
- You get a review of your profile sent to your email so that you can improve your dating profile.
- Your matches update consistently, giving you the most recent matches.
Complaints
Another con is that eHarmony has fewer users and only some are paid, members. In 2017, eHarmony was thought to have about 10 million active members and only 750,000 of those being paid members. According to stats from Business Insider, Tinder now has a high percentage of marriage-minded users, which further dwindles the stronghold eHarmony had on that portion of the market.
Due to the lower amount of traffic, finding a local match can be more difficult. On eHarmony you won’t have endless swiping or any swiping. Matches will be given on a daily or through your search and it might become clear that fewer matches mean focusing on quality over quantity/visual attraction.
Unpaid members can read profiles, send ‘smiles’ and answer questions pre-written by the site (with automated reply selections or the ability to write one’s own answer).
Decide if you want to be a paid member. On the app, you will automatically be shown the Premium membership prices over the Standard rate, but both options show available on the website.