Once: A Dating App Suitable for Senior Dating and Mature Relationships
They don’t have to worry about work or raising kids, and they can spend their days just the way they want to. But what if they’re alone and have no loving partner? All that free time can be daunting if you have nobody to share it with.
That’s when online dating comes into play. You can sign up and meet new people without having to leave the house. You also unlock access to an enormous amount of people just like you.
But what exactly does senior online dating look like? And how can Once senior dating app contribute to making it better? Today we’ll learn about the changing landscape of senior dating, talk about the benefits and challenges, and share tips to make the best of the experience, together with Once, of course.
Why Senior Dating Is More Rewarding Than Ever
Sadly, many mature singles lock themselves at homes and refuse to go out and look for romantic partners, despite wanting companionship and love.
Some think that it’s too late for them, and they won’t find anyone who will fit nicely into their established lives. Others worry about what society will think about them because dating is kind of reserved for younger people, according to pop culture.
All those limitations are only in our heads. Senior dating is a wonderful thing. Dating as you get older can be a much more pleasant and rewarding experience compared to your youth.
Doubt it? Here is why you should trust us.
- Senior dating knows no societal pressures. When you get older, people tend to back off with intrusive questions, such as whether you’re planning to have kids and how you plan to balance a family with a career. Those issues are off the table, for obvious reasons, meaning you can date however you like.
- You are fully aware of what you want and who you want. Part of the struggle when dating in your earlier parts of life is trying to figure out who you are, what you want from life and partners, and what kind of person you’d like to be with. As you reach your senior years, you’ve most likely dated a whole bunch of different people, and maybe even been married a couple of times. With all that experience you know exactly what you want from a relationship. This makes choosing a partner and being with one that much easier.
- No mind games or beating around the bush. At this point in your life, even the idea of playing pretend, manipulating someone, or playing other mind games is tiring. Who has the time and the energy to do that, right? Also, why would you waste your time on such meaningless nonsense? Mature singles, for the most part, want to find a caring and loving partner who they can share their days with and build a mature relationship. You don’t need to worry about situationships, breadcrumbing, or anything of that sort.
How Online Dating has Transformed Senior Relationships
The internet has disrupted our lives forever, and it transformed senior dating in a profound way.
Broader Access to Potential Partners
What did senior dating look like prior to online dating? You’d meet people in your community, maybe a friend would introduce you, or you’d start a random conversation during some recreational activity. And if your movement is limited in any way, your chances of meeting new people in general, not even for romantic purposes, are even bleaker.
Online dating has changed that completely. Now, all you need is a personal computer or a smartphone and an internet connection. That is enough to unlock access to hundreds and thousands of people from all over the US, and around the world too. All it takes is to register on a senior dating site.
All of a sudden, we can speak to people our age across the country, and build meaningful connections with them, even if we’ve never met in real life. Isn’t that wonderful?
Normalizing Dating at Later Stages of Life
There are many ways online dating is helping break the stereotypes of elderly dating.
First of all, you can go to the dating app or a senior dating site without anyone knowing. You’re sitting at home and browsing comfortably, there is zero judgment or commentary which makes you more comfortable at the beginning of your online dating journey.
Second, you get to chat and meet so many retirees from different states and countries that you become reassured by the whole concept of online dating. Life as a senior can feel isolating, and you start doubting yourself when you have no examples in front of you. Luckily, online dating portals are filled with people just like you. All of them are looking for a mature relationship. As a result, you’re more confident with endeavoring dating too, and, consequently, you won’t be affected or thrown off by someone’s snarky comments or suggestions that it’s a silly idea.
Tailored Experience
Technically, you get tailored experience with traditional dating agencies too. The problem with them, however, is that they’re severely limited in the number of eligible candidates. Plus, the people you’re matched with depend on the employee of this agency and their talents in match-making.
