Looking for love after 50? Many people are! There are many dating apps and sites for people over 50 looking for love. The issue is finding out which ones are good! Read our Ourtime review to find out what we think of the site and the potential for finding love here.
Whether you're looking for love, companionship, or even something casual, our selection of dating sites has something for everyone. Find what you're looking for with Age Times!
Ownership
Ourtime is owned by Match Meetic, which owns one of the largest portfolios of trusted online dating sites, including Match.com. This alone suggests it’s a decent platform. It may not be the dating platform for you, but it certainly isn’t a scam site.
Members
Ourtime is a site for people looking for companionship, long-term relationships and love. So you will find few members looking for something casual, though they do exist.
Ourtime is for people 50+ or those who wish to date them. That means you’ll find younger members on there looking for older singles. That said, the youngest people you'll find on Ourtime are generally around 40.
According to the site itself, they have over a million registered users. However, Ourtime admits that number considers all registered members since its inception in 2017. In contrast, Dating Scout says there are over two million members, with over 30,0000 active members weekly.
Also, according to Dating Scout, more women than men use the site. All sexual orientations are welcome.
Note that because the Match Group owns several different sites, it may share your profile with members on their other sites who match your criteria. You can turn off this feature should you wish to do so. The idea is that by allowing you to meet more members, you have a better chance at a match.
Profiles
Profiles on Ourtime are pretty detailed. But not everyone fully completes their profile. However, the sign-up process is easy as you only need to fill in some basic information and verify your email to get started. You do not have to give them your phone number.
To get the most out of the site, take the time to fill out the various areas of your profile, such as your passions, interests, favourite films, sports, and body type. It will be easier for you to be found in searches by other members, and people who read your profile will also have something to go on.
Many people will only match with you if they get a good idea of who you are.
One cool thing with Ourtime is that they have a virtual coach that helps you set up your profile. It even makes suggestions to ensure your profile is as good as possible. So never say AI can't be useful!
The coach (bot) is also excellent if you're a bit older and new to senior dating or are new to doing it online. And there is customer care readily available on Ourtime.
Features
You can do all of the following on Ourtime:
- Create a profile, including uploading audio and videos
- Send winks
- Create a favourites list
- Use the shuffle function to get suggested matches
- Search for matches based on search criteria
- Go incognito (hide your profile)
- Attend activities and events hosted by Ourtime
- Message members, including instant messaging
- Do video calls - you can only video chat after matching and exchanging at least four messages with someone to prevent unsolicited calls
One of the nice things about Ourtime is that they arrange singles nights and activities around the UK. If you don't like to meet people online, you can attend these events or activities instead. You get a discount on these events if you are a paying member of Ourtime.
Activities work similarly to meet-up groups. A group of people get together to hike, learn French, watch a movie, or whatever else might interest you, with the added bonus that everyone's single.
Another thing worth mentioning is that you can see people that are online and start conversations with them. The video call feature is nice because it lets you see that someone looks like their pictures before you meet them in real life.
What does Ourtime cost?
The Ourtime dating site is free to join, but you must pay for a premium subscription to use messaging features. So you can check out peoples' Ourtime profiles for free, but to be able to talk to them, you have to fork out some cash. In addition, you can only see who has liked your profile if you upgrade.
As you can imagine, getting notifications saying someone has liked you, or sent you a message, gets irritating when you can't see the likes and messages. This is precisely what the site wants because it will encourage you to get a premium membership. And, to be fair, they need to pay their employees and keep the site safe and up to date!
One thing to note is that if you sign up for a six-month subscription, you will have to pay until the subscription ends. If you cancel the subscription, you will still pay until the end of it. But Ourtime does offer a 14-day money-back guarantee if you decide it isn't for you within two weeks of joining.
All subscriptions auto-renew, so you have to turn off the subscription before that happens.
Cancelling your subscription is easy once you know how to do so.
If you only use their dating site, you can go to your account settings to cancel your subscription. If you bought your subscription via an app, you have to turn off the subscription with Apple or Google Play.
If you have an iPhone, you go to your iPhone settings, then iCloud, then Manage Subscriptions.
