Are you a veteran looking for love? Then you probably know that dating, if you’re a veteran, can be challenging. It can be extremely difficult to find someone who understands the challenges of dating someone who served their country, nor do they have the same lifestyle and/or priorities in life. That’s why finding a decent dating site for veterans is a game changer.
By design, a dating site for veterans provides the best way to screen potential matches, chat in a safe and non-threatening environment from the convenience of your phone/computer, and eventually set up dates. In this article, we’ll look at the top dating sites for veterans that are worth using, considerations to keep in mind when choosing the right app, and a couple of helpful tips that’ll give you a competitive advantage.
We create an account on each site we aim to recommend and check out all the features available. For this list, we tried out a handful of veteran dating sites to see which ones are popular among veterans, which ones have an active userbase, and which ones actually work. We use both the free and paid versions of each app to check if paying for a subscription is worth your time.
After all this, we then narrow down our options to just 5 that we think are worth trying.
Our of all the dating sites we’ve tried, the ones that we found most promising are Uniform Dating and eHarmony. Here’s what we liked about these two sites:
Overall Our team rates each site objectively based on many hours of independent research, the features each site offers, and how it compares with other sites. The ratings are the opinion of our editors and their extensive experience. |
7 | 9.5 |
Quality of Women Our opinion of how attractive the typical woman is that uses this site and how easy they are to connect with compared to other sites. |
7 | 9 |
Popular How many people are using this site to actually meet people compared to other sites. |
5 | 9 |
Usability How easy is this site to use and how quickly can an average person begin meeting people compared to other sites. |
7 | 10 |
Privacy & Safety Does this site take proper precautions to safeguard its members, their identity, and their data. |
8 | 10 |
Effective Our opinion of how easily an average person will be able to achieve their dating goals with this site compared to other sites. |
7 | 9 |
Value Will the time and money spent using this site pay off for an average person based on the opinions and experience of our editors. |
7 | 10 |
According to a study, 70% of current military personnel are Christian. After serving in the military, many veterans often turn to religion to find meaning and peace. So if you feel the same way and you want someone who cherishes Christian values as much as you do, Christian Mingle might have your ideal match.
Christian Mingle is one of the top Christian dating sites in the world. No matter your denomination or location, you can easily meet someone who could be the perfect partner for you. With an app on Android and iOS as well as a desktop site available, Christian Mingle remains one of the more popular dating apps for veterans.
eHarmony is the perfect app for veterans. Why? Users on eHarmony have the greatest odds of finding marriage 70% of the time for users who use the platform in one year. Try finding those odds on other platforms!
eHarmony bucks the trend of most common dating apps by starting with a fairly lengthy questionnaire. This is designed to screen out those who aren’t serious about dating while also honing who’s actually compatible with your veteran lifestyle. Second, eHarmony selects a pool of partners from their extensive user base that are most compatible with you instead of choosing from an endless supply of randoms. Try eHarmony today for free with a paid trial, but you’ll see the best results by signing up for a paid membership.
Beyond the Top 2 dating apps for veterans listed above, we have three (3) other options that you can try if you want more options. Here are our other top dating sites for veterans:
If you’re looking for NSA fun, AFF is your best choice. While not a veterans-specific site, AFF helps you save time by screening for location, body type, sexual preference, and more. Best of all, you can set expectations with video chat options so you know who you’re actually meeting up with. AFF didn’t make our Top 2 because of its general use, but it’s still the best choice for discriminating tastes and those who value their privacy.
A fair number of veterans end up with professional careers, so Coffee Meets Bagel is a natural choice for finding former service members. Coffee Meets Bagel has plenty of filtering options (more with paid memberships) to find a match, but it also matches you with compatible people in your area so you don’t have to endlessly search through all available matches. CMB didn’t make our Top 2 because the best results come through its paid membership structure, which is a bit pricier than other apps.
Tinder has become a fairly general use app, so using it for finding a hookup or a date is a solid choice when you’ve exhausted other opportunities. While Tinder is a free app to start, you’ll only get results if you shell out the cash for a paid membership. That being said, we didn’t include Tinder in our best dating sites for veterans because of the high level of competition on the app. Swipe often!
Determining which dating site for veterans is the best choice requires planning and research before ultimately deciding if it’s the right choice for your time, money, and effort. To help you find what works for your dating life, review the five (5) following criteria to make the best choice.
A dating site for veterans is only as useful as the number of people actively using it. Be sure to verify how many people are actually using the app. A simple way to do this is to look up “[dating app name] current users [current year]” on a search engine. If it seems too low (less than 50,000 worldwide users) and you live in an isolated area, it’s most likely not a good choice.
Being a veteran shouldn’t be your only criteria when dating. Remember that some civilians grew up and possibly lived in a military-influenced lifestyle, so these people can be a better match and open up a wider world of possibilities that you won’t know until you’ve tried.