While some of them are truly gifted and experienced, their skills are generally more limited than the opportunities that technology unlocks. Artificial Intelligence and other tools implemented on senior dating sites can scan through entire databases of other users and analyze them based on a greater number of factors. Oh, and they do it in literal minutes. Humans simply can’t compete with software’s productivity.
At the end of the day, you want to spend the least amount of time on finding your soul mate, right? Using online dating is your best chance here.
More Communication Options
Thanks to online dating, senior dating sites, and the internet in general, older folks now can chat, call, or have video conferences with their matches before meeting them. This means that you can build a genuine connection and understand whether or not you are compatible before investing time and money into a physical meeting.
Safe Dating
A common misconception about online dating is that it’s dangerous.
There is some truth to that, but no more than with traditional dating. In fact, online dating takes many more precautions that users of all ages can benefit from.
- Educational resources and tips are often available on a senior dating site to help users avoid the most common mistakes.
- Senior dating sites can ban users with bad intentions, preventing others from having to deal with them.
- Your personal information is hidden from others, so unless you share it, it is safe and sound.
- The essence of online dating itself is safer – you’re not meeting strangers in person, so you can’t be robbed, abused, or worse. You can, to be fair, be harassed online too, but it’s easy to block those people and report them to the dating app.
Common Challenges Seniors Face in Modern Dating
Online dating is not without its challenges for seniors. Here are the main ones to be aware of.
Getting Used to Technology
While many seniors are tech-savvy, some still have a long way to go with using computers and the internet. For such users, online dating will be not only about finding love but also figuring out how the system works in general. They might experience some frustration or hesitation about using the senior dating site altogether.
Too Much Choice
Just like a kid in a candy shop, seniors can be overwhelmed with so many options and potential lovers. With this seemingly endless supply of new matches, you can fear that by agreeing to date someone now, you’re missing out on someone greater who you’ve not seen yet. This dating fear of missing out (FOMO) is a big factor for all age categories, but while younger people are more used to an overwhelming amount of information on all fronts, older generations may struggle with it a little bit more. Also, when seeing so many user profiles, seniors can feel like they’ll never find someone worthy in this huge pool of opportunities.
Fear of Rejection
When a senior turns to online dating, they’re opening themselves up to a lot of potential rejection. A lot of older people are re-entering the dating market after a big break which means that they’re more sensitive to someone rejecting them, even though it’s a perfectly normal part of the process, especially online. Everyone wants to find the best partner for themselves, so they’re less careful and more bold with their selection process. If you’re not used to that, you’re bound to take every No personally, despite the other person’s intentions and intonations.
Dealing with Loss While Looking for Love
One more issue that older users often face is looking for companionship while processing the loss of their loved one or a divorce. They may be ready to open up to someone new in theory, but feel weird and close up as they start talking to new people. This is an absolutely normal process for anyone who has some form of emotional trauma. However, as you get older, those things are tougher to deal with, and they can affect your experience on the senior dating site as well.
Online Scammers
Unfortunately, there are many con artists who are preying on older users of dating apps. They’ll pretend to be someone they’re not and try to lure personal data or straight-up cash out of unsuspecting users. It takes some skill and caution to not fall victim to such scams, and it can be tiring to deal with it, even if they don’t end up getting to you.
Ageism
When you announce that you want to date, as an elderly person, you’re opening yourself up to ageism. Sadly, a significant part of our society, many old people included, think that dating after say, 60 or 70, is inappropriate. Why they want to see retired people miserable will forever be a mystery to us, but they do. They’ll criticize you for trying and ridicule you for going on dates. The best course of action when dealing with such reactions is to turn around and walk away, but it’s not always easy to shake off their cruel words. Sometimes, older people are faced with rather unrealistic standards for how they should look too, in part due to the celebrity culture where people well into their 60s and older look like they’re 45 or 50 thanks to extensive cosmetic surgeries and other procedures.
Letting Someone in Your Well-established Routine
There are numerous studies that show that the older we get, the more conservative we become. This applies not only to religious, political, and economic views but also to our personal relationships.
