Match is one of the longest-running digital dating services. Founded in 1993, it's old enough to drink and rent a car legally, and it predates most AOL email addresses. Match has had many years to bake, and there's much to like about it. The service has a finely tuned interface, the signup process is a breeze, and you're not allowed to create a half-baked profile. Match isn't the cheapest dating app, especially if you want to take advantage of its full feature set. However, if you're looking for a life partner, Match is the best option and an Editors' Choice winner.

The Cost of a Match

You must pay if you really want to play. Your free, basic membership lets you see who's out there, receive daily matches, message a handful of personalized picks, and send likes (by clicking a heart on a profile), but going beyond that requires a subscription. Once you pony up cash, you can see who has viewed your profile and liked you. Most importantly, you can also see and respond to emails. Basically, you must pay for any feature that involves connecting with a person.

Monthly subscriptions start at $44.99, but they get progressively less expensive the longer you commit to the service. You can also boost your profile to the top of search results for 60 minutes; you can try it once for $5.99 or buy a 10-pack for $3 each. Match's monthly fees are more expensive than most other dating apps. OkCupid's most expensive monthly plan is $19.99, and Plenty of Fish lets you communicate with other members for free.

Getting Started With Match

People who remember Match from its early stages may be familiar with its browser version, but the service has successfully jumped into the modern era with both an iPhone and an Android app.

Match asks two big questions up front: What are you looking for, and where do you want to find it? After inputting the preferred gender of your partner and your ZIP code, you log in using your email or Facebook credentials. Then, you add other top-level information, including age and first name. After that, you're ready to build your profile.

Interspersed with the personal info inquiries are questions about why you're using Match. Are you browsing the meat market or looking for a lifelong relationship? The app also asks for your height and current relationship status. Don't worry; you can choose "I'd rather not say" if you so desire. No judgment.

Then things get more personal. Match wants to know the number of kids you have; whether you want kids; your education level; whether you smoke and drink; and details on your ethnicity, religion, salary, and interests. Then comes the dreaded bio section. Try to get away with writing a bare-bones self-description and the app will prompt you to try harder. Once you complete this section, you don't simply publish your profile. You receive a note stating that it's under review by Match's staff. This is an added layer of protection that most other apps don't offer. Of course, you must also add a photo, and it has to be of an actual human, too. A photo of, say, last night's dinner will get rejected.

Once you're done talking about yourself, it's time to tell Match what you're looking for in a companion. You can choose your preferred age (from 18 to 70-plus) and height (4 feet, 4 inches to 6 feet, 10 inches) and specify body type, ethnic background, faith, and marital status. Finally, you can choose whether you are OK matching with someone who has kids or who smokes.

This process has an annoying feature, however. If you want to go back and make a profile change, you must first finish the survey. Once you finish, it feels as though you've answered enough questions to better pair with a like-minded user; you're not just casting a huge net into the dating pool. Compare that to Zoosk's anemic profiles.

The entire process is quick and simple, progressing naturally from the most important items on your list (your desired mate's age and whether they have or want kids) to the more picky stuff (smoking, drinking, and ethnicity preferences). You needn't answer every question to finish the process. In theory, though, the more questions you answer, the better your chance of finding the perfect match. Email onboarding is smartly paced, too. There's one welcome email, one note to let you know if your profile info is approved, and a few check-ins over the following days.

Interface and Profiles

You're now almost to the part where you get to see who's waiting for you. Naturally, Match asks for your money once you've invested some time in the setup. At this point, if you try and go back rather than subscribe, you lose all your hard work. You may think there's no easy way to avoid spending money at this point—after going through the full signup process, you are pushed to a screen where the only option is "join."

It turns out, though, that this presentation is more of a trick to get you to pay up. Once you get to that Subscribe screen on the app, you are actually a member—you can log in and begin browsing via desktop without paying for a subscription. Your profile is saved, so you can close and reopen the app to start browsing.