If you’re using Android, go to your Subscriptions in the Google Play app.
Safety
Ourtime is focused on keeping its members safe. Their customer service team checks all profile photos and descriptions to ensure they are of decent quality. Note that Ourtime doesn't seem to verify photos or identity at this point, so there may be some fake profiles on the site.
Of course, you should always exercise caution when speaking with people online and meeting them in real life. Don't give out your home or work address before meeting someone a couple of times. Likewise, keep your social media profiles private if you include such information within those.
What’s more, if anyone asks you for your credit card details, don’t hand them over. Nor pay bills for anyone.
Lastly, while sexy photos can be fun to share, wait until you've met someone a couple of times in real life if you want to keep yourself as safe as possible. Also, mark any photos you do send, so the person you're sending them to cannot share them.
Reviews
On the App Store, Ourtime gets 3.8 out of 5 stars. On Google Play, it gets 3 stars. Consumer Affairs gives it 3.9 stars, SiteJabber 1.5 stars, and it has 3.5 stars on TrustPilot.
I had a closer look at some of the reviews on TrustPilot. Interestingly, one 1-star review was from a person marketing another site. Another 1-star review was from someone who thought that if he paid GBP 20 per month, the site should give him a guarantee that he'll find love. Providing these kinds of promises is pretty hard! If you want that, you must sign up for a private matchmaking site like It's Just Lunch and fork out money in the thousands. And they handpick who they work with.
All dating sites will have some bad feedback from people who have not enjoyed their dating experience. However, Ourtime replies to almost all comments on TrustPilot and is one of the most trusted names in the industry.
My point is that while not everyone will enjoy Ourtime, the site and both the iOS and Android apps are fully functional, the company will not scam you, and you’re as safe as you can be on any dating site.
Automatic renewal of memberships is also a sore point for many. However, almost all dating services do this. You have to ensure you cancel your membership before your subscription auto-renews if you do not want to continue using the site or app.
Other places to look for love
One reason many people are disappointed when using apps and dating sites like Ourtime is that they stop looking for love elsewhere or have "inflated" expectations.
Firstly, let’s look at the expectations.
Managing expectations for online dating
When you look for love online, you need a good dating profile to catch some fish. You can read more about that in my other articles. From there, it’s a numbers game. Some are lucky and stumble upon love right away. Others will find that they match with hundreds of people without finding love.
The truth is people looking for love online are curious about many people. So they find someone who catches their eye, match with them, and send some messages back and forth, only to realise they've matched with someone else they like more. Then they disappear. Or they didn't find the conversation all that interesting to start with and disappear for that reason!
Other times, they meet someone they thought was great online, but they just aren't attracted to them.
I always suggest meeting as soon as possible to ensure the conversation doesn't fizzle out and to check if there's more than online chemistry. There's no point talking forever only to realise there's no chemistry!
I also suggest you make the first "date" a quick coffee or walk around a farmers market while eating takeaway ice cream or something like that. This removes the pressure of it being a "real" date with a person you've never met before.
One of the best online dating tips you'll ever get is to remember that not everyone you match with will keep talking to you or meet up with you in real life. Don't take it as an insult. Some people you'll meet online simply aren't that invested.
Doing other things to find love
Online dating isn't the be-all and end-all of finding love. To be happy, you need an active lifestyle and a great social life. Putting all your eggs in one nest isn't a great strategy. Not least because it isolates you—you're not out there meeting others in real life.
Online dating does, on the other hand, help you not get so disappointed when you go to social events and don’t meet people you’re interested in dating. You know there’s more fish in the sea waiting for you.
Ourtime organises offline events, so that helps. You can find out about events near you and see if any take your fancy.
Other ways of finding love include:
- Joining local meet-ups/interest groups like hiking groups and book clubs
- Volunteering
- Attending networking events
- Taking courses
- Attending workshops
- Setting up a small business that allows you to be social
- Attending events
- Going to local coffee shops and pubs to read a book or meet with friends
- Getting shared office space
- Signing up at your local gym or partaking in sports classes
Mixing online dating with offline events ensures your social life stays healthy. You'll be happy even if you don't find love right away.