We’ve lived a long life, we’ve experienced a ton of different things and situations, and we’re very confident about what we like and what we don’t like. We have all these rituals that make our lives structured and stress-free.
Introducing mature singles to your daily routine can create (sometimes unwelcome) change, and that’s where you need to decide whether you’re ready to compromise and adapt in order to be with someone or not.
Tip: If you come across this dilemma, we highly encourage you to give it a try. Worst comes to worst, you’ll end the relationship and go back to living how you used to live.
Why Choose Once for Senior Dating?
Why would you go for Once as your senior dating app out of all the options out there?
Once is all about mindful dating. The platform is not designed for one-night stands or crazy sex fantasies. Instead, it’s a place for people of all ages looking to find a meaningful connection.
Instead of being bombarded with hundreds of profiles every day, you get one personalized match per day. This match is selected based on the information you provide about yourself and how well it correlates with the other person. It means that senior singles have a higher chance to click with this user and start a relationship that both of them will enjoy.
And if there’s no spark between them – no worries. Tomorrow they’ll get one more match with someone new.
The bottom line, Once fits mature singles who are looking for a quality dating experience and want to build an authentic relationship rather than an entertaining and over-stimulating experience with lots of people, most of whom are not meant for them.
How to Get Started on Once as a Senior
Starting to use the Once dating app is very easy. Follow these simple steps.
- Sing up and fill in your profile to attract people you can match with. Write about yourself, your interests and hobbies, how you like to spend your days, and what you’re looking for on the app.
- Add recent photos that reflect your spirit and lifestyle.
- Wait to get a new match once a day.
- As you get a match, if you like them, start chatting and getting to know one another.
And this is it! There is really no complex registration or having to fill in extensive questionnaires to start looking for a companion.
We’ve removed all the extra steps to make the experience of senior singles with the platform better and more straightforward.
Tips for Finding Love on Once
Here are the tried-and-tested tips for finding love for all our senior singles.
First of all, trust the Once dating website. The algorithm is trained to spot similarities with complex logic that goes beyond simple matches in hobbies. One of the parameters that the system uses to find someone for you is complementary hobbies or views. You don’t need a partner who is an exact copy of you, right? But rather you want someone who will add to your life, balance it out, and make it richer. Technology can see those connections where the human eye can’t.
- When you match with someone, start the conversation. Don’t worry about who’s the first to text, just go for it. Greet your match and ask them a meaningful question. It can be connected to the things they wrote in their profile bio, something you spot on their photos, or something that is important to you.
- Be active, but take it slow at the same time. Don’t scare your match with too many questions or share too many intimate details too soon. Not all people are ready to open up that quickly.
- Be truthful in your conversations. Don’t try to sugarcoat something or straight-up lie. There is little point in doing that, as the truth will come out when you meet in real life. If you start lying about innocent things, you can get carried away, and then you’ll be too scared to go on a date because of everything you’ve made up. Instead, be truthful and share your honest views, life, and anything else.
- Ask open-ended questions and listen more than you talk. As your communication progresses, make sure to go deeper with your topics. You can’t really get to know a person if you only talk about silly things. Also, try to be more attentive to what they’re saying. Pay attention to details, and watch out for potential red flags.
- Don’t compare. If you’ve reached your senior years, you’ve probably dated a few people already or observed your friends and their relationships. It can be tempting to compare the new person you meet with somebody from your past, but please don’t do that. Good or bad, comparison will prevent you from seeing this new person objectively. And you don’t want to end up with a completely different person than you thought you were dating.
Safety Tips for Senior Singles on Once
Not all senior dating sites care deeply about their users’ safety, but Once does. Here are the key recommendations for staying safe while dating online. Please follow them, and enjoy safe dating!
- Don’t fall for the financial scams. Anyone you match with, who eventually starts asking you for money, is most likely a scammer. If they really needed financial help because of the terrible situation that they’re in, they wouldn’t be registering on dating websites and telling people about their circumstances. Whether they ask you for money directly or just share their story hoping that you’ll offer help, make it clear that you can’t do anything for them, and block them if you’re confident they’re a scammer.