If you want to tell Match even more about yourself, there's a Topic section, which helps you add personality traits and anecdotes. This is a helpful tool to let people know more about you without writing an extensive essay. Topics include your bucket list, your current obsessions, and your craziest travel stories. Trending Topics add a sense of timely relevance to your potential conversation starters. You can display up to three topics on your profile. The prompts offer examples, but you can write whatever you want in the box.

You can also add more photos, see who's viewed you, and check out events available to members (for a fee, of course) like escape rooms, speed dating, or even cruises and ski trips. Events everyone will be happy to return to once it’s safe to get together again.

Once your profile is complete, it's time to see who's out there. Match's search function is simple and satisfying. The Discover function has lots of filters that let you quickly change the basics. For example, if you signed up as a man seeking a woman, but want to mix things up on a Friday and search for men, it's quick and easy. The filters also save each time you search, so it doesn't keep throwing you back to square one. And if you return to the search page after clicking into a profile, it doesn't return you to the top of the results—you go right back to where you left off.

Viewing profiles is intuitive and easy. You'll probably first want to check out your potential match's photos. The app makes it easy to scroll through them, either within the profile or in full-screen mode if you want to get a closer look. It's nice that profiles serve up more than just the basics. In addition to the stats already mentioned, you get subsections, such as Favorite Things and Favorite Places to Hang Out.

At the bottom of the screen, Match serves up similar profiles to the one you're viewing. However, these aren't filtered well. You might get served profiles in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, despite looking for people within a few miles of Chicago.

The one thing some may find slightly creepy is the Missed Connections feature. Using your phone's location information, the app serves up people who have been in your general vicinity recently. This might be appealing in some circumstances; for example, if you spend time at the gym or the library, the app might display folks with similar interests. Still, it may cause you to look around when getting off the train to see if anyone looks familiar. Happn uses a similar location-based gimmick.

As Match embraces its role as a more mature dating app, it rolls out more appealing features designed to foster lasting adult relationships instead of fast flings. Expert, in-house matchmakers offer custom connections on your behalf, without you even needing to make the first more. Match discourages ghosting by nudging inactive conversations before they fully expire. There's more to life than swiping.

How to go on a virtual date during the coronavirus pandemic

Virtual Dating With Match

We seem to be past the COVID-19 pandemic's worst days, but folks are understandably a bit less comfortable with meeting strangers physically in person, so Match has beefed up its virtual dating features. With Vibe Check, people already in a conversation can initiate a live video chat session if both partners agree. You can easily block creeps after the fact. You can also ask Match's panel of experts for advice on dating while distancing.

Match's Dates feature, while useful for dating even in a world without a plague, should also come in handy at any time. While chatting, you can privately let the app know if you feel serious about a potential partner with a Vibe Check. If both parties are ready to go to the next level, they can move their conversation to the separate Dates section. With true intentions out in the open, Dates helps you plan next steps, such as discussing first-date preferences. It also helps you easily ignore other distracting conversations to focus on this one promising shot at true love. While on a date, you can check in and share details with friends as a safety precaution. If you still don't feel comfortable meeting in person yet, Match offers unlimited video chat. Some regions offer a pure audio chat feature for a different kind of intimacy

Match is the flagship product of Match Group, which also owns Hinge, OkCupid, and Tinder. Except for OkCupid, all those apps now have similar video dating features, they should come to those apps, too. Bumble, eHarmony, and Plenty of Fish (also owned by Match) offer video chat. Hinge helps you coordinate a video date, too; you just have to talk on a separate app. Alongside Facebook Dating, Facebook also has the new Tuned app to connect quarantined couples.

Making the Connection

Match has existed for more than two decades, and we have PCMag staffers who met via the service and been married for more than 10 years. More than most other dating apps, Match requires a lot of information from you. That's what sets you up for success, though. The more you tell the app about who you are and what you're looking for, the more likely you are to find that special someone. Match is one of the oldest players on the field, and it's still the strongest, making it our Editors' Choice dating app for people looking for love. Check out our other Editors' Choice, Tinder, if you're in the game for a quick hookup.

For more on dating apps, check out How I Ended Up in a Tinder Ad Campaign and Match vs. Tinder: Which Dating Service Deserves Your Everlasting Love?