Free Membership

eharmony is not as aggressive as other dating sites when it comes to marketing its premium services and it doesn’t push you or trick you into it. However, the free membership is very limited. You can’t message anyone; you can’t even see their profile images, as they are blurred out. What’s more, you only discover this after you join, which means you need to go through the lengthy sign-up process before you realise the site is worthless without a paid membership.

Premium Membership

eharmony offers three different premium subscription options: Light, Plus, and Extra. Like most dating sites, eharmony has regular discounts and at the time of writing, it was offering 50% off the Plus and Extra options. We recommend looking for one of these discounts if you’re opting for one of the long-term memberships.

Founded in 2000, eharmony has taken the online dating world by storm with its fresh and innovative and its focus on finding members their perfect match. Its entire concept of matchmaking is formulated around their expert patented compatibility matching system, which is based on 35 years of marriage counselling and relationship research. Figures show that thousands of people take the acclaimed eharmony questionnaire every single day!

It’s one of the biggest dating sites in the United States and proudly declares itself to be the number 1 trusted dating site in the US. The question is, is eharmony just as good for Australian daters?

Virtual tour

eharmony’s virtual tour shows you what to expect as a member of this online dating site, from registration to interacting with other members on the site.

Registration process

The registration process isn’t quick, but it is fun! First, you’ll enter your email and create a password & username. Then you’ll answer a series of basic questions about yourself (age, location, kids, etc.). Whereas eharmony used to be only for those seeing heterosexual relationships (the brand had a separate site, Compatible Partners, for same-sex relationships), now it supports same-sex matches as well. Simply input your preference during the registration process.

Compatibility Test

As soon as you enter your email address and password, you’ll be asked to complete the eharmony compatibility test. You can’t skip this (trust us, we tried) and it takes about 10 to 15 minutes to complete.

You will be asked a number of different questions. Some of these make perfect sense, including, “What type of music do you like?” and “do you smoke?”, but others are a little less than obvious.

For instance, halfway through the test you’ll be shown a series of images and asked which ones you like the most. And we’re not talking about Bieber vs Selena or Xbox vs PlayStation, we’re talking about squiggly lines and geometric shapes. One picture was two squiggly lines on one side and the same two squiggly lines flipped 90 degrees on the other, with the question, “Which one feels more natural?”.

If this was any other site, we’d be confused and even a little annoyed. But because it’s eharmony, the masters of compatibility, we assume there is some kind of ingenious science behind it.

Profile set-up

After the compatibility test, you’ll be asked for some basic personal details, including your name, address, religion, ethnicity and occupation. Next up, it’s time to add a picture, and this is the first time you can actually skip something and leave it for later. You’ll be asked for a main profile picture and then some additional images. For the final screen, it’s time to tap into your narcissistic side as you write your profile. You can choose a couple of question prompts to help you with this process.

Notification settings

Enter the “account settings” tab where you can choose which notifications you’d like to receive, from newsletters to notifications when you receive a new message or match.

Approved photos

Photo guidelines are pretty straight forward: no nudity, no vulgarity, no weapons, and no racially aggressive photos. Just be responsible and your photos will be approved.

Messaging

Once you’ve uploaded your photo, sending a message or a smile is very straight forward, and messaging includes read receipts.

Browse members

A simple interface allows you to browse members based on filters such as location, gender, age, and even more detailed filters such as eye colour and ethnicity. You can also browse anonymously with the premium subscription.

Icebreakers

One of eharmony’s special features is the Icebreaker. You may be familiar with doing icebreaker games at summer camp or even as part of a professional workshop. Icebreakers are designed to “break the ice” so that people get to know each other and feel more comfortable with chatting. eharmony’s Icebreakers (also known as Q&A) are essentially quick messages that you can send to another member who you’re interested in. They are already written for you, so you can avoid the sometimes overwhelming task of thinking up a perfect first message yourself! This feature is accessible to both paying and non-paying members.

What If?

The What If feature available on eharmony’s site allows you to see some additional members beyond your provided matches. Send a smile to these users to turn them into matches and get chatting.

Safe Dating

eharmony has a dedicated “Dating Advice” section. Known as Love & Harmony, this section contains tips on finding a date and staying safe as you browse the site. Take a look at the “Trust & Safety” link at the top of the “Dating Advice” section for more information.

Block Members

Creepy user? Simply block them and they will not be able to contact you or view your profile.

Verification

With the data that eharmony collects from its users, they’ve been known to shut down accounts if the member is legally married, if their personal information doesn’t match public information, and if they violate the terms of service in any way. In addition, the lengthy sign-up process and restrictions placed on non-premium members tend to deter scammers and time wasters.

Data Collection

There is an ‘opt out’ option in terms of eharmony storing your data.