- Don’t share personal data. Your photos and bios should not give out any information about yourself. On top of that, don’t share too much in the chat. Many of us use our grandkids’ names and birthdays as passwords for banking and other important services. Con artists are well aware of that, and they’ll try to pull this information out of you, don’t let them reach their goal. Also, never specify your living situation and where you live. Nobody needs to know what you all by yourself or the specifics of your apartment or a house.
- Keep the conversation in the app’s chat. Sometimes people move to third-party messengers to continue their communication there, and it’s perfectly fine. However, refrain from doing that too soon. The dating app’s chat is protected and the chat history there can be evidence of the user’s inadequate behavior. You’ll be able to report this chat to the support team and have the user banned if they turn out to be a bad person who’s insulting or harassing you.
As you move on to real-life dating, keep your guard up too. Don’t allow them to pick you up for the first couple of dates, make sure you’re meeting in a public place. Don’t leave your things unattended. Don’t schedule the date too late in the evening either.
Most likely, you’ll only meet good, genuine people, and all these safety tips won’t be necessary. Still, better be safe than sorry. Take precautions and avoid unnecessary risks.
Senior Online Dating FAQ
#1 How to start dating after 65?
If you’re approaching 65 or maybe already passed that age, your best bet may be to simply go for it. Unless you’re living through a major traumatic loss, such as the death of your long-time spouse, that is.
In all other situations, the best approach is to dive right into it. Don’t overthink it, sign up on the dating app or the website, create a profile, and start chatting with like-minded people.
The problem with taking it slow is that you may never build up the courage to try. Dating will always feel awkward and scary at the start. There’s no way around it. That’s why the sooner you just do it, the better. As you chat with the first couple of people, you’ll understand that it’s not that scary after all, and you’ll enjoy the process more.
Also, the more you date, the easier it gets to open up to someone new, and you’ll have a higher chance of finding a great partner who will love and support you.
If you’re already chatting to a few people but have never seen them in real life, – ask them out! Don’t get stuck on the idea of a real proper date with dinner and movies or a walk around town. A short and sweet coffee date can be a great alternative. Meet them for about an hour, chat, have a warm beverage, and leave. If you don’t like each other, you don’t have to meet again. But if there is something between you, schedule a follow-up date and allocate more time to the two of you.
The main takeaway we want you to leave with after reading our article is that dating as a senior is a fabulous experience. You get to meet new people your age, chat about life, and, potentially, find a partner to spend the rest of your life with. Doesn’t that sound marvelous? Any worries you may have or little embarrassments you may go through in the process will be quickly forgotten, but you’ll be left with lots of exciting stories and an even more exciting person by your side.
#2 Do you think online dating works for seniors?
Yes, yes, yes! Online dating may not seem like an obvious choice as there’s a stereotype that older people can’t handle technology. It’s far from the truth though.
Wherever you are in life, you can learn a skill or acquire knowledge for the topic that interests you. So if a mature single person wants to start dating, they’ll be able to figure out how a website or an app works. It’s not rocket science.
Also, interface design has come a long way compared to how our websites used to look even 10 years ago. The focus on simplicity is huge, as users aren’t tolerant to bulky pages and will not waste their time trying to figure out how something works. There are whole teams in companies that work on making their websites or apps easy to understand and navigate.
That’s why if you’re a senior person with little experience with computers, you’ll be fine. Consult someone more knowledgeable about common pitfalls and mistakes, learn about best practices, and take it from there.
#3 Are dating sites for seniors really worth it?
Yes, of course they are. It will take you a bit of work, and you’ll need to be open-minded to make the most of the dating experience, but it’s definitely something you need to try. Websites that focus on dating for senior singles cater to your needs better. They’re prioritizing quality over quantity, a strong match rather than low-possibility compatibility, and they are focused on mindful dating overall, meaning that users there match in their values and relationship goals.