When it comes to dating apps for veterans, you may not necessarily want to advertise to everyone that you’re in the market for a partner. Look for veteran dating apps that enable you to hide your profile until you’ve made the choice to properly vet a potential match, which is usually among the paid options offered.
It’s an unfortunate reality, but many scammers choose to scam veterans. You’ll want to search by “[dating app name] is it a scam?” on a search engine. Read the negative reviews and look for patterns of misuse. If there are concerns about reviews from other veterans that have had a bad experience, look elsewhere.
You’ll need to be clear about which dating site for veterans fits the type of relationship you’re actually looking for. If it’s a hookup site like Tinder, you’ll find difficulty finding long-term love; vice versa, Match.com may not be the best choice for a hookup.
It’s time to turn our attention to some tips when using dating sites for veterans that will save you a lot of free time and money. Remember that these tips are designed to help you get the best results, avoid the common hassles, and game the system in your favor!
While you may hit it off with the first batch of people that you match with, understand that there are plenty of veterans to choose from. Even if you get some fast matches that seem legitimate and start chatting, the sad reality of dating apps is that some dating app users will ghost you without warning, lose interest, or hit you with a scam once you’re invested in actually meeting up with them.
Play the field by matching with as many people as possible (easier with a paid subscription on most apps), whittle down those who meet your dating requirements, and unmatch those who don’t seem legitimate. Those that drop off are just part of the online dating process. Also, keep in mind that users that match with a higher number of users tend to get a boost in the rankings, so you’ll actually get more matches if you swipe right and like profiles more often than not.
To tell you the truth, online dating may actually be slower than meeting someone in-person. Take your time to get to know a person and see if you have similar things in common. Those who press for a quick date are often poor matches who swipe on every profile, often leading to substandard outcomes. Also, being desperate to meet is always a turn-off, so you’ll want to ride the delicate balance of being interested but not in a rush.
Dating apps are designed as a business model, so they’re incentivized to give better results to those who are willing to invest in their love life versus free riders. Because you’re paying for exclusive access, a membership gives you a competitive advantage with better search features, and a noticeable bump in the search algorithm, and serves as a way to sort out the riff-raff. After all, no one wants to deal with cheapskates.
Signed up for a dating site for veterans, uploaded only a picture or two, and still have to add more info to your profile? That’s not enough for the highly-competitive online dating world. You’ll want to complete your entire profile, add as many photos as possible, and answer survey questions from time to time to make a better impression on potential matches.
Use your dating app(s) as frequently as possible. Enable push notifications associated with the app and respond immediately. Timing is important and using apps that show that you’re currently using the app gets more responses.
This active usage also boosts your ranking in most search algorithms, as user engagement is an important metric for determining who are priority users versus casual users.
Browse the most frequently asked questions below about dating apps that most veterans want to know before using them.
A dating app for veterans is exactly as you might think: smartphone- and desktop-based applications that enable veterans to find other veterans.
Most veterans report having trouble finding a date in the civilian world. As you read in the five (5) considerations we listed above, the dating world for veterans is often difficult because veterans often have a unique lifestyle that’s incompatible with those who haven’t served their country.
Yes, there are plenty of legitimate veteran dating sites used by plenty of veterans around the world.
However, your mileage will vary when it comes to which apps actually get results versus those that don’t. The truth is, veteran dating apps come and go based on their popularity, success rating, and other factors, so be sure to use your best judgment when determining which app is best for you.
In all honesty, there will always be a degree of risk when putting your personal information and pictures online. Most popular apps have excellent security and privacy options in place, however, some of the less popular and newly-emerging veteran dating sites may not be able to handle sophisticated cybercriminals and bad actors.
As with dating in general, properly vet who you intend to meet up with and date through the app. While you can screen for serious red flags among people that you’ve met in person, online dating for veterans requires more screening of each user you interact with. Pay attention to what you see during conversations, compare details on their profile, and reference any other information they give you. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Last, be prepared to block someone or report their behavior if they cross your personal boundaries.
There are more dating apps for veterans out there than just those made exclusively for veterans. Heart Insider has compiled an extensive list of dating sites and apps that have been proven to provide success. Use HeartInsider’ list as a general guide for success and see for yourself just how great your dating life can be!
Most dating sites for veterans help you find a match first by verifying your status as a veteran (ie. which branch, how long you served, honorable/dishonorable discharge, etc).
Once verified, you’ll swipe or like other users’ profiles based on whether they’re attractive to you (some apps also give you recommendations for someone suitable). The visibility of these profiles is based on the criteria you set in your searches and the app’s matching algorithm. Once both people match, the conversation starts through texting. Text well, and you can set up a date with a fellow veteran.
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